Tips On Buying A Home Safe

There are several reasons you might be thinking about buying a home safe to store your valuable items. We live in a society where the safely and security of our homes is not as reliable as it once was and it can take just a few minutes for a thief to break in and grab a few of your valuable possessions but owning a safe will, at the very least, slow them down and as no thief wants to spend a second longer than they have to in the pursuit of their criminal activity they may give up and go away..

Every few minutes someones home or business suffers a break in. Every single one of those crimes causes great distress to the families affected because of the feelings of having been abused by a stranger entering your home uninvited. They may be suffering the loss of family heirlooms that have been in the family for many years and any valuable they once had will, most likely, be gone. In the majority of cases the loss would be seriously reduced if the owners had installed a safe.

A home or business burglary can be devastating in many ways Not only have you lost some or even all of your most precious and important belongings but you are left feeling very vulnerable and insecure in your own home. An easy way to give yourself some peace of mind and help to prevent the possible loss of valuables is to install a strong and secure safe in your home or office. You should not just rely on a safe to protect your possessions. You should always take some basic security precautions to protect your home

Basic security precautions are just the first step in protecting your home contents and keeping your valuables safe and secure. Whenever you leave your home you should always check your doors and windows are closed and locked and have good quality locks and perhaps a burglar alarm fitted to help deter the majority of casual thieves.

There are other good reasons to get a home safe. One is that it makes you more security conscious which is a good thing and it can help you avoid misplacing your jewelry. If you have a valuable set of earrings or a diamond ring these are small items that can all to easily be mislaid. If you have a home safe and always get into the habit of putting your valuable jewelry in the safe when you remove them you will never have to worry where you put them down.

Another important use of a home safe is for storing valuable documents. Many, but not all, safes are also fireproof up to a point and in the event of a fire you need to have your insurance documents, your home ownership documents and even your spare cash, kept safe from fire damage.

Once you have got a decent level of security for your doors and windows the next stage of security is to make your valuables difficult to find. This may not deter the serious thief but most will want to avoid any delay caused by having to thoroughly search your property for valuables.

You can purchase a cheap disguised valuables storage solution such as an imitation baked bean can or a hollowed out book but if you plan to use these types of disguised storage you could also consider making your own. You can read more details on my hub, how to make a safe It explains how you can make a simple, disguised secret safe.

There are three main types of home safe. These are the standard floor standing safe, wall mounted safes and embedded floor safes.

Each type may also have different types of key and opening systems. These may include key operated, digital number entry operated, combination lock secured and a magnetic swipe card system for unlocking the safe door. The most recent and perhaps the most secure possible is the biometric controlled opening system that can read your thumbprint. and only opens if it is the correct fingerprint

Each of these home safe systems has some benefits and some disadvantages. The floor safe is usually stronger and more secure with only one way in through the floor. The standing safe can be very strong but must be securely mounted to the floor. The wall safe is made more secure by not being obvious and is often hidden behind a picture or furniture unit. A general guide would be that the more you pay the better the safe and system of security you are likely to get..

For the best quality safes you should look out for standards for the strength and resistance to attack for safes which have been established by the world renowned Underwriters Laboratories organization which is an independent, not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization. When considering which wall safe to buy look for the Underwriters Laboratories rating which will show that the safe can resist fire damage to paper items as follows:-
class-A rated safes can withstand a 2,000-degree fire for four hours.
Class-B safes resist a 1,850-degrees fire for two hours.
Class-C safes can suffer a 1,000-degree fire for one hour.
Other materials could be damaged in less time so check if you plan to put sensitive materials inside your safe and require them to be protected in the event of a fire.

Underwriters Laboratories also test for resistance to physical attack and they have been testing and certifying safes for more than 80 years. The first safe tested for burglary resistance was in 1923 and the first bank vault in 1925 so they should know what they are talking about.

You can also find more details about ratings here..Safe Rating Classifications

Deciding which safe to buy will depend on several factors that only you can decide on. A cheap home safe will deter the casual thief but not a more determined criminal while a heavier duty and more expensive safe will keep most thieves away from its contents.

You have to balance cost against risk but the cost should not be higher than the value of the contents unless there is a value of the contents to you which is priceless for family heirlooms etc.

A fireproof safe could make your life a lot easier to recover in the event of a fire when having all those insurance documents and house deeds survive the fire would make the experience a little easier to bear .