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Six tips to prevent your garden furniture being stolen
Six tips to prevent your garden furniture being stolen
Sunny days are starting to arrive, so the deckchairs, patio braziers and robot lawnmowers are back out again. Although your outdoor furniture, tools and decorative items are there to maintain and make the garden an enjoyable place to be, they can also attract the attention of thieves. A few simple measures should help to deter them and protect your garden furniture.
Sunny days are starting to arrive, so the deckchairs, patio braziers and robot lawnmowers are back out again. Although your outdoor furniture, tools and decorative items are there to maintain and make the garden an enjoyable place to be, they can also attract the attention of thieves. A few simple measures should help to deter them and protect your garden furniture.
Install outdoor lighting
Practical and a nice addition for you, an automatic light in your yard or garden is probably the first and most practical way to keep out intruders, who of course prefer the privacy of darkness. Equipped with LEDs and a motion detection system, this type of light can be both effective and economical. Think in particular about lighting strategic places such as the garden shed or darker corners where it would be easy to hide.
Invest in an alarm or a security camera
Although a little more expensive, an alarm or video surveillance system is the ultimate way to prevent burglars from taking your barbecue, garden furniture or rare plants. Also, if something does happen, they sometimes make it easier to find the culprits or even interrupt them halfway through. There are all kinds of smart systems: some trigger an alarm siren, others send a text message to your or your neighbour’s smartphone to warn of an intruder, while others trigger a call-out by the security company or the police.
To ensure that your surveillance system is a real deterrent, don’t forget to signal it with a prominent sign at the front and back of your property.
Does a real video surveillance system seem too expensive? Then keep in mind that fake cameras sometimes look very much like the real thing!
Secure access points: fences and hedges
Not everyone can pull off an “acrobatic” burglary, i.e. jumping over fences etc. The more difficult it is to access your property, the less likely it is that thieves will want to attack it, etc. Hence the importance of properly fencing your property. Walls or fences should be high enough to be difficult to climb. Planting fast-growing thorny hedges (e.g. hawthorn) in close rows can also be quite effective. A gate with arrowheads, for example, is difficult to break through or climb over.
However, first of all find out what installations you are allowed to fit, refer to the General Development Plan (PAG) of your municipality.
Secure your garden furniture
To avoid having your furniture stolen, the safest thing to do is to secure your furniture so that it can’t be removed! Weatherproof furniture can be cemented to the floor, for example.
Other, less permanent techniques are more suitable for furniture that needs to be moved inside during the winter: chains or ropes connected to a lashing anchor cemented to the floor. Some security cables even include an alarm.
Avoid tempting thieves!
Garden furniture can be very valuable: hot tubs, tables and chairs, lamp posts, arbours, barbecues, benches, etc. It’s best to store them out of sight if you’re away for a long time or during the rainy period : in the garage or lean-to, or even the garden shed, if it’s sufficiently secure.
Is your outdoor furniture properly insured?
Then we have good news! At Foyer, your garden furniture is covered against theft (as well as storms and natural disasters) by your home insurance up to €12,200 (index of March 2023).
Already insured? A word of advice: photograph all your furniture and make a list of items together with their approximate value. Also keep all receipts as proof in case of a problem.
