A wisely purchased safe provides excellent protection for your documents and valuables. Every home and office has important documents, keepsakes, collections, or other valuables. A variety of safe options gives you the ability to customize their protection.
The first step in choosing the best safe for your home or office is to figure out what features you are looking for.
What are the Different Kinds of Safes?
There are roughly six kinds of safes, each with a unique specialization.
- Fire resistant
- Burglar resistant
- Both fire and burglar resistant
- Water resistant
- Earthquake resistant
- Media safe
9 Things You Should Consider When Choosing a Safe
- The safer the safe, the costlier, heavier and bigger it is.
- What natural disasters do you need to protect against?
- Do you want to protect against fire and thievery?
- A water resistant safe only needed for homes or offices situated near water or in flood prone areas.
- If your area is sensitive to earthquakes, buy an earthquake resistant safe. This kind of safe doesn’t break when dropped from heights.
- UL burglary ratings on a safe suggest how long a safe can resist safe-crackers. Make it a point to buy an UL-rated safe. Expensive burglary safes combat burglar tools for an hour. Cheaper units only last around fifteen minutes.
- “X6” on the label means the rating applies to all six sides of the safe.
- Fire ratings suggest how long the safe interior will maintain a relatively low temperature. For example, a “350 degree F, one hour” rating means the interior will not get hotter than 350 degrees F for one hour during an ordinary fire of 1700 degrees F to 1800 degrees F. This rating means your safe is substantially fire-resistant.
- To safeguard computer tapes, tape cassettes, videotapes and photograph negatives, a safe with a fire rating of 125 degrees F is best. Magnetic tapes get damaged at temperatures higher than that. Media safes are designed for such cases.
Now, where to put the safe?
The National Crime Prevention Institute recommends bolting a heavy safe to the basement floor for best protection against burglary, fire or earthquake. If you fear flooding, keep the safe upstairs.
A1 Locksmith of the Palm Beaches Inc. is a reputed provider of security related services and equipment in West Palm Beach. Our services include sale and installation of locks, safes and other security systems. We also provide professional help during emergencies. Please feel free to call us on 561 964-6114 or visit us at https://www.a1gmtlocksmith.com/blog/.
