Buy a Home Safe to Protect Your Valuables While on Holiday

July 19, 2018 Posted By Mark Barrington

Summer is finally here. You’ve got your holiday booked, bags packed, and you have enough sun lotion to last a lifetime. There’s just one little problem nagging at the back of your mind like a crazed woodpecker – your home is unprotected. When you leave your house and valuables unsecured while you bask in the summer sun, you may as well hang a sign outside your door that says, “Burglars Welcome!”.

 

Did you know that 1,414,000 UK homes were robbed in 2015? That’s a lot of burglaries’. If you want to keep your home and possessions safe during your absence, you MUST take necessary security precautions. Make sure to keep your windows and doors firmly locked and if you don’t have a burglar alarm, get one. Just 40% of UK homeowners have installed a burglar alarm and 33% neglect to set them. Another major problem is the fact that 23% of people stash valuables in their underwear drawer and 20% hide them in their wardrobe. Hiding valuables in obvious places around the home can make a burglar’s job very easy!

So, what does all of this mean for you? Well, if you don’t take the necessary precautions to protect your home and valuables, you leave them open for the taking. Only 9% of stolen property is recovered (and that’s if you’re lucky!).

The solution?

Protect your home with a high-quality home safe. The hard truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter whether you make it easy or almost impossible for someone to break into your home - if they want to get in, they will. So, if you don’t want them to steal your most valued possessions, you need to buy a safe – and a good quality one!

Here’s some ideas on the type of safes you should considering buying:

Buy a Hidden Safe

How many times have you seen a movie where the main character hides stacks of cash in a wall safe behind an oil painting with eyes that follow them around the room? It’s a standard feature in blockbuster hits for a reason – it works. Unfortunately, we don’t have any paintings like that up for grabs, but we do have a variety of wall safes and underfloor safes to choose from.

Bordogna Panorama Vesta Wall Safe

Underfloor safes are one of the best ways to secure personal belongings from potential predators. When installing them, it’s best to keep to the ground floor and check for underfloor heating or hidden pipes before you accidentally burst a pipe during the installation process. Or better still, avail of a professional installation service. If you don’t want to hide your home safe under the floor, others option are to put it under the stairs, inside a hidden compartment in the kitchen or in the garage etc.

An excellent idea for the ladies out there is to have a carpenter build a wooden unit around the safe to disguise it from prying eyes. You could then use the wooden unit as a dresser to do your hair and makeup in the morning while your most valuable possessions are kept safe and secure – genius!

Buy a Fixed Safe

If you buy a safe that’s fixed in place, and a burglar finds it, they can’t just pick it up and carry it away. Most safes come with fixing bolts. If you have the right tools (and patience), you can buy a safe and fit it yourself, however some insurance companies will request that it is installed by an experienced professional.  If you’re going to do buy a fixed safe, we suggest that you buy a safe that weighs between 1kg up to 65kg.

In this day and age, it seems like everyone is trying to save money. Some people don’t trust banks to keep their money safe and prefer to store their savings at home. However, if you’re going to save a lot of cash at home, you NEED to buy a safe. If you buy a safe that weighs 300kg, you should think about having it fixed to a concrete floor or adjusting the rear of the home safe to a concrete wall.

For safes that weigh 1000kg and over, it’s best to fix it to the wall or floor. If you keep your valuables in a light safe, you may as well put them in a shoe box because it’s practically the same thing!

Buy a Safe with a Reliable Locking Mechanism

Having a safe is one thing, but if you buy a home safe that doesn’t have a secure locking mechanism, why bother? All of our safes have VDS rated locks, which are extremely difficult to get into. You have a few options to choose from when it comes to selecting a reliable locking mechanism. The cheapest option are key lock safes, which are great if you prefer to use keys or if you’ve had a bad experience using a hotel electronic lock safe on holiday.

Electronic locking is another excellent option, but it’s slightly more expensive. However, if you don’t want to worry about looking after an extra set of keys, an electronic safe could be the right option for you. Another popular locking option is a lock with a three or four-wheel combination lock, like banks use. If you buy a safe like this, you need to be precise when you open the lock because a slight mistake when dialling up your access numbers will mean you’ll have to start all over again.

Buy a Fireproof Home Safe

When it comes to protecting paper documents such as birth certificates, wills, house deeds and passports etc., you need to buy a fireproof home safe. A fireproof safe is the ONLY thing that will guarantee the safety of your relevant documents in the event of a fire breaking out. Before you buy a safe, make sure to check its fire rating protection. Fireproof home safes have been tested at very high temperatures to ensure their heat resistance, so you can depend on them to keep valuable documents safe from harm.

Buy a Water-Resistant Home Safe

If you live in an area that tends to flood a lot (or if you’re planning to take your safe on a boat or cruise ship), it’s worth investing in a water-resistant safe. Many of our safes have water protection and are low grade, which means you can protect your valuables from water damage in the event of a flood.

We have a vast variety of high-security safes available on our site.  If you need a safe that has each of the features mentioned above, you can browse the collection online or get in touch with a member of our team on 028 9081 2010 or by email to info@barringtonsecurity.co.uk.

We’ll help you narrow down the selection and identify the right safe to buy that will suit your needs and budget.