socket safes - have you got one?

[costloca]

I'm talking about the mini key operated 'safes' which have a regular double socket front to them with the concealed pull-out drawer behind for valuables. Are they any good? Do they look realistic? I see they say 'for fitting in cavity walls' but could I fit one in my 30's semi?

It is possible, but quite difficult, to fit one in a non-cavity wall. For best results you take out a stretcher brick, plus some mortar, and mortar in the outer shell, with a few screws, but it is deeper than a brick. How thick are your walls? (measure at a window or door opening). If the plaster is unusually thick it might give you the extra space.

They are strong enough to defeat a child with a table-knife, but not a person with hammer and chisel, so they rely on not being noticed. In a previous house I had one in the boiler-room, where it would not be seen by a casual visitor. The fake socket on the front might not match the others in your house, so a trained eye might spot it. An out-of-the way dark corner is a good place.

p.s.

If you have a bricked-up fireplace, it could go in there, and extend into the gap where the fire used to be. It is easier to put in when building work is being done, unless you are good at taking out bricks, mortaring, plastering and redecorating.

p.p.s.

If you have wooden floors, you could fit a small floorsafe more easily. You cut out a rectangle of floorboard, in a corner or cupboard where people will not usually walk on it (it may squeak, or feel different) and it will be hidden by a rug or the corner of a fitted carpet. They are mostly screwed or bolted to the joists, or a small frame of thick wood used to line the hole.

It will be bigger, and take more work to break into or carry away.