Do you keep your valuables in an in-home safe?

[ice empress]

If you ever have the luxury of custom building a home and can work in a secret/hidden room, you could kill two birds with one stone by using FEMA designs & plans to create a room designed to withstand tornadoes and hurricanes, and would be quite the safe room to boot (I'd use the cinder blocks or cast-in-place (CIP) options personally).

Plans Only:
https://www.fema.gov/media-library-...709/FEMA_P-320_2014-ConstructionPlans_508.pdf

Entire Manual:
https://www.fema.gov/media-library-...7ee15436712a3e82ce709/FEMA_P-320_2014_508.pdf

Thankfully, in our neck of the woods, tornadoes and hurricanes are really not a concern at all. I’m so grateful for that!

 

[cmd2014]

I don’t use a safe. I don’t feel unsafe, because burglaries are rare where I live outside of certain sections of the city. And everything is insured anyway (and I don’t have any inherited jewelry that I would be sentimental about). We have talked about getting a firesafe box for documents, because in my mind a fire would be more likely than a home invasion. But my pieces are also not on the same scale as many here, so there is that as well.

 

[missy]

Here are some links for "fireproof" and "flood proof" safes. Keep in mind that these are only fire and flood proof for a certain amount of time and after that they will no longer be protective.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-fireproof-document-safe/

https://www.thespruce.com/best-fireproof-safes-4120066

https://www.gearhungry.com/best-home-safe/

https://www.thearchitectsguide.com/articles/best-home-safe

and a guide explaining what to look for in a home safe from CR

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2011/01/choosing-and-using-a-home-safe/index.htm

Most home safes are designed to protect their contents from fire, theft, or both. Some also offer water resistance. We don't test safes here at Consumer Reports, but many are tested by independent organizations such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and Intertek (which uses the ETL mark). Here are some of the ways they evaluate them:

Fire resistance

Fire is the No. 1 concern of most buyers, according to Greg Bonsib, director of brand management at SentrySafe, a major manufacturer in Rochester, N.Y. How real is that risk? The National Fire Protection Association says that during an average lifetime, there's a one in four chance of experiencing a household fire large enough to warrant calling the fire department.

UL and Intertek rate fire-resistant safes in terms of what type of material they'll protect and how long they'll protect it. For example, safes rated to protect paper documents shouldn't get any hotter than 350 degrees on the inside during a fire, according to John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at UL in Northbrook, Ill. If you plan to store old tape recordings or 35mm slides, however, you'll want a safe that's rated not to exceed 150 degrees inside, he says. Computer disks and DVDs are even more sensitive, so if that's what you'll be storing look for a safe whose interior won't exceed 125 degrees. This information should be on the safe itself, and you might see it on the packaging as well.

For home safes, 30 minutes of protection is most common, although you can also find safes that offer one or more hours' worth, typically with higher price tags. Generally speaking, 30 minutes should be sufficient, Bonsib says. "Fires tend to move through a home, so 20 minutes is about the average in a room or an area."

Burglary protection

Independent ratings for burglary resistance are less common for home safes than for ones made for commercial users, such as jewelry stores. To determine their burglary-resistance ratings, UL testers go at safes with tools, torches, and even explosives, Drengenberg says. A TL-15 rated safe, for example, can withstand an attack of at least 15 minutes using common tools.

While most home safes don't carry a rating for burglary resistance, they do, as a practical matter, provide some protection. Chris E. McGoey, a security consultant in Los Angeles, says that burglars generally go for what they can grab in one run through a house. "Once they get their arms full," he adds, "they're out of there."

A 1.2 or 1.3 cubic-foot safe probably weighs about 100 pounds empty, making it a less attractive target than jewelry, cameras, small electronics, and other more portable items a burglar might spot. Many safes also come with bolt-down kits, a further deterrent to thieves in a hurry. Other safes can be concealed in a wall or anchored in a concrete floor.

Water resistance

Protection against water tends to be an added feature of home safes that are also fire- or theft-resistant. Dale Soos, an engineer with Intertek, says his organization confers a "verified" mark on safes that meet their manufacturers' criteria for water resistance. Some safes are submerged to simulate the effects of a flood or broken water line.

 

[MamaBee]

I don’t have a safe..I should have one but I’m in and out of my jewelry pouch a lot..I keep them in little baggies in something that you wouldn’t expect jewelry to be in. I can get more jewelry in the rolling bag that way. If I go to my other house I take the roll with me..and hide it there when we go out to dinner..but truth be told my dog is a good deterrent..He’s nuts..

 

[ice empress]

I don’t have a safe..I should have one but I’m in and out of my jewelry pouch a lot..I keep them in little baggies in something that you wouldn’t expect jewelry to be in. I can get more jewelry in the rolling bag that way. If I go to my other house I take the roll with me..and hide it there when we go out to dinner..but truth be told my dog is a good deterrent..He’s nuts..

Mine wouldn't be too much of a deterrent... he's a fluffy little cockapoo that looks like a muppet

 

[MamaBee]

Mine wouldn't be too much of a deterrent... he's a fluffy little cockapoo that looks like a muppet

They are so cute! I rescued my dog whe. He was a three month old puppy. The vet thought he would only get to fifty pounds at the most. He shot up to 85! He’s 70 pounds now because he had the TPLO surgery almost two years ago.

 

[ice empress]

They are so cute! I rescued my dog whe. He was a three month old puppy. The vet thought he would only get to fifty pounds at the most. He shot up to 85! He’s 70 pounds now because he had the TPLO surgery almost two years ago.

Do you happen to know the circumstances from which your fur baby came from? What kind is he?

Mine too was a rescue I adopted at three months of age. He was surrendered to my local animal hospital as a young pup after suffering from juvenile pyoderma (aka puppy strangles). Shortly after his surrender, he also contracted the very potentially lethal parvovirus. Poor thing spent a month in quarantine being treated with antibiotics and steroids.

Here is he is now. Healthy and robust!!

 

[kenny]

Registered today, just to respond to a 2 year old thread, with a link that sells something that has nothing to do with diamonds?
... and in the wee hours of the morning when few will flag the post?

Hmmmm!



Spam reported.

 

[kenny]

With all due respect, how is it spam if I am providing relevant and useful information?

Admin will decide.

 

[Ella]

Closing this thread as it is years old.