Student Sam Hunt has contacted me and asking if you sheddies can help him with this project by answering a survey?
Proposed Project Title: The Remote Shed Lock – making shed access easier.
The brief – what is the problem?
The garden shed is no longer just a garden shed – it is now a recreational area. People are spending record amounts of time in their sheds. Valuable items worth hundreds and even thousands are left in the shed – and they often are treated like another room in the house.
Sheds are evolving to be larger and more robust structures, and the security provided for them is trailing behind.
Most sheds are locked using a standard bar with a padlock. This mechanism is dated and fiddly, and takes time to unlock. As the mechanism gets older, it can require significant force to unlock.
Many sheds are used several times a day and a simple idea is required to make theprocess less repetitive and quicker. People need constant security for their sheds that iseasy to operate and that allows them to control the lock from wherever.
An easier system would ease the barriers of going to the shed or even provide encouragement.
Shed owners may be discouraged from going to the shed because of outside conditions. If they didn’t have to fiddle with the lock in the dark and cold they would see it as less of a chore.
That is my problem – and the solution is currently in development.
I am Sam Hunt, a Bournemouth University student in my final year. As a Product Designer, I always look to make things that little bit easier for people.
Clever design is designing for people, for pleasure. I am undertaking this project as I feel it is a viable project which has a market.
If possible, I am looking for people to undertake my survey, and I would be greatly appreciative if you did; http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CN55YJM
I have a small shed that is rarely used because it is so tiny. But our old garage has become a substitute shed. The main car door does not work so we use the side door. This old garage has become like a large shed for us. I know several other people who use their garage in this way and rarely, if ever, keep the car in it. We access the old garage several times a day as it contains a deep freeze, tumble dryer, bicycles, tools, recycling boxes, etc I wonder if your shed lock would be suitable for other types of outbuildings (that are used as a kind of shed)
A mate commented that he was told to put two locks on his shed to meet insurance requirements so any new lock would have to approved by insurers