Improve Side Gate Security (5 Simple Tips)

Side gate security is a really important aspect of your home security strategy, because side gates usually lead to the rear of your property, an area where criminals will often target to enable them access to things like garages, sheds and rear patio doors. It makes sense then to improve side gate security any way you can, making it harder for a criminal to access this vulnerable area.

In this article we’ll go through 5 simple tips to help you improve side gate security and help make your home a harder target.

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Improve Side Gate Security

To improve side gate security, you first need to think like a criminal.

Criminals will nearly always choose the path of least resistance, meaning that they will target homes with minimal security measures over those that have more security measures present.

Take the below image as an example. It would take a few seconds to walk off the street and into the back of these properties back gardens and rear entrances, simply because they don’t have a secure side gate.

The following 5 tips will improve side gate security and make it harder for even a determined crimal to get access down the side of your home.

1. Install A Secure Side Gate

If your home doesn’t have a secure side gate, and you can walk off the street and walk down the side of your home to access the rear of your property, without the need to open a gate or climb over a barrier, then you are immediately a soft target.

Although gates can be climbed over, they are a barrier. They are a physical barrier as well as a mental barrier.

They are a physical barrier in the sense that someone walking off the street can’t simply walk down the side of your house and access the rear. To access the rear of your home, a person now needs to either break through the gate, or climb over it.

And they are a mental barrier because any crimianl looking at your home will be immediately put off by the fact that they would need to climb over the gate or break in through the gate to enable them to access the rear of your property, which is something they don’t want to do because it increases the chances of them being caught.

So, if you don’t have a side gate for security purposes, your first task is to go out and buy a side gate, and then install it.

Side gates can be bought from your local timber merchant or from superstores like Wickes or B&Q, and installed by a joiner.

The important thing to remember here, is that a secure side gate is only made secure by adding a lock to the inside of the gate. I’m not talking a slide across bolt lock, I am talking about using a padlock on the inside of the gate at a minimum.

If there is no lock on the gate, then anyone climbing over th gate can potentially enter your garden, and steal garden furniture or other items and simply open the gate from the inside, making off with your possessions.

A padlocked secure side gate will stop them doing this.

2. Install Motion Sensor Lighting

Criminals love the darkness. They much prefer breaking into a home that is surrounded by darkness rather than light, because it makes their detection less likely.

Installing motion sensor lighting in and around the area of your side gate is neither expensive or hard to do – depending on which route you wish to take.

The cheapest and easiest way is to install these lights here.

They are solar powered so require no wiring – simply screw them into an external wall and turn the motion sensing setting on.

I use these lights on my own property, and I swear by them. They are bright and very efficient in sensing movement. Even on cloudy days, these lights still get charged up, and they haven’t once failed me in over 2 years.

This is the 1 pack, but I really recommend you go for the 4 pack.

Consider placing one in front of your secure side gate, and one in the area behind it. For an even more robust security arrangement, you could even use the others along your garden path or driveway, or at the rear of your home in front of garden sheds, garages or patio doors.

A more expensive route is to go down the wired solution.

This will cost you more because you’ll probably need an electrician to wire it up.

3. Use Signage

Don’t underestimate the use of signs around your home.

Just a couple of well placed, subtle signs tells everyone that you are security conscious and you take security of your home seriously.

They don’t have to be huge signs, because after all, this is your home and you don’t want it looking ‘commercialised’ (looking like a business premises that have loads of signs plastered all over), and you want to keep your home looking homely.

Here’s 2 examples below, but there’s a whole selection of signs here.

4. Use Anti Climb Paint Or Spikes

If you have wooden side gates, with or without an attached wooden fence, then you can improve side gate security of these by using either spikes or anti climb paint.

Using either of these will greatly improve your side gate security, because it makes it harder for someone to climb the gate or fence.

A determined criminal will still be able to climb over, because if they want to climb over they will find a way, but the key here is making it harder for them to do so, as well as slowing them down.

Making it harder for them to climb over and slowing them down increases the likelihood of them being caught or spotted, which is something that they obviously don’t want to happen.

So if they do try and choose to climb over, even with this security measure in place, there’s a chance that they might actually abandon the attempt due to this measure.

5. Install CCTV

CCTV at home.

It’s a touchy subject for me.

On one hand, you’ve got a big positive for CCTV: it’s a huge deterrent.

On the other hand, and this is personal opinion, it shouts out that the neighbourhood is unsafe and is riddled with crime.

That’s where I am with CCTV.

But that’s my opinion, and my opinion only, the fact is that CCTV is a huge deterrent and placed wisely near to your side gates, will improve that side gate security no end.

Of course, an even bigger deterrent is having a home DIY security system installed by yourself, in and around your home.

Whether you go down the route of fake CCTV or a real CCTV system, that is something for you to decide and there’s a lot of the market at the moment, from wireless CCTV to fully integrated, wired systems.

Summary

Having a secure side gate is an important security measure for your home. A secure side gate can be the difference between a criminal accessing the rear of your property or not.

If you take on board just 2 or 3 tips from above and implement them, then you are better prepared and have better security arrangements than 99% of other homes.

Layering security measures is always better than just one security measure, because it provides strength in depth, especially when we think about the different ways security measures are categorised; deter, detect, prevent.

Just take a walk in your neighbourhood, and survey just how many homes have these features, and I’ll bet you it is very few.

I’m often amazed at how many homes don’t have even a gate that segregates and creates a barrier between the road and the rear of a property. It’s literally an open invite to all criminals, both hardened crimianls and those who are simply looking for an opportunity.

By implementing these measures on your own home, you have a greater chance of a criminal looking at your home and passing it by in search of an easier target that doesn’t have these security measures present.

Other Articles You May Also Like…

Here’s a selection of some other articles you may like from the website.

• 75 Ways To Improve Home Security
• 25 Ways To Improve Garage Security
• Best External Security Lighting For Homes
• Patio Door Security: Improve the Security Of Patio Doors

Your Comments & Questions

I’m always happy to see comments from readers appear in my inbox, so don’t be shy, let me know what you think of the article on having a secure side gate and general side gate security, let me know what security measures you have and ask any questions that you might be unsure of.

Stay Safe. Stay Secure.