Small Home Safes: Don’t Leave Your Home without One

For most of us, our home is a sanctuary to relax, sleep, eat, and spend time with our families. Many people do not consider the potential dangers that can occur in their homes: burglary, fire or water damage; however, they are a reality. Every year in the United States, there are more than 5 million home burglaries. In 2007, the National Fire Prevention Association reported that U.S. fire departments responded to more than 399,000 home fires, resulting in over $7.9 billion in damage and loss. Water damage, resulting from 6 inches or less total accumulation, is the number two reason people file damage claims on their home insurance, which results in over $2.4 billion damage annually (National Flood Insurance Program, 2006). While not all tragedies are avoidable, you can gain some peace of mind by securing your valuable possessions in a small home safe to ensure they are protected against burglary, fire, and water damage.

Small home safes are designed to provide you with the maximum protection for whatever you need to keep safe: important documents, cash, jewelry, electronic data or memories, guns, and much more. Take steps to prevent loss and damage to your valuables: purchase a home safe and use it.

What Type of Small Home Safe Will Best Protect Your Possessions?
There is a small home safe designed for any item you need to store. They vary in the type of protection they offer, where they can be stored, and how much security they provide.  There are portable safes that can travel with you; hidden safes that are difficult to identify as a safe; firearm safes to secure one or many guns, and fire resistant and waterproof safes that provide specific elemental protection.

Think about what your needs are before purchasing a small home safe so you spend your money wisely: What do you need to protect? How large does your safe need to be? Do you need fire and water protection? What type of safe will make you feel secure: a visible one or a hidden one? Do you want to keep some of your things in a safe that you can take with you? What will your store your safe? Below are descriptions of each type of safe and how they can help you protect your valuables.

Portable safes are smaller than other home safes and work well for people who need to secure small valuables in their home, as well as in their car or on their person when they travel. The personal safe and car safe include a tether to attach the safe to your body, furniture, or to the inside of a vehicle. An additional benefit is that Helix designs their personal safes with rounded edges to prevent snagging on clothing or skin.

Personal Safe with Tether
If you need a very small home safe (4-3/4? x 6-1/2? x 2?), then a personal safe with a tether is ideal to protect your tiny valuables. A personal safe will secure a wallet, small items of jewelry, a cell phone, or keys. An added benefit to this type of home safe is that it can go where you go without a hassle.

Car Safe with Tether
Car safes provide a high level of protection and convenience. You can use the heavy-duty steel cable to attach the safe to car seat frame or trunk frame to ensure your safe is secure. Most models are designed to withstand a 5-minute attack and thick, internal foam cushioning to protect your electronic devices.

Hidden Safes
In-wall safes, book safes, and strong box drawer safes can be concealed within walls, under beds, behind paintings, or appear to be something they are not, such as a book safe. Thieves spend less than 8 minutes in a home before they find something of value (Chicago Crime Commission).  Hidden safes will provide the extra security of invisibility to burglars and lessen the chance that they will discover your valuables.

In-Wall Safe
Hidden in-wall safes provide security and privacy: no one can noticeably see the safe if you cover it with a picture or mirror. They are burglary resistant but allow quick, easy installation and access for the owner. A residential wall safe may be equipped with a mechanical combination or an electronic keypad. Some in-wall home safes offer fire protection but most will not have water protection because they are located high enough away from floors that they are safe from most water damage. Wall safes are ideal for individuals who do not want to advertise they have valuables to protect; people who live in areas that are more prone to water damage; and those who have large items to secure. Gardall has designed several models of in-wall safes to offer varying levels of protection. You can choose a basic model with a key lock or a fire safe that has a combination lock.

Book Safe
Books safes are considered to be a diversion safe because they can be kept on a bookshelf in plain sight and are usually overlooked by a burglar. They are indistinguishable from a real book, weighted to feel genuine, and are perfect for storing valuables, such as jewelry, money, or documents. If you have a small supply of valuables that will fit in the space of a paperback book, this safe is ideal to protect your possessions. Helix has developed three designs of book safes to suit every need: a paperback book safe, a hardcover book safe, and a deluxe book safe.

Strong Box Drawer Safe
Strong box drawer safes can be put inside a drawer, attached under a bed, or bolted to a wall. They are convenient and offer enough security to protect one firearm plus other small valuables and are equipped with a removable shelf. While a strong-box safe is not recommended to secure electronic items, they do work well for someone who needs versatility and tough protection for other valuables. Stack-On offers several versions of the strong-box safe: foam padded safes, motorized, locking deadbolt safes, and optional shelving unit safes.

Fire Resistant and Waterproof Safes
Natural disasters like fire, flood, or snowstorms can destroy important documents, electronic memory devices, heirlooms, and other valuable possessions. Prepare for the worst by securing them in a fire resistant or waterproof safe before something happens! Sentry®Safe designs robust, reliable safes to withstand the elements.

Fire Proof Safe
Home and apartment fires happen quickly and leave behind unbelievable devastation, which is why it is necessary to protect your important papers, electronic memories and data, and other valuable possessions in a fireproof safe. Sentry®Safe puts all of their fire safe chests and security boxes through rigorous fire and explosion testing for ½ hour, 1 hour, or 2 hours to make sure your belongings will be protected for that amount of time at degrees up to 1850ºF. You can choose the smaller fire safe security boxes to store small valuables, file protector safes to secure important documents only, or larger safes for multiple, large possessions.

Waterproof Safe
Most damage occurs in less than 6 inches of water but it only takes 1 inch of water to destroy your property. Flash floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, and floods occur in every state and usually homeowners are not prepared. A waterproof safe can protect your important documents or articles. Sentry designs waterproof and water-resistant safes designed to protect files, CDs/DVDs, electronic data, and more. Honeywell has designed multiple waterproof safes: file protectors, large safes with combination lock/key, media safes, and security boxes.

Fire Resistant/Waterproof Safe
Make sure your important documents, heirlooms, or other invaluable possessions are protected from fire and water damage by storing them in a fire resistant waterproof home safe. Sentry®Safe designs fire resistant/waterproof safes to provide 30 minutes-1 hour of fire protection at degrees up to 1550ºF, as well water invasion of up to 6 inches. You can choose small safes, CD/DVD file safes, data storage chests, and more to protect anything you need to.

Firearm Safes
If you own a gun or firearm, you need to store it in a safe to guard against burglary and to protect your family. Over 35% of the homes in the United States own at least one gun and there are over 1.7 million children living in these homes (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms). Gun safes are a necessity: They provide safe storage and fire protection for one gun or a collection. Stack On designs a variety of gun safes to meet the needs of any firearm owner or collector.

Pistol Safe Box
Anyone that has a gun in their home, whether it is hidden or kept in an unsecured location, needs to lock their weapon in a pistol safe box. This type of safe will allow you to quickly access your firearm while preventing access from children or thieves. Most gun vaults will hold 3-4 handguns safely but make sure the model you order suits your needs as some safes will only store 1 pistol. There are design variations of the pistol safe: security box with pistol safe to house a pistol plus other valuables like the Stack-On PB-201 Security Plus Steel Pistol Box, and single pistol safe boxes.

Gun Safe
Gun safes are designed to blend in with your home décor and provide exceptional security with advanced options at an affordable cost. They are built with steel construction, pry-resistant door, combination or an electric lock, and a steel 3-point locking system with a combination lock.

No matter where you live or what valuable items you own, quality small home safes are a smart investment. Don’t wait until it is too late, keep your possessions secure from burglary, fire, and water damage and buy a home safe today!