Well this sucks! I wasn't real aggressive on my camera notifications so I didn't wake up for the camera detecting the intruder. Later that morning I noticed a step ladder on the ground and thought it had blown over, that is when I saw the broken window. This surprised me because I have the door monitored (never opened during break-in) and a glass break sensor. Did I fail to enroll glass sensor properly, what went wrong? After rechecking everything I found the answer. My wife noticed that 95% of the glass was on the outside which is odd. After scrutinizing the window frame it was pried at the edge fracturing the glass and he then removed piece by piece. The detector needs to have a flex wave (impact) followed by breaking glass to prevent false activations. He got lucky. He took some old battery tools, a socket set and four nail guns but I am sure he will be back for more. If he only knew what hand tools cost. Window has been removed and plywood over. Dual tech motion added and sensitivity in glass detector set maximum instead of the recommended setting. Cameras notifications are much more aggressive now. Gun and spare ammo clips are at the ready.
That sucks, to most people hand tools aren't worth anything. There's a product called shatterguard. I think that's the name. It's a clear film that goes over the glass. It's supposed to with stand a certain amount of force so the glass doesn't break and they can't get in,. I have always heard never to store ladders outside. Hopefully this is a one time incident
Man that sucks dude. Hopefully it stays safe going forward. I imagine it's an unsettling feeling regardless of how prepared you are.
All my cordless tools are on a shelf right when I walk in. My wife once asked "if someone feet broke in they'd clean this out wouldn't they?". My answer was just "hopefully". I also have no windows anywhere, garage door locked shut (no opener), and a windowless steel entry door with 4" screws on the knob and deadbolt striker plates. Hopefully I never have to deal with that. There is a street light that lights it up pretty well too
Man…I’m so sorry to hear that. That truly sucks. I don’t post my shop because I don’t want to give potential thieves a preview. Have an alarm setup, but apparently that’s no guarantee either. Time to plant more claymore’s out in the yard… The other day I had a drone circling over my property…just another tool for casing the joint?
Thanks for the tip. Corelz! I’ll be looking into it this afternoon.
Windows are low so a ladder or a five gallon bucket are about the same. I decided to eliminate the side window and leave only the front two. I had a scare when the new box I made for my carving chisels was gone from its nest under my sharpening station. He took it out placed it on my bench and opened it but wasn't interested in it. It would have been funny if he got into my chisels not knowing how sharp they are. The only question in my mind now is do I go in stealth mode to catch him in the act or put in a remote siren to run him off.
Not a fun day to have that happen. As far as firearms goes I would recommend you use extreme care and think twice before you shoot unless they are coming inside your home or actually attacking you or are carrying a gun themselves. With the way things are now you could end up in more trouble than the thief. I recommend a 12 gauge shot gun over a pistol any day. First you are unlikely to miss and second if you do miss it won't go through a neighbors house and harm them. Double 00 buck or #2 goose loads are best.
Sucks rocks. If you shoot a thief around here in Socialism land - you go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect 200$. However, that doesnt mean they get a free ride out here in farmer land - farmers will shoot you and deal with the fallout later.
Our best defense here is Dogs. Big ones outside, little ones inside - the little ones hear everything.
I have motion detectors in my shop which sound off in the house. And motion lights at each end of the building.
I have the same... I have also installed an additional "screamer" in the workshop... backed up with RIO over the windows. Locks can be key locked from the inside in case they manage to crawl under the 5mm gap in the door to get in.
The "screamers" can be tolerated by most people for about 20 seconds, just enough time to code off the alarm at the master console... after the 20 seconds, most people tend to loose equilibrium and if they don't escape the noise, they become very unsteady and hard to carry with hands over the ears... run outside and scream out "hey thief"... the one that doesn't turn around is HE!
If the alarm goes off, SWMBO won't henpeck me for at least 20 seconds.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Man that sucks. I hate to say it, but avoiding an alarmed door and the way you describe them removing the glass and avoiding that sensor…any chance it’s someone who knows the shop?
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
No it was just dumb luck. He was just trying to be quiet. If that happens again the motion is back up and the glass break is on maximum now. I do wonder if he has seen me out there at night lit up a realized there must be tools in there.
Was in your exact shoes a couple years ago between Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Thankfully I was awake in the living room watching TV and heard the security system announce "Garage Door"...which is referring to the rear man door. I have a motion activated light in the garage and a window in the door between the kitchen and garage so I knew someone was in there. Being a country boy I introduced would be burglar to a different type of high velocity tool. I did not have to do anything besides present that tool and he took of so fast he ran into our chain link fence and flipped over on to his stupid head. The crazy thing is while the police were at my house they got a call from a neighbor a few houses down about another break in. My dog and the misses slept thru the break-in, the police arriving, rushing out, and coming back to finish their report. Now Mack was pushing 11 yrs old at the time and was officially retired from guard dog duty so he got a pass. But the misses still catches crap for sleeping thru that whole mess.
One tip the police gave me is don't have the door open after dark. With the amount of lighting in the shop you can clearly see everything in there just by driving/walking buy. So now I have shutters on every window in the shop. The shutters for the overhead door are just some 1-1/2 inch rigid foam boards with a pull tab made of duct tape I can wedge in.
It sucks to have to remember to double check locks and make sure the whole place is buttoned up tight but its better than the alternative I guess. To my knowledge they never caught the would be burglar but did get a couple prints so if he gets picked up on something else maybe they toss on breaking and entering.
Murderers, Rapists and thieves all the same from me, shot.
Reminds me of a time back in the 80's. We were building oil and gas, pipe rack and equipment modules in a compound North of Saskatoon Saskatchewan in the middle of winter. -30 plus a strong wind blowing was pretty common that winter. Anyway, a semi-truck making a delivery spun out on one of our electrical cords in the back 40 that was powering one of our headache shacks (lunch and foremen's trailer). Needless to say, it knocked out our furnace. I followed the damaged cord while packing a new one to plug in to an oil recycler building just over the fence that we had an agreement with to plug in that particular shack. The steel door was locked, so I just used a welding rod to release the simple door latch. Walked in and tripped over a binder twine strung 6" or so above the floor. Heard a clang and then hissing and then the strong smell of ammonia. Grabbed a breath and ran over and turned off the valve to a small ammonia tank. He had rigged the twine to a trip weight and a ball valve. Good thing it was daylight and I could see it. Would have worked great at night to keep the thieves out I guess!
Foghorn ..... in a compound North of Saskatoon Saskatchewan in the middle of winter...... ........ Would have worked great at night to keep the thieves out I guess!
Or those pesky Sasquatch!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Was discussing burglary with my neighbor, the retired sheriff of the county. He said, "Do what you can but if they want it bad enough they will find a way to get it." Our one block street is mainly retired people, We have one Military MP, a retired U.S. Marshal, a retired FBI and several avid hunters. Across the golf course is the retired Sheriff and an active duty Sheriff's Lt. The golf course has night security that roams and not on a schedule. Sheriff helped set that up. Hopefully this helps make our neighborhood a bit more of a challenge to would be thieves.
One of the easiest ways the bad guys enter a garage with an opener is to push the top of the door in slightly, insert a hook, even a wire coat hanger will work, hook the emergency cord and pull it through the slight opening. Then simply pull the emergency cord to release the door from the opener and lift the garage door open. Tried it myself on my garage doors, easy to do. Works even if the opener is set to locked. I then changed the emergency release cord. Shorter does not reach the opening and no hookable handle. Strengthened the top of the door so flex was no longer there. Steel L channel bolted on, Shop overhead door added sliding bolt type locks. Hopefully money spent that will never be used.
The Sheriff also noted the more you are known for doing work the more targeted you become.
Our sheriff (CF & I would be within the same jurisdiction) has openly stated for people to arm themselves in the past. I'm far enough from the city that we don't have police, just deputies and the highway patrol when needed so the city PD may have a different opinion about such encouragement. I've been pretty lazy regarding security but it hasn't biten me yet, I'm at the back of the neighborhood and it seems darn near every other house has a RING doorbell so they'll certainly be on several videos if they make the trek. I think part of it is criminals are lazy and wouldn't want to put forth the effort when there's more desirable targets closer. My beat up Pontiac with clearcoat peeling and my truck in the driveway aren't nearly enticing as the neighbor's BMW, Tesla & Porche Taycan.
