We’re in the lock and door hardware business, but we understand that safes often play a part in your layered security system, whether in a business or in your home. We also know that most people get quickly overwhelmed when they discover the many types of safes on the market. There are not a lot of safe-buying experts.

Fortunately, we’re experts in all things locking, including safes. In this guide, we’ll talk about how to shop for a safe so you can begin to hone in on the right safe for you.

Why Choosing the Right Safe Matters

A safe can be a big investment, and it can be tempting to think you need the most secure safe you can find. In reality, many people don’t need elaborate and complicated safes for the valuables they want to protect — they just need to know how to choose a safe. 

Choosing the wrong safe can have consequences from minor inconveniences to loss or destruction of property.

Too little safe, of course, can make you vulnerable to theft or fire damage. Too much safe can be a hassle to open every time, a pain to move, or can lock you out from items that have more practical or sentimental value than monetary.

A fancy safe may also give you a false sense of security and make you less likely to consider your whole security system. It’s worth getting a safe that’s just right for your needs.

A Layered Security System

Ultimately, you want to think of your safe as part of a layered security system. A layered security system, or a multi-layered security system, thinks of security as a network of several layers. Each layer functions independently and protects your property in a different way, and they usually involve redundancies and failsafes. 

While layered security systems are more expensive and complicated than a single-layer approach, they are obviously more effective at both deterrence and protection.

Components of a layered security system may include:

As this list suggests, a safe should be considered a last line of defense.

Categorizing Safes

When we talk about safes, we think in terms of different ways of categorizing them. Each categorization helps you narrow down your options.

The primary safe categories to know are:

  • Use
  • Installation
  • Locking Mechanism
  • Fire, Water & Security Ratings

Types of Safe by Use

Residential

Meant for in-home use, these safes tend to be smaller and lighter relative to commercial-grade models.

  • Theft-resistant  Safes designed primarily to deter theft
  • Fire-resistant  Safes rated to withstand high temperatures
  • Jewelry safes  Safes designed with an eye to aesthetics such as wooden drawers and velvet-lined compartments
  • Gun safes  Safes shaped for specific kinds of firearms

Commercial

More advanced safes designed to meet the needs of businesses, labs, banks, and so on.

  • Office safes  Similar to residential safes, but usually more resilient and secure
  • Media safes  Safes with a higher fire rating to protect digital media like CDs, storage drives, etc.
  • Hotel safes  Small safes that fit on a shelf or in a closet that are operated with a keypad. These are considered low-security safes, and usually hotel staff have a means of access.
  • Deposit safes  You’ll find these in banks and post offices and other places that experience high volumes of drop offs. They have a slot or opening that allows items to be inserted but not removed.
  • Bank vaults  Technically not a safe but a room specially designed to lock in and protect valuables

Types of Safe by Installation

How you install a safe affects how easy or difficult it is to move the whole object — both for a thief and for yourself.

  • Portable safes  As the name implies, these are small devices that, while heavy, often have handles for carrying.
  • Free-standing safes  These are among the most common, especially for residential installs. They can be placed anywhere they can fit. Many of them are pre-drilled to give you the option to mount them to the floor or a wall.
  • Wall safes  These are the favorite safes of movie villains and wealthy marks, but they are legitimate options for discreet security. They are installed into a cavity in the wall and effectively become part of the house. They are flat or recessed so they can be easily concealed.
  • Floor safes  Safes generally embedded into the foundation of the building and covered with a rug or piece of furniture.

Types of Safe by Locking Mechanism

Locking mechanisms for safes come in similar designs as those for doors.

  • Key locks  Tried and true because of their simplicity. Prone to fewer technical issues than more complicated locks.
  • Combination locks  Like your old school locker, these require spinning a dial to a specific set of numbers. No keys to lose, but you have to remember your combination.
  • Electronic keypads  Quicker and more convenient than combination locks, these let you enter a code with a number pad. They require batteries or an electric hookup.
  • Biometric locks  These use unique personal attributes like an iris or fingerprint. No keys to lose or codes to forget, but they do require a power source, and, as the most sophisticated kind of lock, are also the most difficult to troubleshoot.

Fire, Water & Security Ratings

You should only buy a safe for your home or business if it has been certified by an independent organization. The two most trusted certifying bodies are Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and Electrical Testing Laboratory (ETL), though there are other reputable organizations.

All the safes we sell at Anderson are UL certified.

Fire Ratings

A UL fire rating tells you how hot the internal temperature of a safe will get when exposed to an external temperatures over 1700°F. In other words, it tells you how hot your valuables may get in a fire. 

Class 350 is the most common, and the most common durations are 1-hour and 2-hour. So, a Class 350 2-hour means the safe’s interior will not exceed 350°F for two hours in a fire. This is more than enough for most residential uses because 350° is well below paper’s ignition point of 451°.

Media safes will often carry a Class 125 rating because digital media begins to corrupt above 125°F.

Fire safes also undergo explosion and impact tests that include being dropped from a height of 30 feet.

Water Ratings

UL doesn’t have a specific waterproofing standard. Instead, they use a variety of tests depending on the situation. You will typically see an explanation of the water rating with the product specs. While there are no safes on the market that are 100% waterproof, there are many that are water resistant, even if submerged for a length of time.

Security or Burglary Ratings

Burglary ratings tell you how long a safe can resist an attack with certain types of tools. 

For example, TL-30 tells you that someone could hack away at the safe with manual or electric tools like pry bars, grinders, or impact hammers for 30 minutes and not get into the safe.

The TRTL prefix includes gas-powered torches like plasma cutters and butane torches. TXTL goes one better to include high-powered explosives.

The test literally involves a guy with a bunch of tools going to town on the safe, which sounds like a pretty fun job.

Other Security Features

Safes these days may offer a variety of other security features that can make them attractive for your situation.

  • Anti-pry design  Recessing the door makes it hard to pry open.
  • Multiple and multi-direction bolts  Just like doors, safes can have multiple latch points, usually in two or three directions.
  • Concealed, tamper-proof hinges  Made from especially strong steel, these are often a single rod that extends invisibly from top to bottom through the door.
  • Re-lockers  Mechanisms that trigger when someone tampers with a lock that create an additional layer of locking
  • Drill plates or drill-deflecting shields  Hard plates located between the door and lock that resist drilling
  • Shear points on handles  Handles designed to literally break off if you apply enough force to them, rendering them useless for retracting the locking bolts

Other Factors to Consider

Many of the factors to consider may feel obvious, but when you’re dealing with so many variables and options, it never hurts to consult a list so nothing falls through the cracks.

If you speak with one of our safe experts, they will ask you questions about use, installation, locking mechanism, and safety ratings, and they will also ask you questions like:

  • What do you plan to keep in this safe?
  • Where do you plan to install it? Is there a power source there if needed?
  • How much internal capacity do you need?
  • How would you assess your vulnerability to burglary?
  • What features are most important to you?
  • What other measures are part of your layered security system?
  • What’s your budget?

One way to think about buying a safe is that the quality of the safe should correspond to the importance of the valuables you want to protect. Then you want to weigh the likelihood of the safe being compromised against the cost of losing whatever you place inside.

Find the Right Safe with an Expert’s Help

Once you’re equipped with your list of features you need in a safe, you will still face a massive amount of options. That’s why it’s good to talk to an expert who can help you narrow down your options.

That’s what we’re here for. We’ve been in the lock business a long time, and we’ve become Chicagoland’s premier door and locksmith services company because we have evolved with the industry. 

Contact us today to speak with an expert who can help you locate the right safe for your home or business.