Securing shed doors: What sort of lock?

ic

I had a standard hasp and staple lock on my shed.  Thieves broke in by simply wrenching the roof off, snapping it in half. They stole nothing, just had a look inside and moved on - I re-roofed with ply, screwed down.  The general construction of sheds is poor, and easy to break in by pulling off bits. 

I once locked the key to my shed in the shed, I got back in by unscrewing the hinges - as they were screwed on externally...

Section62

ic said:

I had a standard hasp and staple lock on my shed.  Thieves broke in by simply wrenching the roof off, snapping it in half. They stole nothing, just had a look inside and moved on - I re-roofed with ply, screwed down.  The general construction of sheds is poor, and easy to break in by pulling off bits. 

^This.  A building is only as secure as the weakest part.  Securing one part can make thieves move on to a different part, possibly one which is more expensive to repair than the value of any contents likely to be stolen.

Don't encourage thieves by going overboard on door security, unless you are willing to apply similar/appropriate levels of security to the rest of the building.

DRP

warwick2001 said:

I know its far more expensive than a lock, but maybe think of upgrading your shed to an Asgard one. Far better than a wooden shed, and much more secure. 

Obviously this only makes sense if your bikes are worth a few quid. If they are cheap models, maybe not worth spending a grand and a half on a metal shed.....

I would also recommend an asgard. Depending on what you need ,there’s a range of sizes and prices.

The 4 bike shed/store I have just put up was a shade under £500 including ‘accessories’… Had to wait nearly 4 months though.

zoothornrollo_2

Thanks for all the replies all very useful.
Section62 you have got me thinking about the planning issue.
In that when I was looking at sheds, I was looking at ones with a low height profile - not because I was particularly aware of the planning issue, but because I wanted it to be unobtrusive and not very visible. For both neighbourly / aesthetic reasons, and security.
Where it is placed, if it was 18 inches lower, it would be almost completely hidden from the street by shurbs and next door's shed.
But I went through the usual internet shopping merry-go-round of 'sold out' / poor reviews / wrong dimensions - and just went for this one as it was pretty much the only option remaining.
But it is quite tall - unnecessarily so for bicycles. I'm now wondering if I should get my carpenter brother-in-law to cut it down to size.... Would make it less likely to raise objections.

Section62

zoothornrollo_2 said:

Thanks for all the replies all very useful.
Section62 you have got me thinking about the planning issue.
In that when I was looking at sheds, I was looking at ones with a low height profile - not because I was particularly aware of the planning issue, but because I wanted it to be unobtrusive and not very visible. For both neighbourly / aesthetic reasons, and security.
Where it is placed, if it was 18 inches lower, it would be almost completely hidden from the street by shurbs and next door's shed.
But I went through the usual internet shopping merry-go-round of 'sold out' / poor reviews / wrong dimensions - and just went for this one as it was pretty much the only option remaining.
But it is quite tall - unnecessarily so for bicycles. I'm now wondering if I should get my carpenter brother-in-law to cut it down to size.... Would make it less likely to raise objections.

I wouldn't worry about it for now.  If someone living on the road comments about it then give it some more thought, but until the planning department take an interest you will be able to use it as it is.

The reason I referred to the planning issue is primarily to do with keeping the structure in a state which makes it easy to relocate if you have to. The more 'permanent' the structure is made, the harder it is to move it if you need to.  E.g. a security anchor inside the shed simply needs to be securely attached to the solid wood frame in the base.  Digging holes in the ground and filling them with concrete creates a level of 'permanence' which causes hassle later if the work has to be undone.

The point about cutting the panels down to make the shed height lower is a good example of the 'metal vs wood' debate.  Removing 18" height from wooden panels is a relatively easy DIY task that most people could do.  Removing 18" from a metal framed+clad shed requires skills and tools that the average DIYer doesn't have, and the 'obvious' option of taking the 18" off the bottom of the panels will leave a 'cut' edge which will be prone to corrosion unless given protection.

In your case a wooden shed was a good choice as it gives you flexibility if a planning problem does arise.