If you are considering purchasing a safe for your home, here are three things that you need to take into consideration when purchasing a home safe.
#1 What You Will Use It For
Think carefully about what you will use the safe for. Many people who install safes in their home end up wishing that they would have purchased a slightly larger safe once they start using their safe on a regular basis.
Carefully consider not only what you want to use the safe for right now, but what you could use the safe for in the future. Here is a list of a few of the things you could keep secure inside of your new home safe:
- Passports
- Birth Certificates
- Insurance
- Policies
- Bank Account Information
- Retirement Plan Information
- Family Wills
- Deeds & Loan Documents
- Photo Insurance Inventory of the Home
- Jewelry
- External Hard Drive With Digital Family Photos
- Collectables
- Artwork
Make your own list of items that you want to put in your safe now and in the future, and use that list to help you select the right size of safe.
#2 Security Rating
Second, think about how secure you need the safe to be. Are you trying to just keep your documents safe in the case of a fire? If so, you really only need a safe that is fire resistant.
However, if you are worried about theft, you are going to want to go with a stronger safe.
There are different types of ratings provided to safes. At the lower end of safety and protection are RSC safes that could easily be pried open. B & C rated safes are generally designed with thicker plate doors and bodies. For ultimate security, you want to go with a U.L. rated safe. U.L ratings start at TL-15 and go up to TRTL-30X6. These different ratings relate to the value of content that the safe can hold as well as how long the safe could handle a torch attack or a tool attack on its frame without giving in.
#3 Fireproof
If you want your safe to protect against fire, you need to look for safes that say resistant to fire and provide a specific number of hours that the safe could withstand being in a fire. Fire resistant safes are specifically designed to keep paper documents safe for a specific amount of time.
You don't want to purchase a safe that is simply fire proof. There are lots of materials that are fire proof; that doesn't mean that they will protect your papers and the contents inside of your safe.
Once you find a safe that you like and that fits your needs, make sure that you hire a locksmith to properly install your safe. Locksmiths are trained in how to properly secure and install safes, and they can help you set up the code and lock for the safe as well. A well trained locksmith can also offer your recommendations on what type of safe to buy in the first place that will fit your specific personal security needs.
Reach out to a company like Mattice Lock & Safe to learn more.
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