What Types of Safes Are Best for the Home? A Complete List of Homeowner-Trusted Options

Home safety is more important than ever in today’s day and age. Whether you live in an apartment or a house, it’s crucial to designate a safe space for your most important valuables. Doing so helps give you peace of mind by reducing the need to worry about having your most precious belongings stolen. In addition, using a safe can be an effective strategy for preventing serious threats to your home’s overall security.

 

Everything You Need to Know About Choosing the Best Home Safes

However, not all home safes are created equal. Different types of products serve different purposes, and the key is to figure out which safe is right for you. If you still haven’t decided which product most closely aligns with your needs, here is an overview of the best home safes as well as what they’re used for.

 

Types of Home Safes

When choosing a safe for your home, it’s important to note that there are various types available, from fire safes to media safes. To ensure that you make the right choice, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the most common types of home safes. Not only are these products widely used, but they’re also highly reliable and trusted by homeowners.

 

Security Safes

Security safes are one of the most common types of home safes. As its name implies, a security safe aims to keep your various belongings safe and secure at all times. Because this product is known for its versatility, users enjoy storing many different kinds of valuables inside it, such as jewelry, cash and other precious items.

Another benefit of security safes is their compact size. You can easily fit this device underneath your bed or behind another piece of furniture for safe keeping and easy access.

File Safes

Another important item on any list of the best home safes is file safes. File safes are the perfect solution for people who need to safeguard their most sensitive documents. Whether you need somewhere to organize your loan information or tax files, a file safe provides the ideal storage space for numerous types of items.

Most file safes are designed to be sturdy and portable. This gives you the freedom to transport your documents from one place to the next without worrying about damaging them.

Media Safes

Media safes are ideal for storing a number of digital items, such as the following:

• • Laptops
  • Smartphones
  • DVDs or CDs
  • Valuable photographs
  • Hard drives
  • Cassette tapes

Because the goal of a media safe is to protect small electronic devices, it tends to be more compact than other types of safes. When browsing the best home safes, remember to look for a product that offers adequate fireproof and waterproof protection. This will help reduce the risk of damage to your electronic devices.

Gun Safes

If you own any type of weapon, a reliable gun safe is a must in your home. This helps ensure that no children or guests have access to your gun.

It’s also important to look for a product that takes your specific needs into account. For example, if you own a handgun, you likely won’t need anything larger than a small gun safe that fits under your bed. However, owners of shotguns or rifles may need bigger devices to properly protect their weapons.

Portable Safes

A portable safe is the perfect solution for anyone who’s looking for maximum convenience and accessibility. This type of safe is specifically designed to be effortlessly carried around from place to place, even when it’s filled to capacity.

In addition, many portable safes are made with strong, sturdy handles to allow for easy transport. This also helps guard against breakage when the safe is filled with heavy valuables.

 

 

How to Choose the Best Safe for Your Needs

With so many of the best home safes to choose from, it can be difficult to find a product that fits your needs perfectly. Fortunately, there are a few simple questions you can ask yourself to narrow down your options.

First, how big is your ideal home safe? Is a compact safe enough to hold your valuables, or would you feel more at ease with a larger device? Understanding your size requirements is the first step toward choosing the right safe.

It’s also a good idea to ask yourself what type of protection you’re looking for. If you live in an area that’s frequently targeted by flooding, it’s crucial to invest in a home safe built with waterproof material. This will significantly reduce the risk of water damage to your most prized possessions.

Finally, cost is an important factor to take into account as well. Once you have a better idea of which type of safe fits into your budget, you’ll have an easier time choosing the right product.

 

Rely on WFX to Safeguard Your Home From Danger

No matter which type of home safe you ultimately choose, making this decision is essential to the security of your living space. If you need some guidance while searching for the best home safes, contact WFX today. Our security experts know exactly what it takes to protect your home from all kinds of harm.

 

» Call WFX Today (410) 848-3044

 

We all have precious belongings that we need to protect, such as jewelry, personal documents, and more. While theft is often people’s first concern, fire damage causes losses several times greater than burglary each year. While most homes have robust fire insurance, there are some things that insurance can’t replace. Active fire defense systems such as sprinklers can greatly reduce damage to your home, but might not work in time to save fragile items. If you want to protect personal documents, pictures, and other items in the event of a fire, you’ll need a fireproof safe.

Most safes are vulnerable to fires because of the fact that the surrounding heat transfers into the safe. As time goes by, the safe turns into an oven that crosses the critical temperature of 350 degrees, the point where paper begins to char. Fireproof safes make use of a mechanism to produce steam from the heat, which releases much of the heat energy and keeps your safe below the critical temperature.

When you’re looking for a good fireproof safe, here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

 

 

What Attributes/Features to Look for in a Fireproof Safe

There are many fireproof safes on the market, each with varying specifications and ratings. The first step to choosing the perfect fireproof safe is to understand your own needs. Once you understand what you’re looking for in a safe, it’ll be easy to choose the right one.

The Right Mix of Protection

Safes have two separate ratings; a fireproof rating and a burglar rating. The first indicates resistance to fire and whether your safe will protect your belongings for one hour, two hours, or more of extreme heat exposure. One-hour heat protection can be suitable if you have other anti-fire defenses, such as fire alarms, but two hours is ideal. However, even a two-hour fireproof safe might still have a low rating for burglar attacks.

The burglar rating indicates how difficult it is to break into the safe. Many fire-resistant safes have a poor burglar rating and are easy to break into. If you only intend to store family photos and other items without financial value, then this is fine. A simple, B-rate safe with no alarm is fine for such usage. However, you also need to keep your future use of the safe in mind.

A Rating for Your Future Needs

A good safe can last for decades, which is why you shouldn’t just think of what you need right now. It’d be a shame to buy a basic safe for sentimental items this year only to find that you need to store jewelry and cash next year. Before making your purchase, you should consider whether or not your secure storage needs will increase in the foreseeable future.

Data and Media Protection

The drawback to the steam defense mechanism against heat is that it creates a significant amount of moisture. Nowadays, we increasingly keep our precious memories on hard drives, but even records and tape are vulnerable to moisture. If you intend to keep items that are susceptible to moisture and humidity in your fireproof safe, you’ll need to seek one with data and media protection features. This feature indicates that the safe will keep humidity below 85%, a safe range for most items that you might want to store.

Avoid Wall or Floor Safes

Floor and wall safes are both poor choices for a fireproof safe in the home. While people might assume that a floor safe is well-insulated against heat thanks to the concrete surrounding it, this misses one key detail; the metal door. The door of a floor safe will quickly conduct the heat of the fire and spread to the interior, at which point the heat can damage your valuables.

While there are wall safes with flame retardant materials in the door, this type of safe is generally easy to steal and therefore not suited for home use. Free-standing safes typically offer the best combination of fire security and defense against burglars.

Anchor Holes

If you want to use your fireproof safe to protect valuables from burglars, make sure that you anchor it down. Since you aren’t using a floor safe, it’s vital that you prevent burglars from easily moving your safe. Physically strong, determined robbers with simple tools can steal even the largest safe in a matter of minutes. Stealing a safe and breaking into it off-premises is much easier than breaking in on the spot, so choose a fireproof safe with anchor holes that can keep it secured to your home.

WFX Fireproofs Your Home

WFX is one of the top providers of all manner of home security systems. We offer active fire defense systems, passive systems, as well as all of the services you need to keep them running. If you need preventative maintenance for your fireproof safe or any other home protection services, get in touch with us.