I'm seriously thinking of buying a safe, but have no Idea on what's good what's not etc...I don't really have too many places to bolt a safe into a concrete floor other than the garage, so was thinking of an under floor safe. Has any one bought one of these...any advice appreciated
My dad had a safe once. It was a small one built in to a wall upstairs I think. When the house got burgled while they were away on holiday the burglars couldn't open the safe but they destroyed everything it was attached to and took the safe away to open it at their leisure. To add insult to injury they stole the car to take the safe away in. Whether anything was actually in the safe at the time I'm not sure. He didn't replace it. You might consider his experience before making your own decision :)
Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines
That describes what I referred to in my earlier reply.
Andrew
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Go to a real locksmith, rather than one of the 'security centres' and talk about it. You will get lots of good free advice from someone who can ask questions and recommend something that suits your particular needs.
Safes are rated according to the value of cash or jewellery that an insurer will be happy to cover if they are in the safe. The higher the rating, the better (and more expensive) the safe. Underfloor 'safes' for wooden floors are just hidden places to keep things and probably unrated. A good safe will either be built-in or too heavy for a thief to take-away without specialist lifting equipment. Sometimes, both.
However, be careful of the problem of consequent crime - a crime that would not have happened but for the solution to another crime problem. If you are at home when the house is burgled, there is an increased risk that you will face personal violence to get the safe opened.
Colin Bignell
Might be a good idea to have a not-very-expensive, not-very-well-hidden, not-very-well-attatched safe full of scrap lead, and meanwhile continue to keep your valuables under the water tank /wherever. You at least have the satisfaction of knowing that any thieves have had a hernia and several hours bashing a safe to end up with junk, rather than trashing the stuff you really care about....
What are you putting in it, and how big does it need to be ?
150-200 quid at a real locksmith (Thornes on Old Market, Bristol) will get you a strong good-sized box with a reliable key lock. Then find a piece of concrete to bolt it to, and bolt it down from inside with Rawlbolts or polyester resin glue-ins.External hinges are a good sign - it indicates there's a bolt on each side, which is stronger than an internal hinge.
Avoid combination locks. Unless you get a good one, they're a nightmare for maintenance. They're also quite easily to manipulate open, if you're buying cheapies.
Sentry are a joke. Just avoid them.
If you just want something for jewellery, look at the one or two brick wallsafes from the likes of Screwfix. They're easier to hide than a floorsafe, and a joist-mount floorsafe is either hard to access or very obvious - and nearly always easy to rip out once discovered.
A friend of mine installed his gun-sfaes with his usual enthusiastic over-engineering, then moved house. Getting them out again was fairly spectacular, yet his original "layers of concrete / gripfill" approach wouldn't even have resisted an untidy attack by crowbar. Just use a few Rawlbolts from the the inside, set into good quality concrete.
If you happen across a suitable lock mechanism, a safe is fairly easy to construct. You need plasma cutting kit and a competent welder, but you can outsource this for less than some of the safe makers will charge you for a lesser product. Worth looking at if you need something extra-large, yet not explicitly insurance rated.
I wonder if the keys are fireproof.... if he left it locked and the keys melted, there might be an interesting problem getting it open again... ;)
D
And may be fun watching your CCTV recording of the burglars sticking screwdrivers into all the sockets to check if they're real... ;)
D
To be honest if the house burnt down and the safe was essentially welded shut you'd probably not regret having to pay to have it opened with a blowtorch or whatever.
Andrew
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The police advise you not to lock drawers or doors on wooden furniture as thieves will simply cause lots of damage forcing them open. Well designed hidden compartments are a far better option.
There is often quite a bit of space behind modern wall mounted kitchen cabinets too, well out of sight.
Peter
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