OT - Domestic Safe
 

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

OT - Domestic Safe
 

Subject: OT - Domestic Safe
From: "Sanj"
Date: 10/07/03 20:56 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

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 (www.pumaracing.co.uk)
One's taste in music is the key that fits the lock of each individual person's
psyche.

OT - Domestic Safe
 

On 10 Jul 2003 22:42:47 GMT, a (Dave Baker) wrote:

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 :)

That describes what I referred to in my earlier reply.

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

OT - Domestic Safe
 

"Sanj" wrote in message
...
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

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

OT - Domestic Safe
 

Andrew McKay wrote in message . ..
On 10 Jul 2003 22:42:47 GMT, a (Dave Baker) wrote:

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 :)

That describes what I referred to in my earlier reply.

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....

OT - Domestic Safe
 

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 20:56:04 +0100, "Sanj" wrote:

I'm seriously thinking of buying a safe,

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.

OT - Domestic Safe
 

"Harv" wrote in message
...

"Andrew McKay" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 20:56:04 +0100, "Sanj" wrote:

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

The thing that troubles me about having a safe is that if someone
broke in and found a safe they'd presumably figure that you've got
something really valuable in there - and maybe damage your home worse
than they might otherwise have done if they did a quick recce to find
something to nick.

I've often thought about a fire safe for backups of my software, but
for the above reason have avoided the idea.


A friend who spent the last few years installing alarms agrees with this,
in
his house is a fireproof safe for keeping important docs/backups etc, with
the keys kept in it, so anyone breaking in could see that the contents are
worthless (to them)

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

OT - Domestic Safe
 

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. net...
I'm seriously thinking of buying a safe, but have no Idea on
what's good

I like the idea of those safes that look like a double socket outlet. They
are small and probably provide little security when discovered, but are
unlikely to attract attention. Ideal for passports, licences, spare keys
etc.

And may be fun watching your CCTV recording of the burglars sticking
screwdrivers into all the sockets to check if they're real... ;)

D

OT - Domestic Safe
 

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:53:11 +0100, "David Hearn"
wrote:

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... ;)

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

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

OT - Domestic Safe
 

In article ,
Andrew McKay wrote:

On 11 Jul 2003 03:33:11 -0700, (MarkM) wrote:

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....

Or taking their frustration out on the house.

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

--
Peter Ashby
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
To assume that I speak for the University of Dundee is to be deluded.
Reverse the Spam and remove to email me.