We were originally going to put a floor safe in but after talking to the safe company, we went for a regular safe that is bolted into the floor.

I don't like the idea of a floor safe in case of a water leak near a bathroom. We considered it, but couldn't find one that we felt were large enough and also wouldn't get the contents damaged in case of a flood.

i'm doing a fire safe between studs hidden behind a hinged mirror in my master closet. i'm not getting down on my hands and knees to get valuables out. i might rip my stockings!

Re: Accessibility - Keep in mind that as you age or if you have any physical problems/limitations your ability to access a floor safe may be severely compromised. Any knee, back, neck or shoulder injury will make it mighty difficult to get down on your hands and knees and reach even deeper down.

You might want to look to see if there is a spot where you can surreptitiously steal a little floor space from an adjoining closet so as to be able to hide a larger safe. Properly placed, a large safe is virtually invisible unless someone decides to wander around your house with a measuring tape searching for wall voids - a pretty unlikely scenario.

Go online or go to a local shop. Safes are pricey to ship and transport so you'll want to buy from somewhere relatively close by. Look at and measure various safes. Be sure and pay close attention to how the door will open in the space you want to put it. Most safes made these days are hinged on the left (your left as you stand in front looking at it). You want to make sure there is both enough room for the door to swing open all the way and room for you to stand in front of it while unlocking the safe, swinging the door open and getting stuff in and out.

Be sure also that there is a way to get the safe into place after the house is built. A good safe is very thick and heavy and can be awkward to maneuver. Consider getting the largest you can find a place for/afford. You'll be surprised at how many things you'll decide are worth putting into a safe once you have one - especially a fire-proof one.

Last but not least, you might want to beef up your slab a bit underneath where you intend to put your safe to help support its weight and give you a really firm foundation to bolt it to.

Ooops - my bad - that should have read -

Most safes made these days are hinged on the left (your RIGHT as you stand in front looking at it).

I swear, proper door handing gets me every time...

"found that if the safe location is not convenient, I didn't use it"

Amen Sister! We inherited a floor-safe in the former garage, now DH's office. It's inconvenient, hence not very useful, so we installed a deadbolt on a closet with a fireproof file cabinet instead for our papers, and are planning a jewelry safe inside the master closet behind a framed mirror.

We have a walk in safe room built mad out of concrete underneath the front porch with a vault door. It saves us from tornado's and we can lock stuff up if we need to.

We are planning on putting a fireproof safe that bolts to the floor in the linen closet in the master bath, but I like the idea of a wall safe in the master walk-in closet better. We are just starting framing so not to late to change our minds.

reliabilityman what kind of vault door did you use? Are you ever worried you are going to get trapped in there when taking cover from weather?

We're going in a different direction: Our bedroom hallway has two small closets, and we're going to make one of them into a locking closet. Not a real safe, just a closet that locks with a key and deadbolt.

Pros of this plan:
- It's larger than a safe, and we can build in the shelves to suit ourselves.
- We can place our current smallish fireproof safe on one of the shelves (we don't keep all that much in it -- some cash, passports, a few documents). We could add additional small fireproof safes, if we wanted.
- We'll have space to store guns and ammo in this locked closet. These are fairly large-to-store-items, so the space in a closet will work well.
- We'll have space to store Christmas presents purchased ahead of time.
- It'll be more convenient because it won't necessitate moving clothing, etc. to reach it.

Cons:
- It won't be hidden from view, which is one of the positives of a safe hidden in a master bedroom closet, but it also won't be all that obvious to casual visitors -- after all, who's going to consider that one of the hall closets by the back bedroom doesn't have a regular doorknob? If thieves broke in (thinking people with no previous knowledge of our house), I'm thinking they'd head towards the master bedroom area rather than the secondary bedroom hallway.
- It isn't as secure as a real safe.

One parting comment: If I were doing a more traditional safe, I would hide it anywhere EXCEPT the master bedroom closet. Although these are secure, I think that location is so common as to be obvious. I'd consider under the stairs, in the laundry room, or in the attic. These are places that guests wouldn't typically look, and thieves wouldn't expect.

I know this is an old thread, and I already commented on it, but we just bought a safe, and in the process of researching, I've learned a few things that weren't obvious to me:

- Fireproofing absolutely matters, but so does waterproof! Keep in mind that if you have a fire, the firemen are going to soak your safe thoroughly. If they don't, you won't be able to touch the safe for at least half a day. It'll be hot.

- If you want to bolt your safe to the floor, you must drill holes in the bottom -- and there goes your waterproofing. An alternative is to "build in the safe" so that wooden beams prevent it from sliding out of its hidey hole. This is not easy to arrange, and thieves can bust it open with an axe; however, it would take time, and most thieves like to be in and out quickly.

- Likewise, if you are building an in-floor safe, it seems logical that waterproofing the safe will be near impossible. If firemen were putting out a fire in your house, your in-floor safe would be underneath everything, including water.

- The walls of most safe brands contain miniscule bits of encapsulated water, and that's what makes them fireproof. However, because these bits of water would be released in case of fire, it's also wise to store your valuable papers and/or guns in ziplock bags.

- Certain name brands of safes contain PLASTIC in -- what's the right word? -- spindles? rods? closey-sticks? that are designed to melt in a fire so that NO ONE can get into the safe right away. This is meant to deter strangers from coming into the wreckage of your burned house and toting off your safe. The company will then replace your safe for free. I think this is a HORRIBLE arrangement, and we bought a different name brand. My thought process: We keep some cash money in our safe, and if we were to have a fire, that cash money is probably the #1 thing I'd want NOW. When my brother's house burned, he literally had nothing but a pair of PJs. My other brother brought him clothes and shoes from his own closet, but he needed eye glasses and diabetes meds NOW. He needed money, and the bank didn't want to give it to him without ID, which he had lost. I would hate to know that I had plenty of cash money in my melted safe, and the company would get it out for me at their earliest convenience. As soon as I learned this fact, I crossed that brand name off the list.

- You need to choose between manual and digital operations. We read a number of negative reviews concerning the digital mechanisms, so we bought a manual safe. At the very least, you'll need to replace batteries in a digital safe. And a safe is HARD to open! You can also get a key and bypass the combination altogether.

- If you're going to buy online, be sure to go look at safes in person first. The walls are thicker than you might expect, and you care about internal dimensions. Personally, I cared about my safe being large enough to hold a notebook containing documents.

- We ended up buying a safe from Craigslist for $45. Great deal, and -- no -- we have no concerns about the guy coming to rob us because he doesn't know where we live. He gave us the combination but not a key. Using the numbers on the wheel, my husband was able to order a key off the internet (yeah, I have a bit of a problem with that too, but realistically those numbers were awfully small, and a thief would have a hard time getting them, then returning to your house once he'd obtained a key).

- Our plan is still as I described above: We plan to build a locking closet, and it will contain the two safes we now own (one for passports and cash, the other larger one for documents) . . . plus space that's just behind a locked door, which will keep out most people.

Be aware that most safes today could be cut with rechargable Li circular saw. While front is hard, back and sides are made of thin metal, foam and plastic (to provide "fire protection"). it only takes couple minutes to cut all four sides...

I would not store anything of value....

Here is a video showing how strong a Brown Safe really is on National Geographic

Don't be fooled by the competitors...

ClevelandNewBuild, I agree with your details but not your conclusion:

Yes, someone COULD cut through a safe with a strong enough saw.

However, for that to happen, they'd have to first break into your house . . . then locate your safe . . . then move it out of your hide-y hole so they'd have space to work . . . and so it'd be near an electrical outlet . . . they'd have to have a saw with them . . . then do the cutting, which would take some time. And MAYBE they'd find something they want.

Since most home burglaries are FAST (like 10-15 minutes, and the bad guys are GONE), they probably aren't going to make it into your safe -- unless they KNOW you have something specific and have 'specially targeted you. A safe will absolutely deter the majority of burglaries, which are crimes of opportunity -- meaning, "Oh, this house looks like a fairly easy target. Let's hit it!" Realistically, the average thief is going to bypass your safe in favor of using his limited time to grab your TV, jewelry, and other quick-to-grab items.

mrspete, i'd have to agree with you, your thoughts are pretty spot on. Burglars don't want their job to be hard (else they would probably get a real job). Owning a safe with at least a B rating, will easily resist hours of brute force by an amateur criminal.

We actually had an instance where a client had been out of town, and skilled burglars had entered the home, they brought tools, when i say tools i mean professional grade tools.

After 3 days of working on this safe, these tools kept blowing out the breakers on the house, which in turn caught the house on fire.

Needless to say the criminals were caught, and everything in the safes contents were saved. The owners were extremely thankful as well because they had family heirlooms in there which are irreplaceable.

A quality safe is an investment piece, and a piece of mind.