Avoid These Mistakes When Choosing a Safe

Imagine you've just invested in a safe to protect your valuables, only to discover that it's too small, too big, easily compromised, or doesn't have enough fire-resistant.

Here are essential factors to consider.

Summary

• Size matters. You must plan for growth, and you need to know how to properly measure your space (and safe) to ensure it fits.
• Get a properly built safe that meets your protection needs.
• Get a fire resistant safe with an appropriate rating for the items you're protecting.
• Plan for the worst case scenario - attempted theft. Can you bolt your safe down? Are the safe locks easily bypassed?

1. Buying the Wrong Sized Safe

Size matters. Choosing the wrong size can affect the security of your valuables, the ease of which you can put things in the safe, and problems for future storage needs. Size is the #1 overlooked issue.

Buying Too Small a Safe

One of the most common mistakes people make is buying a safe that's too small for their needs. We've been selling safes for over 25 years and never, not once, has anyone ever said to me, "My safe is too big."

Don't buy a safe for your current needs, buy for your future needs. Plan on 50% more storage than you think you will need.

There is also a security risk. A safe crammed to the brink can prevent the door from properly closing. And if you force it close, it's possible that the door will not open when your code is entered (having pressure on the bolt work causes binding).

Buying Too Big a Safe

This is just about fit. Make sure that the door will fully open to at least 90 degrees in the space where you are putting the safe. If the door does not fully open, you will find it hard and annoying every time you open the safe. The door will hit the wall (or other obstruction) and it will not be easy to place or remove large items.

How to Properly Measure a Space for a Safe

• Take the base boards into account when you measure. They will prevent the safe from being flush against the wall (unless you remove them).
• Take the hinges and handles of the safe into account. This can add 2-3" of depth to the safe.
• Take into account any safe moving equipment needed to place the safe. Very heavy safes will be put in place with special dollies that require space to the left, right, and on top of the safe in order to position the safe and remove the dollies. For safes beyond the limits of a standard furniture dolly (~800 lbs), add on at least 18" to each side and 12" above the safe to your measurements to ensure the safe can be placed, or have a safe installer out to ensure it can be placed in a tighter space.
• Take into account the door swing. You want the depth to be sufficient for the safe door to fully open to 90 degree position.
• 2. Focusing on the Wrong Features

 I once had a customer in my shop ask me for my least expensive safe. During our conversation, he mentioned he planned on putting over $100,000 dollars of content in it! He was focused on price, he needed to be focused on security.

What are you protecting?

What is the value of the content going into the safe? The level of security you need depends on what you are putting in the safe. See our Recommended Safe Ratings Based on the Value of Content.

Remember, cheap safes are built cheaply.

Think that 50 cubic foot big box store safe is a bargain? Have you seen our How to Choose the Best Safe video on Youtube? The big box store safe in that video is NO bargain.

In order to be sold cheap, cheap safes have to be made cheap. Don't rely on a cheap safe to protect tens of thousands of dollars of content. It won't be secure enough and you may even find that the claimed fire rating was fudged more than a little (Discount Safes Can't Take the Heat).

Investing in a quality safe may cost more upfront, but it will ultimately provide better security and peace of mind.

Burglar Safes vs. Fire Safes

Safes marketed as fire safes are usually targeting the home safe market. These safes are great for protecting flammables that have little intrinsic value. While they offer protection against fire damage, they don't provide the same level of security against burglary.

On the other hand, burglar safes that focus on preventing unauthorized access almost always come with very good fire ratings. The only real exception is for business safes that are meant to temporarily protect cash, such as drop safes.

To ensure the best protection for your valuables, consider investing in a burglary and fire rated safe. UL ratings can help you determine the level of fire resistance  and burglary protection a safe offers.

Placing Value on Meaningless Features

Some security features may seem impressive, but ultimately are useless. The one I hear all the time is "door thickness." By this, I mean the overall door thickness, not the steel plate on the front of the door.

Overall door thickness means nothing! Safe doors are 90% air. How much air space is in the door is meaningless.

3. Not Understanding Fire Ratings

Understanding what fire ratings mean and selecting an appropriately rated safe can save your belongings.

What Safe Fire Ratings Mean

Safe fire ratings indicate how long a safe can protect its content from fire damage. A typical fire rating shows the external temperature and how long the safe can keep the internal temperature below 350°F. This is crucial for protecting paper materials.

How Much Fire Rating is Enough?

In most rural situations, 30 minutes is all you need for a fire rating. But it's 30 minutes of an independent lab tested fire rating. Not an internal test. A 30-minute independent lab-tested fire rating can be more beneficial than a 2-hour "internal" fire rating.

For details see our YouTube videos: Safe Fire Ratings Explained and How Much Fire Rating is Enough?

4. Improper Installation or Underweighted Safe

Does Your Safe Need to Be Anchored?

Most customers think they'll make up for a weakly built safe by bolting it down. This can be a good strategy, but it is not always possible.

Modern post tension slabs on homes built after the mid 90's should not be bolted into without expert knowledge. Doing so can destroy your home's foundation. 

Not all safes need to be anchored though. The question you need to ask yourself is: can someone come in here, without knowledge that there's a safe here, and easily remove this safe?

If a dolly can move it, it's a good idea to bolt it down, but short safes that exceed the weight of typical furniture dollies (~800 lbs) don't necessarily need to be bolted down. Short heavy safes are hard to move by professional movers because the center of gravity is so low. They usually require special safe moving equipment.

Tall safes, gun safes, may benefit from being bolted down, even if heavy, unless they are positioned in such that they cannot be knocked over. Tall safes are attacked by knocking them over and trying to pry the door. If the gun safes is too heavy to do this or it is located so that it can't just be knocked over, you may not need to bolt it into the concrete.

5. Inadequate Locks

Cheap Safe - Electronic Lock

To save money, at least one manufacture is selling safes with plastic bodies. Yep, plastic. This allows the lock on the safe to be easily bypassed using magnets. If your buying an inexpensive safe, get one with a combination dial lock so this trick cannot be used. 

Safes with Key Overrides

If you are focused on "what happens if I lose my combination" or "what happens if my lock fails" then you may be looking at safes with key overrides. They can be useful in many safe applications.

But if security is important, don't get a safe with a key override. Keyholes are the weakest point in a safe's lock security. They can be picked, keys can be made, and they can be drilled. For security, skip the key override.