Home safes are no longer a luxury item just for the rich and famous.
The record high price gold has turned even a moderate jewelry collection into a sum of great value.
There are many types of home safes available, but there is very little knowledge about the differences among them.
Most people think that anything with a lock provides burglary protection, but that is far from accurate.
Some safes are designed to only provide fire protection, some to provide only burglary protection, and some to provide both.
A good home safe should provide both burglary and fire protection.
It is important to understand that a fire protection safe is very inexpensive.
Most safe companies promote fire protection safes because they are cheap, but the unassuming consumer thinks they are purchasing a home safe that provides both fire and burglary protection.
This is the most common mistake for buyers of home safes.
A home safe that provides both burglary and fire protection is constructed much differently than a fire safe.
It incorporates steel with special composite materials, and has a sophisticated locking system to thwart a forced entry.
How these materials are combined, plus the quality of the boltwork determines the level of burglary and fire protection; and these levels can vary tremendously.
The best way to determine the true quality of a home safe is to choose one that has been tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
UL subjects home safes to the same type of rigorous tests given to jewelers' safes.
In fact, a jeweler must have a safe that is UL rated in order to qualify for thousands or millions of dollars of insurance coverage.
Only a UL rated safe can assure you the same type of protection.
There are different levels of quality among the UL rated burglary safes based on the time necessary to make a forced entry.
Most jewelers choose a level based on their inventory value.
Likewise, a homeowner can choose a home safe the same way.
A home safe is insurance to protect yourmost valuable possessions.
It is a gamble to purchase one without a UL rating, because you can never be certain of its strength.
And, you would have to wonder if a manufacturer is claiming their home safe to be high quality, why wouldn't they simply have it tested by UL?