Deep Depression

In article , Kevin Steele writes

Argh! My condolences Kevin.

Bastards.

I know it's no consolation but I have always felt these up-and-over doors have far too flimsy a latching mechanism, so when the door was installed I promptly threw away the key and fitted two bolts on the inside. The U&O door can only be opened by entering via the back door which has a decent lock and is linked to the alarm system.

Cliff Coggin Kent UK

Very sad news. My comiserations.

Most up-and-over doors can be opened with a thin blade by pressing back the sprung catch at the top - disconnecting the handle isn't a reliable fix. My builders took advantage of that when they were doing our extension - all of their stuff was in the garage & they kept forgetting the key. You can open them that way faster than the driver's door of a Ford Cortina

A mate of mine fitted door chains on the inside to defeat that approach - works very well on my door too.

Regards, Tony

I was lulled into a false sense of security as these were "secure" doors with three seperate latches (one each side & one at the top) that couldn't be opened from outside as you describe. Unfortunately anything is only as good as the weakest link, and it seems the locks are easy to remove.

Regards

Kevin

Very sorry to hear the news, there's always something insidious about nicking a man's tools.

Something you, and others, might consider is a simple webcam security system. These days you can pick up a decent cam for less than twenty quid - and if you got the Logitech Messenger you get some superb motion detection software with it.

It doesn't take much to rig up a second hard drive and fit it into a small safe or steel box bolted to the wall - or you could even use one of those usb flash drives. They might nick the computer, but they'd have a job getting to the drive where the mug shots are stored...if they even have time to suss out what it is.

Couple it with a PIR to switch on the lights and you've got a very effective homemade cctv setup. You can even have the software email alerts to you, and with a bit of scripting using a freeware utility it could even dial your phone.

Took me less than a day to set my system up, I'd be happy to share my experiences if anyone needs a few pointers.

Best wishes,

Sorry to hear about the break in. My brother suffered a similar attack and he has fitted special garage door locks. =20 See

There are many other web sites offering similar products. the prices vary but a look around will find the best price.

--=20 astro

Sorry to hear about the break in. My brother suffered a similar attack and he has fitted special garage door locks.

are many other web sites offering similar products. the prices vary but a look around will find the best price. astro

I put my own lock on the outside door of my garage. See

if the drawing isn't up to scratch but I am just back from the pub. Several people have copied it. E Mail me for more info.

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

Kevin,

I suffered in much the same way a year or so ago, along with a lot of my neighbours, when someone went on a spree raiding all the garages in our street by forcing the ujp and over doors. All the garage doors in the street now sport large padlocks on the outside. :-)

Jim.

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 22:30:10 +0000, Kevin Steele

Grim news Kevin and one that brings it closer to home.

I share your suspcions about the household insurance and could perhaps do with a seperate policy. Does any one have the contact numbers/links for the people selling seperate workshop insurance.

Thanks

Charles

Walker Midgeley, Sheffield is the obvious one.

Tel: 0114 250 2770 | Fax: 0114 250 2777

Cheers

Peter

As a locksmith I can recommend the pacri locks at the bottom of the sanderson page, easy to fit nice long bolts and lockable from both sides.

Paul

Not much to say that hasn't already been said her. Very sorry indeed to hear of the break-in, was there any others in the area at the same time? The Police will usually tell you if there is a sequence of break-ins locally.

It's worth also fitting an internal PIR light and an external alarm or buzzer linked to a separate PIR, so that although the light one can be disabled, the hidden one isn't obvious and panic soon sets in if the thief can't quickly disable the noise.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

Alarms are certainly effective - we had a breakin here before Xmas while we were away for the weekend. Buggers levered up a ground floor sash window and bust the lock. What they didn't know was that the window was in direct view of the PIR. Our alarm automatically calls the Plod; they were on-scene within a small number of minutes, no sign of the perps, and nothing went walkies, thankfully.

They sent the police dog in through the window first to check things out; bloody dog caused more damage pissing on the landing carpet than the burglars did ;-)

Regards, Tony

Thanks for the messages.

There have been some very good suggestions for security made by several people. I would urge everybody to consider how secure thier workshop is. Although it seems "engineering" tools are not particularly desirable to these low-life there are plenty of desirable items in all our workshops. I was relatively lucky, you may not be!!

Another consideration is that if you have an alarm on your house it may be possible to add the workshop to that on another zone, I'm looking into this at the moment. If I lay the conduit myself (workshop is not attached to house) it could cost about £50 for the extra sensors and connection. Alternatively small self-contained alarms are not expensive these days.

I always thought I was safe & secure, how wrong I was. It realy could be you, and I'd hate anyone else to have that horrible feeling when you realise what has happened.

Regards

Kevin

Kevin, sorry to hear about your bit of bad news. There are probably many (like myself) who will use it as 'food for thought' in terms of how secure we really are, and where the buck stops with domestic insurance policies.

sorry to hear the bad news, 2 suggestions.

drill a hole through the track near the bottom of each track with th door closed. buy 2 padlocks and when you lock up just put the padloc through the hole. the door cant go up because the padlock stops it.

get door sensors on all garage /shed/workshop doors and wire it int the house alarm.both my workshops have contacts and P.I.R., open on and the whole lot goes off

-- bolma

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Bummer.

Might just be worth posting the make and serial number of said welder and bandsaw - if you can find same on receipts, guarantees, old boxes etc...

the more eyes watching eBay, dealers, etc, the more fun reselling them will be. Here's hoping...

- Brian