Barn door security

[TonkaJoe]

Not exactly garage related, however I'm sure most of us here have a shed or out building to store all the extra **** we have!. I'm having a custom built mini barn made ( as I'm too busy with work) to do it myself and I got to thinking, aside from the obvious motion sensing flood light ( which I plan to install) and run with solar power, how have you guys secured a set of barn doors from being pried open?? and what other security features have you came up with to safeguard against a break in?. I don't want to run power as I already have a shop and do all my work there, so a legit electronic security system is not in question. This is simply to store the mower, blower, patio furniture, wood, garden tools and some odds and ends. I'd just prefer they didn't grow feet and take off on me!.

 

[MushCreek]

It depends on the type of door. A regular swing-open type door can be secured like any other door, with a deadbolt into a strong frame. Is there only one door? On my barn, I have huge sliding doors which I lock from the inside, but I have a conventional man door to exit from. If there's only one door, you can get a big honkin' hasp and padlock, which will stop the casual break-in. If someone really wants in, all they need is a cordless angle grinder, and they can cuyt through just about anything. Most crooks aren't willing to work that hard, though.

I had a shed in FL that was secured with a lock and hasp, but I had a hidden lock for when we were away on vacation. It consisted of a 2X4 that dropped into place on brackets inside. I had a hidden string to pull the lock out of the way when I wanted to open it.

Around here in the rural south, some folks just hang up used paper shooting range targets to let people know what they are messing with!

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you are going to have double doos, I'd suggest pinning one door with acane bolt at the bottom and top of the door, or something similar.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/national-hardwarereg;-v836-1-2x12-cane-bolt-zinc

Couple that with a heavy duty hasp and decent lock, it will be a deterrent and that's probably all you can do.

I made mine out of some steel and lagged them to the inside of the door and frame.

 

[TonkaJoe]

MushCreek- The doors will be double swing doors although I'm considering the possibility of a more decorative garage door even.. it comes properly vented so I'm going to avoid windows on the structure. I'm undecided on weather or not to have a man door simply because of the size or the building. However that would likely make it a lot harder to come up with an exterior locking mechanism for the garage door or barn style doors.
I do own guns! although our government here is terrified of firearms.. and it's likely to land your *** in jail for pointing even an imitation gun at a robber let along giving him a good dose of rock salt!.. but I love the that they actually hang targets up down there lol. that would be enough of a signal for me!.

NUTTSGT- I really like that Idea, definitely re-enforces the door very well! I feel like you could get an extremely tight lock with that setup.

 

[MushCreek]

Double swinging doors are hard to really secure from the outside. French doors have bolts that slide into the top and bottom on one of the doors, so you would want to do that. That way, one of the doors is really secure before you close the other half. Then, the second door is dead-bolted to the first door. Chances are, most of the time you'll only open one of the two doors anyway.

I like the joke about the little old lady who has 6 deadbolts on her door, but she only locks 3 of them. That way, the burglar inadvertently locks 3 of them while unlocking the other 3!