House security is usually the top of your list when you are looking at things to do around the home, but how secure is your garden?
The garden is an area of your home that many people forget to think about when it comes to security. Still, many valuable items are stored in the garden, such as bikes and power tools, which are very desirable to thieves.
Here are some handy tips to ensure that your garden is safe and secure to keep out potential intruders.
Drives and pathways
Believe it or not incorporating gravel and pebbles in your garden can be great deterrent as it then becomes more likely that you will be able to hear if anyone is approaching the house.
Climbable items
Ensure that any climbable items are stored and locked away so they cannot be moved to climb on. Wheelie bins, ladders and storage boxes against walls can often be used for a quick escape.
To minimise this risk wheelie bins can be stored in a caddie or locked to a drainpipe which restricts them being used for entering or leaving your garden. Step and Extension Ladders where possible should not be in your garden, not only as they can be used by potential thieves but storing ladders outside can cause rust or structural damage, causing the ladder to be unsafe to use.
Sheds and outbuildings
Is your shed or garage locked? Many people admit to leaving their sheds unlocked for ease of access, but this is precisely what burglars are counting on. A reasonable precaution if you store valuable items inside an outbuilding is to blackout the window, so people are not able to peer in.
Give your shed the once over. Is your shed structurally sound? Are there any brittle or rotting panels? Make sure to replace or patch up any damaged boards. If there is a large amount of damage, perhaps it is time to think about replacing your shed with a new one. Depending on what you keep in your outbuilding, you may want to think about alarms systems.
Lighting and CCTV
Installing a motion detection floodlight is one of the biggest deterrents yet the simplest to integrate, motion detectors give off a bright light drawing attention to any movement in the garden.
CCTV cameras can also be used with night vision technology. There are a wide range of wifi enabled security cameras with high quality 1080p recordings should you need to take a look at any suspicious activity. CCTV Cameras being present put burglars off when identifying which homes to target.
Locks and chains
Always ensure that any bikes are locked up, if you can lock up the frame to a solid structure this is much more secure than just locking your bikes wheel, as wheels can easily be removed. You can purchase a chain with covers, like these, to add extra protection against being able to cut the chain. Ensure that all gates are locked in a position that doesn’t make it easy for thieves to unlock from the other side and allow them to access to all your valuables.
Secure the perimeter
Add a trellis to the top of your fence. This will likely break if someone tries to climb over and potentially alert you to an intruder, as well as making your fence higher and more difficult to climb.
Conclusion
It’s very frustrating the amount of work we need to do to keep intruders out of our home and garden. We hope that the above tips are useful and can be implemented easily at a low cost, to help keep your belongings secure.
