Patio furniture is a valuable asset that needs to be protected. Outdoor pieces are not cheap, and they may even hold sentimental value for you. That’s why it’s very important to find the best way to secure patio furniture from theft.
We’re going to go over all of our tips for patio furniture protection, as well as the steps to take following a patio furniture theft incident. After reading this article, you will be informed about all of the necessary steps to protect your patio furniture, before and after an incident takes place.
9 Best Way To Secure Patio Furniture From Theft
1. Get a House Sitter.
An effective way to protect your property from domestic theft is to ensure that there is always someone home. When there are people at home, thieves are discouraged from trying to steal from you.
Additionally, a house sitter can be aware of the activity that happens around the home so that they can prevent anything suspicious. When you go out of town, always assign someone to at least check up on your house regularly.
2. Leave Your Dogs Outside.
While dogs are friendly and furry friends, they can also be intimidating and protective. Your pets can serve as a built-in alarm system. Dogs will usually bark loudly if an unknown person enters the yard. This is an efficient way for you to be alerted if something is happening outside.
Make a habit of letting the dogs stay outback at night so that no one can enter your backyard without you being notified by your dog’s barking. If you don’t already have a dog, buying one could be the most exciting step to take to protect your patio furniture.
Tweet This For Secure Your Friends Furniture
3. Keep the Area Well Lit.
Thieves mainly steal things that are left in dark areas. This is because low exposure makes for the perfect environment to get away with a crime. Make sure that your patio is well-lit to avoid theft.
It is worth the investment to install additional lighting if your patio is dim at night. Keeping the lights on also deters thieves because they will think that someone is in the home. Having bright lights on at night is a beneficial and simple practice.
4. Lock it Up.
As you can imagine, locking up your patio furniture can be the most secure option for making sure it doesn’t get stolen. By connecting multiple pieces together, they become hard to transport, and therefore, it won’t be an excellent opportunity to steal.
There are cable locks for patio furniture available in stores and online. Make sure to buy one that’s too thick to cut. A suitable material for the cable is steel because it’s very difficult to break. If you prefer something more durable and don’t mind the appearance, you can also use metal chains.
5. Install Security Cameras.
Collecting running footage of your yard is a great way to prevent theft. The videos would certainly help the police identify a criminal if something were to happen to your patio furniture.
Security cameras are efficient because they also scare trespassers out of stealing just by seeing that they are installed. This tip helps with prevention and aftermath resolution.
6. Bolt the Furniture to the Floor.
One way to be extra sure that your furniture won’t get taken is to fasten it to the floor. You can actually purchase connector bolts made to attach furniture to the ground. This method is very secure but also a huge commitment.
Some people may not want to put holes in their patio floor, while others might simply not want to go through the work of installing bolts. Nonetheless, this is a smart idea that will definitely keep your patio furniture from being susceptible to theft.
This may be an appealing idea to someone who is building apartments and needs to protect themselves from theft on a large scale. When adding the patio furniture to the home, you can secure it to the ground so that you can rest assured that it will stay there.
7. Adequately Fence in Your Yard.
If you have parts of your yard that are easy to bypass, consider getting a fence upgrade. Having a tall enough fence means that no one will be able to trespass, much less to carry your furniture out with them.
Improving the fencing of your house can be as simple as patching up a few holes or as big as installing an entirely new fence. Living in a gated community would be a bonus for protecting your home from robbery.
8. Use Your Patio Frequently.
A vacancy is one of the main things that attract thieves to try to steal something. If you are always seen using your patio and being at home, then no one will get the idea that there’s an opportunity to take from the house.
Try to use your patio regularly if it’s visible to others. You wouldn’t expect this to be a solution to robbery, but it actually will help. For those whose patio can’t be seen by the public, it’s best to use another one of these methods for ultimate protection.
9. Store it in the Garage When not in Use.
Not all furniture needs to stay outside all the time. In fact, leaving it outside only makes it get dirty and possibly even attract animals like spiders for shelter. If you have easily portable furniture, why leave it outside?
Although you definitely won’t want to drag your couch in and out of the garage every time you use it, this can be a good tactic for lighter items like chairs. It only takes a moment to set the furniture back up on your porch, and there’s no way that it can be stolen if it’s closed off in your garage.
What To Do If Your Furniture Has Already Been Stolen?
1. File a Police Report.
In situations that involve theft, it’s always a good idea to inform the police immediately. Getting the law involved means potentially catching the person who stole your patio furniture and potentially even getting your belongings back.
Call the police as soon as you discover what happened so they can provide you with peace of mind and legal assistance. Hopefully, they will be able to get your furniture back to you.
2. Reach Out to Your Neighbors.
There more people you inform about an incident, the more likely it is to be resolved. Kindly ask if your neighbors have security cameras that might have picked up some relevant images.
They could tell you that they saw the thief around your house and help you identify them. Your neighbors may have seen suspicious activity at your home, but they might not inform you unless you explain that something has gone wrong.
3. Warn the Block.
It’s always a good idea to let your neighbors know when abnormal things are taking place around your home. This can both help prevent more crime from happening at other homes near yours, as well as make sure that everyone has their eyes open.
By making your neighbors aware of the furniture theft that took place at your house, it will be less likely to happen again. The more awareness you can bring to the situation the better.
4. Contact Your Home Insurance Provider.
If your home is financed by a mortgage or rented from a landlord, then you were most likely required to get home insurance. And this security should cover theft that takes place both inside your home and out.
If something happens to your patio furniture, contact your home insurance provider immediately to see if they can replace it. They may request proof that you purchased the furniture, so you should have a photo or receipt to provide them.
5. Be More Careful with Your Belongings.
Unfortunately, sometimes, we have to lose things to realize that we weren’t conscious of our belongings. If your patio furniture got stolen, you would have to learn the hard way to take better care of it.
While it’s not your fault that someone ran off in the middle of the night with your property, you can now take extra measures to ensure that nothing like that will happen again. Just add some of the above tips to your patio, and you will be safe from future accidents.
Conclusion
Now you know all of the steps that can be taken to counteract patio furniture theft, before and after stealing takes place. As you’ve seen, there is a wide range of preventive measures, from installing lights to leaving the dogs outside.
By following our advice, you will be very unlikely to encounter theft. And if you do or have found yourself in a situation of patio furniture theft, you now know exactly what to do to solve the problem.
Henry Jurk is an experienced architect with over 20 years of expertise in paving. He shares his knowledge and provides solutions through his blog posts at OkPatio.com. If you have any questions about patios, gardens, and outdoor spaces, you can find the correct answers from Henry. You can contact him via email at ar.henryjurk@gmail.com or through the website’s contact page.
