Safes, Vaults & Security

What's the coolest thing you've ever seen in a safe you cracked?

Kswiss, believe it or not I really try not to look out of respect for our client's privacy but I did open a safe a couple years ago for a jeweler who had completely forgotten about a safe he had. This is hard to do for most people but he had a few. I estimate the contents at $600,000-$800,000 in jewelry and gold. He balked at our pre-quoted rate but gladly wrote the check.

MatthewV, for the most part, not really. Avoid high humidity areas and be mindful when placing a safe near a water heater or areas prone to flooding. Try to elevate (and anchor) the safe on a 4"-6" concrete base for added flood protection and use a rechargable/renewable dehumidifier.

Micah Welch, CMS, CPS, CS&VT

Thanks for doing this. I have about a million questions, and I will keep asking as long as you keep answering!

I'll start with a softball: How much safe is enough? How often are home safes breached?

I'm not worried about guarding against a determined Ocean's Eleven crew, but I expect to keep out a meth head who smashes my window while I'm out of town. I imagine they would knock the handle and dial off with a hammer, pound on the rest of it for a while before tweaking out and running off. Will a gun safe keep out a hoodlum with a crowbar and the cheap Harbor Freight drill and bit set from my garage?

What do you suggest for a small but valuable collection (i.e. 10 coins which can be held in one hand but add up to $50K?) It would seem like overkill to have a large safe - is "security by obscurity" sufficient here by hiding them in some strange place?

Silver Eye,

"Enough" is a relative term. The professional burglar is responsible for less than 5% of burglaries but that's not to say that many safes don't fold under pressure. Some safes (gun safes included) can be opened with a hatchet or a crowbar in less than a couple minutes. One of the most common gun safes sold today is featured in a video where 2 men with 2 crowbars open the safe in 01:43.

The first question to ask yourself is what dollar amount are you protecting? Safes vary in levels of resistance and insurance companies offer varying premiums based on their construction (this is helpful even in if you aren't insured). For example, 70% or so of all safes fall into the same low-medium security category which an insurance company might offer $5000 cash or $50,000 in asset coverage (this varies -/+ of course). Higher valued items are often required to be stored in an Underwriters Laboratory rated safe such as a TL-15 or TL-30 which offer $15k/$150k and $35k/$350k in coverage, respectively. It continues on from there but this will give you a place to start. Consumers won't always use the correct safe for the contents but you can see the difference between UL TL-XX rated and unrated safes as it relates to coverage.

More commonly, however, the safe is removed completely from the premises. UL states that any TL rated safe weighing less that 750 pounds is required to be anchored in place. This is extremely important not just for keeping it from disappearing but to create more resistance during the attack. A safe on it's back is much easier to compromise, depending on the methods used.

Micah Welch, CMS, CPS, CS&VT

Sir Coinsalot,

I would suggest a TL-15 at a minimum or a TL-30 to give you room to grow. Larger doesn't mean stronger. A 2' tall TL-30 is 10x stronger than a 6' tall gun safe. Alternatively, there are a thousand hiding places for a handful of whatever. The most obscure hiding place can be better than the strongest safe in the world.

Micah Welch, CMS, CPS, CS&VT

Micah, do you have any connection's to north of the border? or are you just in Fl. ?