Buying a safe is a wise investment for those with easily portable valuables. Items like jewelry, coin collections, furs, and cameras are easy for thieves to fence, thus making appealing targets.
Experienced burglars know where to look for these things too, so your favorite hiding place might not be as secure as you think. A bank safe deposit box is the most secure place to store your valuables, but these tend to be small, only able to hold a few items.
Home safes are another option. Before you buy a safe, make sure you understand the different levels of protection. All good safes will have Underwriters Laboratories, or UL, ratings. These ratings determined how fire-resistant a safe is and fall into the following categories:
Class C Safe -- Protects paper documents for up to 1 hour at temperatures up to 1700°F
Class B Safe -- Protects paper documents for up to 2 hours at temperatures up to 1850°F
Class A Safe -- Protects paper documents for up to 4 hours at 2000°F.
Under most circumstances, a class B or C safe is fine for adequately protecting irreplaceable papers. There are specialized safes available to protect data storage devices and computer disks.
A good safe should also protect against damage caused by a collapsing building.
If you don't feel that you need something as big and bulky as a safe, you may consider a money chest. Money chests are usually secured to your house's structure. They are typically smaller than safes, but they are also more expensive.
Combination safes, which are often featured on television, are popular choices. These safes are made up of two parts: a sturdy money chest inside an equally sturdy fire-resistant safe. They have a thick steel door and walls, along with a combination lock that includes a relocking device.
They can be bolted to your floor or set in concrete, thus ensuring a burglar cannot move them.
|
|
Types of Home Safes
Wall Safes
Wall safes are mounted in the wall. These safes are usually narrow enough to allow installation between the typical 16 inch studs. You want to ensure you buy a system that gets bolted securely to the wall, so it would be difficult for the thief to simply remove the safe and take it with him. Electronic wall safes store the combination digitally which means you don't have to carry a key with you (or worry about leaving the key where the thief could find it).
Floor Safes
Floor safes are bolted to the floor so they cannot be picked up and taken away. Similar to wall safes, electronic versions are available.
Freestanding Safes
Freestanding safes are the worst kind of safe you can buy, because a thief can take it with him, then figure out how to open it at his leisure.
Today, you can get safes that read digital cards or fingerprints, so you don't have to remember a combination. Make sure you keep the card with you if you choose to go that route--don't leave it by the safe.
|
HIDDEN SAFES - DIVERSION SAFES
Most burglars will spend LESS THAN 6 MINUTES in your home.
They only have time to search some of the usual places. They'll look in jewelry boxes, sock drawers, under the bed, and in the freezer.
Even if a burglar had plenty of time, they'd have trouble finding valuables in these unconventional hiding places. A hidden safe will protect your cash, jewelry, credit cards, passport, or any other small important item.
These safes are real containers with actual logos to fit in with everyday household items.
They allow you to hide your valuables in plain sight. Some set on a shelf in your cupboard, in your medicine cabinet, or in your workshop or garage.
Some are decorative and look nice in your livingroom. Some will even fit on a shelf in your fridge (you've heard of "cold cash"). They're even weighted to feel like the real thing!
Use them at home, in your dorm room, or at your office.
|
|
