This area provides guidance on which products might be relevant to your application. It is presently oriented towards Shed Door Security. We don't offer any products suitable for house doors, nor garage doors (but watch this space on the latter!).

Door security is a priority too often overlooked. If you can keep the thieves out, you've done your job! Often times people focus on the measures inside a building, and with good sense, but ignoring the door can be an easy deterrent missed. Furthermore, door security is often not that expensive, nor that difficult to use, so it should always be considered as part of a rigourous security policy.

There is a lot more detail on our main Door Security information page and the page specifically covering the HS1 Hasp and Staple.

Shed Door Security

Wooden sheds are inherently vulnerable to crowbaring and other levering attacks where a thief tries to pull any screws out of their holes, ripping the screw out of the wood. This is frequently quite easy, so a shed that relies on fixings fitted with nothing other than wood screws can be vulnerable.

Hasp and Staple

A Hasp and Staple is the normal way that a shed door is secured with the addition of a padlock. We offer the heavy duty HS1 Hasp & Staple that can be fitted to a wide variety of shed doors. Other hasp & staple sets are available from other manufacturers but we'd advise that you are wary of any that are made from thin material - especially the staple (I.e. the 'eye' that the padlock fits through) as that is very frequently the preferred attack route for thieves - and always ensure that both sides are bolted through. Several commercial products are supplied with only wood screws, or with just one coach bolt - A thief will invariably just rip out the other side if it is not also bolted through or otherwise securely fixed!

Better quality hasp sets have the staple eye in a vertical plane, rather than horizontal. Having the eye vertical allows a closed shackle padlock to be used such that it hangs down properly. A horizontal eye invariably means that a closed shackle lock will protrude outwards and that makes it far more inviting and vulnerable for a thief to attack it with a hammer. Our HS1 deliberately has the staple eye in a vertical plane for this reason.

Hint: Choose an appropriate padlock: Many staples have an eye that is too small to take a decent padlock. You should either buy a set that in known to work together, or ensure compatibility by checking the dimensions, carefully. It is quite easy to think you've got a hasp and lock that will work together, only to find that the curvature on the lock's shackle means it will not go through the full thickness of the staple eye.

Hinges

Hint: Don't Forget the Hinges!!! People frequently think about the hasp & staple and the padlock, on one side of the door, but completely miss a common attack opportunity for thieves in the form of the hinges on the other side of the door. Hinges should be bolted through, with nuts on the inside, and not purely fixed with wood screws. Even supposed anti-tamper screws are virtually worthless as thieves can simply rip them out, quickly and fairly quietly! A coach bolt going through the wall of the shed instantly creates a far more effective deterrent, at minimal cost. Bolting-through on both sides of each hinge can achieve a major upgrade to security far more easily than many other deterrents inside the building. We offer the Door Security Beef-Up Kit as an aid to help in various situations (but do check for suitability as it won't fix everything!).

Tips

Hint: Also consider the roof and walls: Garden sheds are sometimes vulnerable to a thief gaining entry, other than through the door. E.g. if the walls are flimsy or if the roof is not properly attached, thieves will occasionally break their way in this way if they are after something of perhaps high value inside the shed. A few screws around the edge of the roof can make it much harder for a thief to attack (and especially if the screws are inserted so that they are perpendicular to the direction of force a thief would have to apply, meaning the screws are in shear, rather than their threads being pulled out in an attempted attack).

Suggested Shopping List

The following are not suitable for all sheds and doors. Please check the detail pages to confirm suitability before ordering (HS1 Detail, Beef-Up Kit detail).

• Package Deal: HS1 Heavy Duty Hasp & Staple with Squire SS50CS Padlock
• Beef-Up Kit