Help with vandals......

[angelboy]

Can anyone suggest how I can protect a For Sale board from being vandalized?


I first attached the sign to a tree at the bottom on my drive and within a few days it had been torn down.

I then put 12mm (could have been 18mm) MDF in the middle of the sign and nailed it on with panel pins which just happened to be a little bit too long and so protruded a little.......(whoops!). The result being a chav with a cut and sprained hand! Job done!

Nope.......another little twerp decided to take a stick to it and whilst the board held up the plastic sale board was torn so it had to be stuck down.

By now we're over 10 months into the tatty sign being up and my wife tells me this morning that the sign has been pulled down. The MDF has been soaked through and add a swinging monkey boy it's pulled down.

So, what do I do next!

I thought about doing something similar in marine ply with a 1" edge covered in some nasty grease and maybe a some carpet grippers around the edges.

or getting a steel frame fabricated with some steel mesh in the center of the board and hoop fixed to the tree.

I'm not looking to hurt anyone, I just want to keep the sign long enough for the house to sell and without having to replace it at my cost of £60 per board!

Any ideas that won't get me locked up?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Attach the board to the house walls as high up as possible (and away from windows - stones)

 

[HERTS P&D]

Put the sign higher up the tree or sink in a concrete spur 100mm 100mm into the ground then you can bolt a 100mm x 100mm timber post 3m high and put your sign on that.

Hope that helps.

Andy

 

[ColJack]

it's not really giving a good impression if you have to put up an armour plated for sale sign with spikes all round it to deter the vandals though is it?

just get loads of new ones and replace them as and when they get damaged..

you could always wait in the tree with a BB gun and shoot the little scrotes when they try to vandalise it..

 

[crank39]

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.

 

[big-all]

i am assuming you are trying to sell your own home
i personaly wouldnt bother
if you saw a sign that looked like it was bomb proof and probably dammaged would want to live in that area

why not just place it in an upstairs window and up your internet presence

 

[1john]

How about getting some vinyl stickers made and applying them to a sheet of quality plywood and then varnish over the whole lot, this may well look like a quality sign rather than a bomb proof sign, screw it firmly to the tree as nails pull out alot easier, especially with 20 stone of overweight scumbag chav handing on it.

 

[Mickymoody]

Negotiate with the tearaways..and reach a conclusion? Maybe pay them a fee to look after your property?

Some bloke knocking down a house in my vicinity offered me the same deal, when lead etc wasn't so expensive, so I was naive to NOT nickstuff. (T'was the '80's), so me and my mates acted as local police. Job done.

Times, they are a changing. Community spirit.

 

[daneski88]

Negotiate with the tearaways..and reach a conclusion? Maybe pay them a fee to look after your property?

I considered offering the same advice, but then decided against it as it seem inappropriate to teach children that they should expect to be paid in order to stay within the realms of social responsibility.

 

[TicklyT]

If the sign was provided by an estate agent, I imagine it would be in their interest to maintain it in good order, otherwise it presents a very poor image of their business.

 

[Johnmelad502]

Attach it to a metal backer plate, attached to a metal post, (thouroghly soak ground) attached to mains electricity.

 

[angelboy]

Some good answers.....some daft, but what did I expect hey?

There's no way I'm going to try and reason with the arseholes.......I've already chased one into his own back garden only to be met as I left with two huge snarly dogs. Funny how the parents didn't come out when I brayed the **** out of their door!

The post isn't this issue so sinking a concrete post won't be of any use, the tree it's nailed to (9" nails by the way) is far more sold than a concrete post. It's the fact that the board can only be attached from one side making it easy to get a grip and lever it off it's fixings.

I agree that I don't want the sign to put people off viewing my house as the area really isn't that bad. The place I grew up was 80% ****hole and 20% decent houses whereas where I am at the moment it's more like 95% decent house and 5% ****hole. The problem being that the ****hole part is a little further out of the village and to get to the middle of the village you pass my house!

I'm marketing the property myself through an online estate agent so as a result each sign costs me £60 - which I have now been informed by my local bobby mean that any damage is criminal damage!

I can't put the sign in a window as my drive is 50m long and the tree/sign is at the bottom of it. That's why I haven't been able to catch more of the little ****s in action.

It's not just me, all the signs on the road are been vandalised but after I collared one of the little ****es they stopped with my sign for a good 8 months or so.

I would rather put an end to it once and for all without me being locked up or eaten by dogs!!!

 

[marshman]

You could stick your sign on to a sheet of 4 mm mild steel plate and coach bolt it to the tree, the thin top edge ( grind it thinner but not sharp )
would make it painful to hang on to.

 

[ColJack]

grind it razor sharp, it's impossible to hang on to it with no fingers...
( a little disclaimer saying "danger sharp edges" on the front should be fair warning.. )

 

[big-all]

ok i fully agree with not giving in to the local mini mafia buuuut your choices

if you are in dispute with your neibours you must report this to the person buying your house
why not but a trampoline or something exciting
let them use it at reasonable times on condition they are your "helpers " they will have to keep an eye on your property and tell them if your house sale goes through they can have the trampolene for there own garden to share with the comunity kids when you move
ok you may have kids at the end off your garden when you want privacy but think about the longer term £200 a bit off watching happy kids even if inconvenient to sell your house
compared to selling with roudy kids and a dispute knoking 10 to 20% off the value off your house
most deprived kids are honest and well brought up but iff the parents are lacking in morals or basic social skills its not the kids fault
you would do better giving the kids some exitement to get them onside rather than continuing the pointless game off protecting your sign