The Important Function of Safes

Nothing can make a person feel more vulnerable than a burglary at their home or office. Though you may never be able to fully protect yourself from theft, you can protect your valuables by storing them in a safe. Safes are also useful for storing dangerous belongings, like guns, in a house with small children. And fireproof home safes can protect your important documents in a home fire.

Buying a safe is an investment in your home. Before you buy a safe, ask yourself the following questions to help you decide what kind of storage system you need:

How many belongings do you have to store? If you only have a few documents or pieces of jewelry, you may just want to keep them in your safe-deposit box at the bank. If you only have a few things you can ever see yourself storing, buy a small safe. But plan ahead so that you don’t overgrow your safe. Small safes cost several hundreds of dollars.

Do you need the safe to be fireproof? Many safes are fire-resistant -- not fireproof -- but if you don’t need it, don’t pay for it.

Where will you keep your safe? You can put safes in a wall behind a painting, for example. You can attach one to the basement floor. Pick a space in your home or business that is safe, hidden, and can accommodate the type of safe you need.

How would you like to open your safe? Some safes are opened by key, others by combination.

How much money can you spend? Consider buying a used safe or a safe from a wholesaler to save money.

Will you be storing guns in your safe? If you have small children, it may be safer and cheaper to store your gun outside the house like at a gun club.

Good luck finding your ideal safe. It is an easy way to keep your home safe.

Safes Info provides detailed information about various types of wall, diversion, gun, and fireproof home safes, and more. Safes Info is affiliated with Original Content Web.

Safes Keep Things Safe

We all have things in our life that are extremely important. The thing is that most of us take these very important documents and items and stick them in shoe boxes and file folders in junk drawers. The problem with this is that if a burglar comes into your home to steal your things they will stumble upon things that will allow them to make your life stink.

If someone steals your car title or your house deed then you are in a world of hurt. The fact is that the majorities of the thieves that run around have no skills as thieves and just run around the house taking things that they can find. If you secure the documents correctly they will be unable to take them. The way to do this is in a secure safe.

A safe makes sure that your valuables are only accessible to you and whoever you give the key or combination to. There are a number of types of safes on the market that range in price form relatively cheap to quite expensive. The safe you choose should be based off of what you can afford and what you will be keeping in it. A basic safe will work to keep an amateur out of but an expert can get in. The better and fancier of the safes can elude the majority of thieves. Safes come in all styles and sizes. You can find secure bolt down safes that are small as cigar boxes and large safes as big as a car. The size of the contents will determine the size of the safe you get. If you are keeping firearms and larger items then a large gun safe is for you. If you only keep jewelry in it then a smaller safe will suffice.

The key is to get a safe and use it that way the thieves will not be able to get at your valuables. Continue your research and I wish you the best.

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All About Fire Safes

Safes provide an extra level of protection from theft or damage for important documents, computer data and other valued items for home and business owners. Fire safes are fire-resistant rather than fireproof, as they eventually succumb to the flames. Unless your home or business is far away from the nearest fire station and the fire is abnormally hot, your safe should have no problem withstanding the flames. Made of hollow sheet metal that is filled with fire-resistant insulation, fire safes are an extremely effective means of protecting your valued items.

Homeowners owning firearms also need fire safes for storage purposes. Such safes not only help keep their firearms from being damaged, they also keep the guns secure in storage.

Many business establishments also benefit from fire safes. This is especially true for any organisation that stores valuable archives. Most newspaper offices, for example, store their past editions on microfilm, and any damage to them would lead to a tremendous loss to the paper as well as the community. State archives buildings and museums often store the most valuable pieces in their collection in fire safes.

This guide will provide you with all the information you need to decide the fire safe best suited to your needs.

Primary Considerations The main questions you should ask yourself before buying a safe are:

What item do I want to protect? Is it cash, documents, jewelry, or computer data?

From what contingency do I want to protect those items – fire or theft?

If you want protection from theft, then what is the value of the items to you in either monetary or sentimental terms?

If you want protection from fire, then consider if the items are paper or plastic media.

Once you have answered these questions, you will have a reasonable idea of the safe best suited to your needs. Shoppers interested in fire safes should consider type, size, and fire ratings. Fire ratings indicate how long the safe will endure a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. The higher the rating is, the more heat-resistant the safe will be.

Types

There are two types of fire safes: data storage and document storage. Both are effective, but offer different degrees of fire resistance. A fire safe designed to protect paper documents from fire and smoke damage keeps the internal temperature of the safe below 170 degrees centigrade. On the other hand, since computer equipment, disks, and videotapes melt at a lower temperature than paper burns, a fire data safe or media safe keeps the internal temperature below 52 degrees centigrade.

Size

Safes are a long-term investment; before choosing a model, it is important to have a clear idea of what you need to protect—both in the present and the future. Before making a purchase, also make sure you consider both the internal and the external dimensions. The safe should fit into its designated space, but should also have enough internal space to store your valuables. To get an idea of the minimum dimensions your safe should have, take the measurements of the largest item you will place in the safe. Purchase a safe with at least 20-25% more space than you think you will need. There are advantages and disadvantages to a large safe, however. A larger safe does not necessarily assure greater security. Although such safes cannot be removed as easily by a burglar, they cannot be removed by you in case of fire either.

Quality Ratings

Make sure that the safe is certified by ECB•S, which is the European standard for quality safes. The ECB•S provides a serial number on the safe, which serves as a mark of identification of the manufacturer and prevents unauthorised use. Shoppers should also ensure that the product has been manufactured under a certified quality system in accordance with ISO 9000 (EN ISO 9000). A few ECB•S certification marks for fire-resistant safes include EN-1047-1 and VDMA 24991.

You can find a list of the ECB•S members at http://www.fup-gut.de/english/members_e.htm.

Shopping for Safes

There is a substantial number of safe manufacturers and vendors who offer quality products. Watch out for vendors selling used safes, however, as older safes might not be of the same quality as new safes. Ask vendors whether they offer any sort of warranty, in case your safe is damaged in anyway. If the size of your safe is particularly large, then ask the vendor if it can be delivered and installed in the house for you.

Installing the Safe in the House

Fire-resistant safes can be stored anywhere as they are built to resist fire under virtually all circumstances. Concrete does, however, offer an extra layer of protection; place your safe within concrete if you can. If you have a large safe, ensure that you position it in a place that can support its weight.

Anthony Neary works for The Safe Shop in Preston which provide a wide range of Fire proof And Security Safes to individuals and business. For a selection of Fire Document Safes visit http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk/Categories/fire_document_safes/ Or for more info and the full range of safes visit http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk

Home Safes Explained

Why use a home safe?

Well things have changed a lot in modern society, more and more of us have a lot more valuables or items of sentimental value. We also need to protect important documents too in this day and age. Identity theft is a fast growing crime and a safe can prevent this.

What type of safe do i need?

A commonly asked question by our customers and a very relevant one too. Before purchasing any type of safe you need to write down a list of what you want to protect and also what from. By this we mean do you just want to stop a thief from taking your valuables? Do you need the safe to protect documents against fire? Do you need to protect valuable data in the form of computer media from theft and fire? Have you been asked to get one by your insurance company?

Once you know what you require of the safe its time to look at the options available. If its an insurance requirement they will normally specify an amount it should cover. What this means is that safe has a "cash rating" or "jewelery rating" of X amount. As a general rule the jewelery rating is normally ten times more than the cash rating. For example a safe with a cash rating of £1000 has a jewelery rating of £10000

Now you know the cash rating they require you can start to look at the next options available. Firstly how big does it need to be? what are you going to put in it? ie: a laptop or just small items like cash, passports etc. Once you know how big it needs to be you need to work out a suitable place for it to be fitted. Ideally the safe should be bolted down to the floor and or to a wall for maximum security. If space is limited there is the option of having a floor or wall safe. A floor safe can offer excellent security but isn't suitable for many home uses and is inconvenient to retrieve items from. A wall safe is easy to use and can be hidden behind a picture etc but generally these safes don't have very high cash ratings.

Another option you have when choosing a safe is the type of locking options available. You may have key operated, digital electronic keypad, combination or a mix of these. Key operated safes are usually quite reliable and you only have to keep the key safe. These types of locks can go on for years without any problems and are a cost effective choice. Digital locks offer convenience and can also allow the user to change the code if need be. The downsides are you need to change the batteries every so often and also electronics don't always offer the same longterm reliability that a key operated safe can. The manufacturers are bringing out better products all the time to combat this downfall and there are some excellent digital locks on the market now. Unfortunately digital locking options can be more expensive over a key operated option. Combination locks are popular in America but not so common in the UK on home safes.Lots of commercial safes are fitted with them and they offer good levels of protection. The code can be changed by the home user but its not always an easy procedure to tackle first time.

Lets not forget about the cheap safes you see everywhere now with digital keypads and also overide keys. Ok they are a safe but they offer a very limited amount of security (the reasons why are another article in itself). We get a lot of calls to these types of safes where the keypad has failed or the keys are lost and generally the charge to open it is more than what the safe cost to buy, so choose carefully.

If you want a safe for fire or data protection you need to choose wisely and consult your local safe supplier for more in depth information.

Safes can be expensive items to initially buy but look at them as a long term purchase. A good quality safe will give you many many years of trouble free security which can be taken from property to property. The peace of mind provided by having one is a small price to pay.

Allan Scothern is a locksmith and security expert working in the London area.

http://www.alllockedup.co.uk

Safes - How to Protect Your Home with Security Safes

We can never fully protect our homes and offices from burglary. But additional protection for our most valuable possessions is possible with the use of safes. Safes are used for storing our jewelries, documents and money. Safes are also for storing dangerous items like guns. Accidental gun injuries in the house are prevented when are armors are securely hidden from our children. Fireproof safes also protect our documents from destruction during fire or arson.

Safes are good investments for our homes and businesses. Before making a purchase, ask yourself the following questions and weigh your answers carefully:

1. How many items do I need to keep in a safe? Banks provide safes that you can lease to store small pieces of jewelry or a few documents. Safes from the stores are available in different sizes. Choose a safe that can meet your requirements but is also not too small in case you want to store more items in the future.

2. Do I need a fireproof safe? Safes made of fireproof material are more costly than the ordinary safe but provide greater protection to your valuables.

3. Where will I hide my safe? Plan an excellent place to situate your safe. The safe should be properly hidden but should also be accessible to the owner. Wall safes are designed to be hidden beneath paintings. Safes can also be installed by attaching them to the floor.

4. Do I want a safe with keys or a safe with a combination lock? Which type would be more convenient? Remember that codes have to be memorized and keys kept secure.

5. How much budget do I have for my safe? Always consider price versus durability and quality and purchase the most useful one that fits your budget.

6. Do I have armors in the house that I would like to store in a gun safe? If you’re not comfortable with this idea, you can store your armors at gun clubs to protect your children and maintain your peace of mind.

Fireproof safes provide good storage for items with sentimental and/or monetary value. You can choose to store these items in the bank but having fireproof safes in the convenience of your home provides you an easier access to your belongings. Check if the safe is fire resistant or fireproof. These terms are not the same. Fireproof ratings are computed by how much heat the safe can withstand for a certain period of time. Consider your requirements before choosing one paticular safe over the other.

Gun safes are high quality safes made of thick steel.

Rob Hargreaves - An American Locksmith

Gun safes are very durable and were manufactured to keep your armors secure. However, plan beforehand on where to position them in your house because drilling holes through them is not that easy.