Securing an unoccupied cottage

DesperateDan

Hi folks, we bought a small cottage out in the sticks and are doing some serious renovations (it's a bit of a shell at the moment). Sash windows and wooden doors are all that secure the property, and we only just got electricity last week so a lot of the electric are not in yet.

The house is unoccupied while we are doing these works, and was broken into last night and some tools were nicked. Usually everything that can be carried is taken with us but we obviously got too slack. There was also 4 bags of cement there, one of which was taken which implies to me that's all they had room for what with their new tools :cool:

So the house is quite remote- back roads, no neighbours for 5 mins, and the house had been empty for the last couple of years. Any ideas for quick fixes on how we should try and bolster security until we move in (hopefully ~3 months)?

We've put in a new Stanford stove, and new copper pipes are all exposed so I'm fairly concerned about those.

anto9

Maybe let somebody stay there for free to keep an eye on it .

Satori Rae

You could get dogs and leave them in at night while you are not there.

I am not sure if you can rent security dogs but I know a guy who got 3 massive rotties when he was tired of having his business broken into. That did the trick.

Saying that you would have to care for the dogs well being making sure they don't get hurt inside of anything like loose piping and you would have to make sure they are toileted late enough before you go.

Saying that if I were you I d camp out in there with a light on and bring a dog and a shotgun if you have a license. Sounds like they could have been watching ye for a while.

DesperateDan

Thanks folks yeah dogs are a good idea, shame you can't seem to rent as the girlfriend has her heart set on getting a golden retriever when we move in (she's already got two cats!).

Yeah there's a suggestion doing the rounds at the moment that we get a cheap old bed and sleep there random nights (can't do every night, there's not even running water yet ). It's a fairly expensive / annoying solution though for only a couple of months worth of home protection. Although if we had a bed in the place we could probably insure the house (when the water starts working) :pac:

Tefral

DesperateDan wrote: »

Yeah there's a suggestion doing the rounds at the moment that we get a cheap old bed and sleep there random nights

Genuine question here: Say someone does break in while your there, what are you going to do? Is it worth putting yourself in danger for a few tools?

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

HelgaWard

My brother got a camera for his house with a 3G sim in it, it has a little remote keyring which he uses to disable the camera when he is going into the house, and set when he is leaving the house. If someone opens the front door without disabling the camera it sends him a picture message to his phone.
Don't know where he got it, I'd imagine online, but something like that might be useful?!

DesperateDan

cronin_j wrote: »

Genuine question here: Say someone does break in while your there, what are you going to do? Is it worth putting yourself in danger for a few tools?

I know, I guess the hope is that bodies in the house are enough of a deterrent. It's not so much the tools as the stove and the pipes I'm concerned about, easily over €2000 of newly installed equipment.

HelgaWard wrote: »

My brother got a camera for his house with a 3G sim in it, it has a little remote keyring which he uses to disable the camera when he is going into the house, and set when he is leaving the house. If someone opens the front door without disabling the camera it sends him a picture message to his phone.
Don't know where he got it, I'd imagine online, but something like that might be useful?!

That sounds like a great idea, I'll have a look online later

groovyg

Its not just remote areas where houses are getting robbed its happening everywhere. I saw this thread on the propertypin a few weeks ago happening in built up residential areas as well.

Flood

DesperateDan wrote: »

There was also 4 bags of cement there, one of which was taken which implies to me that's all they had room for what with their new tools :cool:

Good lord stealing cement that is a new one, try adverts for your culprits. It were no stranger that broke in op one can be fairly sure of that.

hawkwind23

stealing a bag of cement
I dont think we are dealing with a criminal mastermind here , jaysus could you be bothered with the weight and dirt of it.
Few local kids or a village idiot , petty and im sure everyone in the local pub will know the suspect , maybe a quiet word with the landlord to get the tools back , let them keep the cement lol and stay away in future from your house or else youll be hiding with shotguns and cctv and all manner of nonsense

oh and the dogs , i forgot about them

Satori Rae

I would say get it insured now asap or stay in there, you can let it out short term but you couldn't charge rent as it has no proper amenities, a few people do let out places just so they can be occupied and minded so they don't get robbed.

The camera thing is a good idea and you could try sign up to phone watch if you can meanwhile even for short term.
Also leaving a light on and a radio at night may help stave them off , if they are not that smart.

Jimmy_M

Im assuming you're on a budget...
First thing - prevention....
Board up all the windows on the ground floor:
Cut out as thick a piece of ply as you can get (25mm) to the size of the opening on the outside. put it into the opening. Then use express nails to pin 2x4s to the side reveals holding the board in without something to grab at or screw out for the intruder.

Make the door as secure as possible.... a few extra locks etc.
Use this as your access to the house.

You will never make it impossible to enter, but the idea is just to make it as much of an inconvenience as possible.

Second thing - detection.
As previous poster said, camera with access to some kind of dialler/intrenet would be good. This is a bit useless though if you're too far away to do anything about it.

Maybe a cheap alarm - couple of rumble switches on the boards and the door - would be enough to make them go away.

Best thing would be a speaker that you could remotely shout at them through after you see them on the camera - some of the monitoring companies have them.

Sequence 365

You could have a wireless alarm installed just put in two or three movement detectors in your key areas . You could mount them on planks upright so as your building works are going on during the day you can just move them out of the way. Connect it to the monitoring station via a gsm & if they get two activations they will contact key holders and send Gardai out

You can still use the system for your house when it's finished just add devices to your windows and doors

altor

groovyg wrote: »

Its not just remote areas where houses are getting robbed its happening everywhere. I saw this thread on the propertypin a few weeks ago happening in built up residential areas as well.

I know that house it happened and lets just say the fireplaces where worth a lot of money. They had a lone security guard looking after the place when the gang returned the next night. He did not even have a panic or some sort of communication to alert anyone of the theft taking place for the second time till they left the site.

In situations like this monitoring is advisable to receive garda response.

Sequence 365

Meant to say

You could run your panel off a car battery for a good 3-4 days if no electric supply. We often set systems up this way as a temporary measure

altor

Same with a camera system. Modern systems dont use as much power so this works as a temporary measure.

Sequence 365

The pitfall with CCTV in an unoccupied house is you will not know if somebody is breaking into the house unless you have it remotely monitored. Then the client will have to have broadband on site

doctorchopper

I installed one of these in my shed http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331434004383?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT it works great, uses a pay as you go sim card and texts if alarm goes off. But you do need mains power.

DesperateDan

doctorchopper wrote: »

I installed one of these in my shed http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331434004383?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT it works great, uses a pay as you go sim card and texts if alarm goes off. But you do need mains power.

Cool! Yeah we can get a mains supply to it, it just needs a PAYG sim right?

doctorchopper

Ya thats right, i used a e mobile one but anyone should work.they are a bit of a pain to setup as the instructions are a bit crap but i can help with that