How to keep a tractor from being... burned !

[Ed 22]

I don't want to hi-jack the other thread with a similar title, but someone managed to burn my garden mower and tools, last week !

It was stored on an enclosed, remote property, under a roof which was also destroyed. They probably used gas, thrown over the hedge (the hedge is so burned down, that I believe they stood just behind it, pouring a lot of gas on it, as it's much more burned than the trees on the side).



I couldn't insure it, as they wanted it to be inside some building... enclosure was not enough.

If I can buy a new one, my only idea is to buy a small, closed metallic shelter, 0.5 mm thick, but the locks do not appear to be that solid.

This was the little green beast, some years ago :



Any help welcome : donation - Paypal - to moderators, sorry for this, feel free to remove the link, but this is a real PITA ! 2 machines, metal from the engines is molted ! most tools, shelter, we have to remove the burned trees if I want to plant new for the hedge, etc !

Not sure what to do right now, I'd sure like to learn the police found something before starting to build something new ! and grass is growing already...

 

[rd_macgregor]

You might want to look into getting a 20' shipping container. They are pretty solidly built and lock up well. Unfortunately, no amount of locking can guarantee a sufficiently motivated thief, or vandal, won't manage to break in. I had a friend with a log cabin whose neighbor's cabin was broken into with a chainsaw!! Harder to do that with a shipping container than with a garden shed, but still...

 

[dickfoster]

That's too bad. Many people suck which is why I moved out of the city and to where there are far fewer of them but maybe not far enough. I store my tractor around on the backside of the house where it's out of sight of the road where people can see it. Out of sight out of mind. My RV shed is open on three sides and right up next to the road where it was too visible. If you buy a new shelter place it where it isn't easily seen.
Oh well maybe you can get yourself a new tractor now.
The shipping container idea sounds good to me. Cheap, weather proof and built stout.

 

[kevin37b]

Looks like the fire started inside. What have you got for neighbors ?

 

[Ed 22]

You might want to look into getting a 20' shipping container.

Although it looks better in a yard than in a garden, they are quite massive, I've been thinking of that for years. Now I'm forced to admit it would have been cheaper than the current loss !

I store my tractor around on the backside of the house where it's out of sight of the road where people can see it. Out of sight out of mind. My RV shed is open on three sides and right up next to the road where it was too visible.

It would be much more practical this way and I'd feel much safer (not if they still burned it, though !) but it's not where I live.

Looks like the fire started inside. What have you got for neighbors ?

Neighbors are farmers, those just next to us seem fine, open, and when we spoke together they never complained...

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sorry for your loss. I am in the security business. I get calls all the time about problems people are having. There is usually a story behind the problems, and citing one reason or another, I usually refer them to some local competition, just to avoid the matter entirely. Protecting someone against normal crime or the odds against normal crime are one thing. If someone is specifically targeting you, that is another matter entirely. This is a very serious attack on your property (a crime of arson) and you say you have no idea what this is about?

 

[Ed 22]

Sorry for your loss. I am in the security business. I get calls all the time about problems people are having. There is usually a story behind the problems, and citing one reason or another, I usually refer them to some local competition, just to avoid the matter entirely. Protecting someone against normal crime or the odds against normal crime are one thing. If someone is specifically targeting you, that is another matter entirely. This is a very serious attack on your property (a crime of arson) and you say you have no idea what this is about?

I certainly see no sane reason to act like this !

I'm quite peaceful, but I understand some aggressive people find this a good enough motivation to attack... they think they can get away with it if you are not threatening enough ! Would this be what you call "a story behind the problems" ?

 

[Qapla]

Sorry to hear of this. Vandals are a real pain.

Hope you get some help. though I had a link removed (in fact, the whole post was removed) when I asked for financial help - something to do with needing to pay for advertising.

 

[darrenjttu]

Are you sure someone set fire to it. Cars can catch fire just sitting in the garage. Lots of things with batteries will catch fire and I can see a tractor being no different than the brand new dodge RAM I had to put out the other day.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I guess it could be pure, unmotivated vandalism, but I think Industrial Toys is referring to the way some folks take offense at innocuous actions or comments and retaliate. It might be you putting up no-trespassing signs, or a gate, where there didn't used to be any, or some overheard complaint about something (dog barking, kids messing around on the property, noisy parties, almost anything)...or even a totally imagined slight. Some folks are a bit unbalanced and slip over the edge too easily!

The point darenjttu raised also crossed my mind, but I haven't seen the evidence at the site like you have.

Bob