Pimp my home security!

January 15, 2007 10:51 AM

Help me secure my home! I need input on a safe and a security system.

1. I need to get a safe to store valuables at my house. Looking for something fire & water-proof to store jewelry, documents (letter & legal size) and 2 laptops.

a) How heavy a safe should I get? Is 100 lbs really going to deter a thief? Do I need something 200 lbs or more?
b) Would it be better to get something that can be drilled into the floor?
c) Most secure lock option: key, electronic, combination, fingerprint, other?
d) Personal recommendations for a home safe?

2. I have some previously-installed security system wires going to windows & doors but system itself is non-functional. Can anyone point me to helpful resources on DIY security systems and options? I'd like to put in a new core system if possible while reusing the cabling.

Thanks in advance for any help!

posted by aceyprime to home & garden (18 comments total)

A safe that can be bolted into the floor is best. And make sure that nobody knows about it! If I had one it would be located in the back read of a closet, out of sight, covered with clothing and other crap. Purchase the safe one place and have someone else install it or, even better, do it yourself. All you need is a drill.

I'm be suspicious of electronic safes. After all, I travel a lot and haven't seen an electronic safe in a hotel yet that couldn't be opened by staff in an emergency. My safe is combo; old, tried, true, tested, and no key to lose.

Are you sure you want to incur the expense of a safe large enough for laptops? If too large your also reducing the chance of it going undiscovered during the type of rushed search common during most burglaries. Just make certain you've got contents insurance, back up often and keep a copy of the media off site. Also encrypt your hard drives and password protect the machines. I tend to hide my laptops on the floor against a wall and behind curtains.

Finally, when I purchased by flat in Central London this was a very shaky 'hood. Consequently I had bars installed on all ground floor doors and windows. I'm from New York, and realise that anybody could still get in (car jacks were popular tools back in the day) but your goal should be to deter and slow. Burglars are opportunists, and will go for soft targets first, given a choice.
posted by Mutant at 11:04 AM on January 15, 2007

How about a safety deposit box at the bank for those documents? How about homeowner's insurance for the laptops? A safe seems a bit excessive, unless you have jewels or guns, in which case you want something that can not be removed whole by a thief, or even a pair of thieves. A buddy of mine has a gun safe. It is so heavy that two grown men can not budge it one inch, literally.

As for your security system, do you want it to call the police or to call a security company? If it will call a security company then they often provide budget rates on installations as they will make it up on the monthly fees.
posted by caddis at 12:15 PM on January 15, 2007

I just picked up this safe from my local Costco, it is 235 lb. From experience, it is not easily moved by one person unless they have a dolly. I would recommend bolting down whatever you get. Obscurity (as mentioned above) is key if you are protecting valuables. I bought mine for fire protection of documents (birth certs, passports, titles) and home movies (no not that kind).
posted by tdischino at 12:50 PM on January 15, 2007

Safes are cool. I used to really want one till I found out all that was involved. For what you want to do you need one with the following specs...

A. Maintain an INTERNAL temperture of no more than 120 degrees while being exposed to temps above 700 degrees for an hour.
B. Be completely water-proof
C. Be big enough to hold all your stuff and weigh enough so as the thieve can not move it.

After doing the research the damn thing ended up being more than the computer and media I was going to put in it. Not to mention the fact that it was going to weight 1500 lbs!


As for the alarm system... I would sign up with a service. If you have all the existing wiring they will come and install their interface for nothing and do the monitoring for a monthly fee.
posted by bkeene12 at 1:00 PM on January 15, 2007

Good recommendations so far - thank you! (Keep them coming!)

After thinking about it we likely don't need anything large enough for laptops...that's probably just me being paranoid. I guess good offsite backups should be enough. Anyone know an average price for a safety deposit box? (I'm in the US)

Not sure about if I want the system to call a security company or not - is it really worth it? Or is a security system enough to scare/slow most thieves? Anyone have additional thoughts on the security system?
posted by aceyprime at 1:06 PM on January 15, 2007

I'd second looking into a safe-deposit box, at least for the documents and things you don't need to access often. Where I live, they only cost about $65 a year, and you'd be hard-pressed to get a home safe that approaches even a modest bank vault. (And if someone does rob a bank vault, chances are they're not going to touch your stuff in the boxes, they're going to be more interested in the cash.)

If you decide you still need a safe, what you're going to want to look for is the Underwriters' Laboratories certifications. They have them for both fire safes and for security/anti-burglary safes. UL-Listed fire safes are easy to find; most warehouse clubs have them. However (and IANASafecracker), I'm told they offer only very modest security against a determined criminal, even if they're bolted to the floor. The insulating material the makes it fire resistant is easy to drill, so if someone wants to get in and has a few hours (and possibly less than that), they're going to do it. Basically, they might deter someone who's ransacking your house for stuff that's easy to haul away, but if you're being targeted, it's just a speed bump.

Real "safes," ones that are UL tested and certified, are much more expensive and harder to find than fire safes, or the non-certified "security boxes" that you'll find alongside fire safes. (Which I've had more than one person tell me are 'not really safes, just things that look like safes.') Be ready for some sticker shock, though (multiple thousands of dollars), and realize even UL-Listed models are only rated for 30 minutes of resistance against a determined opponent.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:11 PM on January 15, 2007

I've got a safe deposit box in New York (even though I live in London, now that's off site!) and pay $135 a year.

The box I rent is perhaps four inches high, about six inches wide and maybe twenty inches deep. Good for papers, cash (if one were inclined, it's a no no!), jewlery, etc.
posted by Mutant at 1:14 PM on January 15, 2007

This may not be what you're looking for but I've always thought about purchasing a gun safe to use a primary safe. It's huge, fire-proof, and to any would-be-criminal it holds nothing more than guns.

Then again, guns are the most stolen items in home invasions.
posted by ASM at 2:15 PM on January 15, 2007

Unless you have a problem in your neighborhood I wouldn't worry about it. I "armed" mine for the first couple of years after it was installed. Then the novelty wore off plus I kept having to pay the police dept. $75 for each false alarm that they responded too. The system was very paranoid about strong wind gust while we were at work.

On the flip side. It would really suck if someone knocked out a window, tied up your family, beat the crap out of you and robbed the house. Chances of this occuring are about equal to winning the lottery.
posted by bkeene12 at 2:50 PM on January 15, 2007

I used to have a local alarm system, and the one time I was broken into it did its job. It scared away the bad guys. However I was unaware that there was any problem. By the time I got home the system had reset, and the novelty had worn off so the neighbors weren't around... I could have easily walked into a house with someone inside. I opted to upgrade the alarm to one that is monitored. Simply for the reason that if I am being robbed I'd like someone to call me. And I saved about 15% on my homeowner's insurance.
posted by Gungho at 2:57 PM on January 15, 2007

If bolting the safe to something secure is not feasible for whatever reason you can always fill the bottom of your safe with something heavy. Ammo Boxes filled with lead shot or cheap barbells from your local sports authority are simple ways to make a safe very difficult to move. In terms of locking mechanisms fingerprint systems (the few that are actually sold) are quite crappy. Most modern electronic keypad ones connect using the same couplings as mechanical dial controls, so they are close to equally secure.
posted by frieze at 3:31 PM on January 15, 2007

I was looking into security systems a year or so ago...we opted to make window stickers and a sign that say we have the alarm in the house. We also had motion lights installed around the house. And on inside windows we installed these locking devices that only allow the window to rise so far up unless you are inside to unlatch them.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as well:

The truth is that most of the time if someone is going to break into the house they are usually in and out so quick they're gone before the police arrive. And if you live in a big city where false alarms are frequent and other crime prevails, the police response time might not be all that speedy.
posted by Gooney at 4:58 PM on January 15, 2007

Whatever you get, make sure you can open it easily and quickly. The last thing you want is a burglar standing over you, bludgeoning you or shooting you in the leg every time you flub the combination.
posted by ikkyu2 at 5:34 PM on January 15, 2007

We pay about $45 per year for a safety deposit box that is about four inches deep, fourteen inches wide and twenty inches long, all dimensions being quite off the cuff as I have not been in there in about a year or two.

If you do go for a safe I vote for the gun safe. It is too heavy to steal, way too heavy, huge inside, and it doesn't radiate wealth, just that here is someone who does not want their kids to get at the weapons. A good one is damn expensive though. Of course, if you have guns, and especially if you have kids and guns, the safe really is not optional.
posted by caddis at 6:22 PM on January 15, 2007

I've got a safe deposit box in New York (even though I live in London, now that's off site!) and pay $135 a year.

I guess all rents are higher in NYC --- I pay about half of that for a box that easily fits legal-sized documents, and is maybe 4 inches deep. I priced out fire safes, and to get something good was just too much money, and they are heavy, too. I do have a cheap fire safe from Walmart or Home Depot or wherever, just to keep semi-important papers, but I have no confidence that it would survive a fire.

The way it works at my bank, I can put things in and out of the box as often as I want, and the bank employees leave the room before the box is open (I assume to avoid liability in case someone is putting illegal stuff inside).
posted by Forktine at 6:31 PM on January 15, 2007

Mutant - combination locks are by no means foolproof. Also. Given that, yes, the goal is to slow the thief down.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:36 AM on January 16, 2007

my personal option--a gun safe--you don't necessarily have to store guns in it--my parents bought it for my brother and I to put ours in it--but my mother has over-crowded the gun space with her documents and jewelry!

They're heavy, sturdy, fireproof to quite a high degree and has great storage space!
posted by uncballzer at 7:32 AM on January 16, 2007

I can write you a whole essay on what NOT to get with an alarm system -- I am an alarm system dispatcher (coming on 6 years). Get something off-the-shelf first, don't go for the alarm monitoring until you're positive there's a problem. Most of our customers pay $22+/mo and nothing has never happened to pretty much any of them. We monitor businesses and homes both, and pretty much all of the activity for dispatches comes from convenience stores, and really, that's about it. Everyone and their cousin in my city seems to think they need a monitored alarm system, but they're mostly useless for my city even though there is the occasional break-in. In nearly 6 years of working there, I can't think of a single residential alarm that was actually someone breaking into a house.

There was one where someone was held up at their house and purposefully gave us an incorrect codeword when we called them and dispatched, eventually catching the guy, but it didn't involve anything the alarm system necessarily did except detect that the lady set the alarm off on purpose by trying to disarm incorrectly, but that's about it.

So really, save yourself a TON of money and get something self-installable first, determining: if you can tell there really is enough cause to worry about going thru a frustrating loop of learning the whole system and then deciding you may not want it but are stuck in a contract.

As for good systems that I would recommend should you decide to go that route, just about anything Radionics system ending in 12 (9112, 7212, etc) is good, which is what we use at work and for the owner's properties. I can advise against a lot of other models if you were to know them offhand. Offer extended to anyone not currently asking the question, also =D
posted by Quarter Pincher at 9:54 AM on January 16, 2007