Things to Keep in Mind When Purchasing a Safe
The idea of keeping precious things in safes dates back centuries. They have kept our personal belongings protected and secured on numerous occasions. Having our important documents and items stored away in a safe eases a lot of tension in our minds whenever we step out of our homes. From vintage chests and wooden trunks to modern electronic and metallic vaults, safes have also developed over time to keep in step with the evolving technology. Be it document safes, gun safes, or jewelry safes, you must consider certain things when you plan to buy a safe. Let’s have a look at all those aspects before you install a safe.
Tips for Buying a Safe
Safes are an excellent investment, but before you actually buy one, it’s always better to narrow down precisely what kind of safe you require. Safes have a variety of safety features, and choosing the right design is essential to get the best protection possible.
We have shortlisted some points which will help first-time safe-buyers like you in finding the safe that perfectly suits your needs:
Size
To begin with, what are you planning to keep in your safe? Imagine the size of belongings you plan to keep in it and choose one accordingly. You must keep in mind that with time, the number of items you keep in the safe might increase, so make sure your choice isn’t too small.
Where will you keep the safe? Besides the size of items to be stored, you also need to consider the amount of space available for you to install the safe.
The next question that must come to your mind is whether you intend to relocate the safe in the future. If yes, then you mustn’t look for large safes. Anything between small and medium, which is light in weight, would be perfect.
Type of Safe
What kind of safe do you want? The type of belongings you want to keep in it directly affects the kind of safe you should buy. Gun safes are pretty different from document safes, and so are jewelry safes. All of these have particular features that are specifically suited for their respective contents.
Though you can install a generic safe and keep all sorts of stuff within, it won’t provide you with the specialized casings and coverings that come attached to specialized safes.
Protection
Besides theft or burglary, your valuables also need protection from fire. In case of a fire in your house, you obviously wouldn’t want all your priceless belongings to turn into ashes, would you? Therefore, selecting a safe with a good fire protection rating is crucial. Make sure you buy a safe that is ETL verified and have a look at its heat test rating. These ratings usually test the strength of the safe against 1200-degree temperatures for 30, 60, or 90 minutes of exposure.
Besides fire, you must also ensure that your safe is waterproof. If you plan to install a floor safe, checking for waterproofing is a must.
Security
Does the safe open with bolting or a dial, or does it have an electronic lock? Is it a re-locker? Is it reinforced with lock-protecting steel layers? How strong are the door and the frame? When buying your safe, you must have all of these questions answered.
Most standard safes have a double-bit security lock with two keys, and only the people with the keys can open them. In number combination locks, the safes open only after the correct security code has been entered, usually 4-8 digits in length. There are also safes that open with a biometric fingerprint, which requires the fingerprint of the owner to open successfully. In such locks, there are no keys or codes to remember.
Nowadays, the most effective safes combine the electronic number-locking system and biometric fingerprint locking to provide greater security.
Conclusion
Always buy a safe from a specialist dealer! If you’re buying a safe for the first time, don’t buy it from just any shop. An inexperienced eye cannot assess the quality of a safe from the outside – the inner protective layers, the multi-walled corpus, steel fillings, or the reinforced concrete. These are impossible to notice at first glance itself. Therefore, to have the best protection, talk with a trusted and specialized safe dealer when making your purchase.