Choosing a home safe: fire rating, size and the part people forget

A safe protects against two different things — fire and theft — and almost no consumer safe is excellent at both. Deciding which you actually care about narrows the choice fast.

Fire rating first

Fire ratings are given in time and internal temperature: a one-hour rating at 350°F keeps paper intact for an hour in a house fire. If what you are storing is documents, passports, deeds and a backup drive, this is the number that matters, and it is the one most worth paying for.

Note that media — drives, film, USB sticks — needs a lower internal temperature than paper. If a backup drive is going in the safe, look for a media rating specifically.

Then size, and buy larger than you think

Nearly everyone outgrows the first safe they buy. Measure what you plan to store, then go one size up. The price difference between 1.0 and 1.5 cubic feet is much smaller than the cost of buying twice.

The part people forget: anchoring

An unanchored safe under 400 lb can be carried out of the house by two people, contents and all. This is the single most common mistake we see. Every safe we install gets bolted down through the floor, and it takes about twenty minutes.

• Concrete slab: anchor bolts straight into the slab.
• Wood floor: through the subfloor into a joist wherever the layout allows.
• Closet corner installs are best — two walls, less leverage, less visible.

Locks: dial or electronic

Mechanical dials need no batteries and last decades, but they are slower to open and harder to change. Electronic keypads are faster and let you change the combination yourself, and a dead battery is a five-minute fix, not a lockout. We service both, and we will open either if the combination is lost.