apparent thefts out of our garage -- suggestions?

[patandchickens]

I had a new-in-box electric fence charger sitting around waiting to be installed for a long while, I know it was in the garage 5-6 weeks ago, but now it is gone, and I mean like "I have torn apart every room of every building on the property three times now" gone. (Had to replace it with one from TSC that was almost twice as expensive AND only half the power, b/c original one was bought from Premier in the states but shipping/tax/duty/etc makes them super expensive to order from up here as opposed to buying while down there)

Had chalked it up to one of those little mysteries....

...and then last night my husband went to put his summer tires in the trunk to have the garage swap 'em back this afternoon, and they were GONE. I am absolutely sure nothing accidental could happen to, for cryin' out loud, a set of four newish (rimless) tires. It's not like they can slip behind the sofa cushions or accidentally go out with the recycling.

We have all sorts of cr*p in the garage, so I can't tell for sure nothing else is missing, but the only thing I can think of of value is my $800 DR-brand wheeled stringtrimmer, and THAT, fortunately, perhaps thru being buried under cardboard boxes for the winter , is still present and accounted for. (I am getting a padlock today so I can chain it to the wall :/)

It is really not practical to lock the garage... the front (car) doors of the garage are old and no longer lockable and we can't afford to replace them but use them too often for lawnmowers etc to be able to just bolt them permanently shut, and while we COULD put a lock on the back 'people' door, I suppose, there is a window right next to it so what's the point really. The garage is attached to the basement, which like the garage has mostly Miscellaneous Stuff of no great value, but the door from the basement to the house itself is always kept locked.

The garage is nearly-invisible from the house and at the far end from our bedrooms, so a motion sensor light would not "alert" us to anything b/c we'd never see it. Rural area, no relevant neighbors.

I guess I'm wondering whether anyone has any creative suggestions for discouraging people from doing any more rummaging around in our garage. Can't leave dog loose there, and it has to be some sort of solution that does not interfere with OUR going in and out of the garage many times per day.

Any ideas appreciated, however wild or incompletely-workable they may be LOL,

Pat

 

[glenolam]

I'm thinking running eletric wire around the entry ways....

Not that it'd work since you'd have to shut it off each and every time you want to go in there, but it sure as heck would make someone think twice about trying to get in!

 

[FarmerChick]

that stinks Pat cause out of sight is never good and people love that for good stealing.

I know, our 4 monster barns is down a 1 mile dirt road in the middle of nowhere and they steal.....we lock some but some we can't lock for door reasons like you said....UGH I hate having to protect every darn thing we own....

camera

set up a wildlife camera and aim it at the door. Tony's would catch easily anyone entering.....he has video capability also. But you can get a still pic at least. Borrow one from a hunting friend if needed.

if someone is coming and stealing, then you can act. And yo have them on tape. Example would be is 'taking on the cost of new lockable doors' more important than leaving it open and available?

I say camp out with buckshot and shoot them in the azz if they come but that is not practical LOL but we all want to do that to anything stealing or killing our stuff. Like those wild mutts that killed 10 goats. Tony stayed up a few nights with his gun, no dogs...lol...but oh how he wanted to get them.

if you get a pic they are there, then maybe you can set up a baby monitor in that building and you can hear in the house that someone is actually in your garage and then can act on that.
at least you might hear what is happening???

ugh I hate people lol well not all but thieves suck

 

[patandchickens]

I should clarify, I have no particular reason to believe this is *repeated* visits -- it could perfectly well have been just one person once. I don't inventory the garage every day, to put it very mildly LOL

I like the game-cam idea, but for the same reason the front garage doors aren't going to get fixed anytime soon, I don't think we can afford to sink hundreds into a game cam either. Especially since we now have to find some way of putting together $700ish to replace those tires :/ I'll dip into emergency savings if necessary for tires, but not for the others, at least not without evidence that this was more than a one-off incident.

I wonder if we could hear one of those very loud (cheap) window burgler-alarms from the bedroom -- the kind that screech if the two parts are separated? Hm. I'd have to figure out a way to rig it that we wouldn't be setting it off OURSELVES, but that's probably doable -- am thinking maybe putting it on a looseish "leash" so that you can open the door a little and reach in to detach it properly if you know it's there. Hm, have to think about that.

Of course, that'd probably just make it seem more like there might be something WORTH stealing in there. This is not rare, around here -- a lot of people lose snowmobiles and ATVs -- and I've always kind of figured our best defense was simply not having the sorts of things that anyone'd be likely to steal. It never occurred to me someone might want a nice fence charger and a set of nearly-new tires :/

I am really, really pissed off about this because it comes at a very inconvenient time financially for us :/ I shouldn't complain, I mean we do have a bit of emergency savings and it's not like we're going to lose the house or anything, but, still, MAN.

Pat

 

[i_am2bz]

The odd thing is...tires are HEAVY. This isn't something some random person walking by could just slip in & carry out. :/

 

[patandchickens]

we're out in farmland, there is no "random person walking by" anyone coming here would have come in a vehicle.

Pat

 

[Henrietta23]

We had a couple of those screeching alarms. They are quite loud. I wonder if they would at least scare anyone off if they even thought you MIGHT be able to hear them? Same thing with a motion sensor light. An intruder might not want to take the chance of being seen or heard if they weren't sure.

 

[Wifezilla]

You can get game cam systems for very cheap now. There is a black & White 2 camera set up for $65 at harbor freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=camera

Barring that, yeah, chain the expensive stuff to the wall.

 

[i_am2bz]

we're out in farmland, there is no "random person walking by" anyone coming here would have come in a vehicle.

Pat

Exactly. Could someone actually drive up to your place in a car/truck without you knowing...? Or are you gone during large parts of the day?

 

[Wifezilla]

One of your neighbors have a friend or a cousin staying with them?