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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To buy a home safe, or will burglars just steal it?

23 replies

MangoMungoMidge · 09/01/2014 21:46

Was thinking of buying a safe to put jewellery etc in. But a friend suggested that if my house was burgled the thieves would find all my goodies in one place (the safe) and just make off with it.

AIBU to buy a home safe do you think?

OP posts:
Prettykitty111 · 09/01/2014 21:48

firstly you can buy safes that will screw into a wall or floorboards. Can't see a burglar running off with half your wall. Second have you felt the weight of them? Mine needs three strong men to move it when it's empty! Unless I get burgled by a big group of muscle men they aren't moving my safe! Plus it's hidden under a pile of clothes at the back of my wardrobe so they'd have to really go hunting for it.

LOTree · 09/01/2014 21:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OddBoots · 09/01/2014 21:51

I think it depends how big, heavy and hidden it would be - some friends had their safe stolen a few weeks ago but it was quite a small one and was only screwed into wood in an easy to find place.

Caboodle · 09/01/2014 21:53

Also, many home safes are fireproof (for a certain amount of time IE X amount of hours) so useful to keep important documents in anyhow.

shoofly · 09/01/2014 21:58

It needs to be screwed into a structural wall or floor and then there's no chance of anyone making off with it. Ask your insurance company and they might recommend one. Or check with a security/ locksmith company. We were required to have one to get house insurance Confused The one that the local locksmith recommended and insurance company approved was cheaper than the one I'd looked at in B&Q

FortyDoorsToNowhere · 09/01/2014 22:00

www.ehow.com/how_5004540_bolt-safe-floor.html

you could have a really good safe, but if you can pick it up so can anybody who breaks into your home.

GlitzAndGiggles · 09/01/2014 22:07

My friends mum used to put jewellery and money in a cereal box in the cupboard. Unless the burglars got hungry they'd never find it

Original poster
MangoMungoMidge · 09/01/2014 22:29

Thanks for the tips. Can anyone recommend a decent safe?

OP posts:
eggsandwich · 09/01/2014 22:56

Our safe's very heavy and has a combination lock so if you were able to lift it, which is very unlikely, you wouldn't be able to open it unless you knew the combination.

FortyDoorsToNowhere · 09/01/2014 22:58

www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/yale-certified-safe-office.html

PigletJohn · 09/01/2014 22:59

if you have a safe, it is vital to have it where an intruder will not find it. Floor safe, or a wall safe in the garage will do.

Do you really want a burglar to find the safe, and come back another night with his big brother?

MsAspreyDiamonds · 10/01/2014 01:03

In the loft amidst all the junk is the best place, the robbers would need time (which they don't have) to go up to the loft.

Szeli · 10/01/2014 02:31

I thought they were more in case of fire?

PigletJohn · 10/01/2014 02:39

Fire safes are different, lighter, and not burglar a resistant. Persistent work with a bread knife would get you into a domestic, or even an office, fire safe. Even though they look as if the walls and door are thick and they have a big lock. The thick walls are made of plaster with a thin skin like a biscuit tin.

fivepies · 10/01/2014 02:42

I can recommend this safe:
www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/yale-certified-safe-professional.html
We bought one a couple of years ago and have been really happy with it. We wanted one that was large enough to fit laptops in and had a light. Ours is bolted to the floor (has to be over a beam).
We like being able to lock our car keys and jewellery away.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 10/01/2014 07:38

Wherever you put the safe, the really important thing is to conceal the fact that you have anything worth putting in it.

Because if it's worth taking, it's worth them getting YOU to open it. The founders of Phones4you had a very nasty time of it.

LeeGood · 30/10/2017 07:24

Safe must be installed very firmly and to be situated in a "secret" place, like bottom of the floor for example

Jasminedes · 30/10/2017 07:27

My dad looks after a church, and when it was burgled, and they saw there was a safe, the burglars came back a week later with tools to get into it.

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 30/10/2017 07:29

This thread is 3y old...I think the OP has made her decision by now....

Jasminedes · 30/10/2017 07:29

And I'm not sure if the people who burgled our house looked in the cereal boxes, or the loft, but they looked in literally every other container in the whole house, every drawer, every loom band box, every ornamental pot on top of the kitchen cupboards.

Chattymummyhere · 30/10/2017 07:29

We have one that’s hidden and screwed in. We only keep paperwork in it. Everything else can be replaced easily via insurance. It’s fire resistant for something like 30minutes.

FlibbertigibbetArmadillo · 30/10/2017 07:30

Get a gun safe and screw it into the bricks with expanding bolts

alexbbb · 30/10/2017 07:51

I personally own a SentrySafe safe. You can find the review on it - secretstorages.com/sentrysafe-sfw123es-review/ . I was initially planning to get one that you could nail to the floor, but then rejected the idea. Living in a fire risk zone, I was very nervous about keeping stuff at home, so I need something that would secure my stuff from fire as well as from theft. So I'm thinking of getting one more safe. One to store some papers and a few coins. The safe I open "if a gun is to my head". Another one with the real valuables in it.

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