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Post by misterdark on Oct 22, 2015 18:24:01 GMT
With crime on the rise just about everywhere, and REALLY good safes as expensive as they are, I have been wondering recently where the actual best place for securely storing valuables in my home would be. I have a small fire box in the closet of my bedroom with my passport, some paperwork, and a few coins; and a cheap "gun safe" bolted to the floor in the garage, but honestly don't have truly secure storage for firearms, ammo, and the like. As I said, I don't have the wherewithal for a really high-end gunsafe (but it is on my Christmas list) but even if I had it, where do I put it? My concern is that a burglar will come in while we are on vacation, and have a whole night to dig thru the place and get into whatever he wants. So it begs the question, what are some good locations that most people WON'T think of to look, to hide the good stuff? I had considered building a false wall under the stairs, but that is probably the 1st place someone would look. I could just put all the valuables on the floor in the middle of my 16 year old daughters' room. After a week, with the way she throws clothes everywhere, nobody would ever find it, myself included.  But I need a plan B. So! Where do I hide the good stuff, that won't be noticed ? PS The papers and passport (and a lot of other valuable/sentimental stuff) have all been scanned and stored on multiple media formats, in multiple places. With encryption. So the physical copies are important, but not irreplaceable. |
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Post by LowKey on Oct 22, 2015 20:04:46 GMT
Well, two strategies come to mind, each at opposite ends of the spectrum.
First, concrete is relatively cheap. If you have a basement, pour a safe.
Second place relies more on misdirection. How much does an old, worn out water heater cost?........
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Post by misterdark on Oct 22, 2015 20:48:47 GMT
No basement, dammit. But that is a great idea on the water heater. Misdirection I likee.
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Post by scbrian on Oct 22, 2015 22:40:00 GMT
I know a guy who when renovating his parents house, installed hardwood floors. In one closet, he made the floor removable (You cant tell). He built and poured a concrete form and mounted a safe inside it for $$, jewelry and other important stuff. from below it looks like just another support, from above you cant tell the floor opens. For Guns??? I'd hate to have to move the wife's shoes, etc. weekly to access them. I agree with lowkey, misdirection and obfuscation might be your friends. Online, I've seen locking freezers turned into gun cabinets, and what about fake shelves or false walls? www.google.com/search?q=hide+guns+in+plain+sight&safe=off&biw=1280&bih=926&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQsARqFQoTCM2a5e2O18gCFUxwPgoduvwJNQWhen I get to the point of a decent size safe, I'm honestly just going to mount to studs, and the floor and have an impact alarm on it with a big ass self contained siren. Looks, safes, etc are all overcome. There just varying degrees of how long will the crook take to open/find/remove. A Thief wants to sneak in, do his job, and sneak out. The minute you bring attention to the situation, is the minute he starts rushing to finish and scoot. For that matter, wouldn't your house be safer with an alarm/fire/emergency system? |
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Post by misterdark on Oct 23, 2015 3:59:19 GMT
Looks, safes, etc are all overcome. There just varying degrees of how long will the crook take to open/find/remove. A Thief wants to sneak in, do his job, and sneak out. The minute you bring attention to the situation, is the minute he starts rushing to finish and scoot. For that matter, wouldn't your house be safer with an alarm/fire/emergency system? Agreed. Got the alarm/fire/emergency system. Got cameras. Got bracing on the entry doors. All can be defeated. At the moment, I am leaning towards a bigger fire safe in the closet, with lots of sirens/horns/flashing lights, and a gutted water heater in the garage or attic. That idea is just epic. But I am open to more and better ideas. |
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Post by dannusmaximus on Oct 23, 2015 4:35:15 GMT
Second place relies more on misdirection. How much does an old, worn out water heater cost?........ Awesome idea. Is. Awesome.
Part of the answer to your question is how many and what types of guns you have, AND whether or not they are irreplaceable from a cost or sentimental standpoint. I have a 12 gun safe that stores all my bang sticks (for the most part...), but to be honest, with one exception (a shotgun that grandpappy owned), I don't consider any of them that important. Write down the serial numbers and estimated value and make sure your homeowner's insurance covers theft. Cash insurance check, buy new ones. I obviously don't want said guns used to hurt other people, so I could take the firing pins or bolts out of my AR's and the barrels out of my Glocks. Those are small parts that would easily be hidden somewhere else in the house or in the fire safe you keep in your closet. FWIW, I bought my Liberty Revolution safe on sale at Gander Mountain for $299. It's entry level, but secure, fairly heavy, doesn't take up that much floor space, and is able to be bolted to a floor or wall. It would take much more effort to get it out of my basement than a typical smash and grab burglar would likely want to expend. Large safes can indeed be a fortune. |
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Post by NamelessStain on Oct 23, 2015 13:12:24 GMT
Also, go to gun shows. The one in town always has the liberty safe guys.
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Post by LowKey on Oct 23, 2015 14:12:01 GMT
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Post by Browning35 on Oct 23, 2015 18:16:18 GMT
I have a safe, but we just tried to layer everything instead of hiding it.
-Dog
-Security lights w/motion detectors
-Steel door
-Good deadbolts
-Door guardian latches (which also have the benefit of lil dude not being able to get up in the middle of the night and decide that he wants to play in the backyard or go for a ride on his tricycle).
-Door reinforcement kits (strike plate and extra long screws).
-Window alarms
-Window film to make the glass harder to break.
-Locks on the gates
Etc etc
All those measures can be defeated, but they take time and in most situations home burglars don't have that kind of time to burn. They want in and out, smash, grab, load up the car and leave within single digit minutes. They wouldn't generally have the time to be able to go through the house, see my safe, go get tools to cut the mooring bolts that are through the safe and into the concrete slab or likely have a dolly that'll handle that much weight available to them in their vehicle even if they did have the tools or the time to cut. With the weight of the safe and everything in it its about 6-700 lbs, not something that a couple guys could just pick up and throw in their truck.
Plus it's ultra rare that everyone is away from home, there's almost always someone here. No one except me answers the door and even then if it's not someone we know we just shout "Sorry, we aren't interested". There's a peephole in the door and there's two opposing side windows where I can see the entire length of the porch and see who's there or see anyone trying to hide out of sight of the peephole.
That'll have to do for now.
Some of the people I know have opted to go with hidden/secret rooms when they built their homes for their safes, but we're still in our starter house and there's not as much room for that sort of project. Maybe when we sell this thing.
I like the water heater idea for long term storage, not sure about getting guns in and out on a weekly basis to go to the range/hunting/occasional class though.
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Post by LowKey on Nov 17, 2015 19:29:13 GMT
I like the water heater idea for long term storage, not sure about getting guns in and out on a weekly basis to go to the range/hunting/occasional class though. Had an odd thought about this... Starting with the biggest water heater you can find (or a filtering system tank): Gut it, and cut the bottom out. Attach a large diameter pipe to the top of it, say about 5 ft (or so?). Then mount a smaller diameter pipe up into the ceiling centered over where you want this contraption. Use a wide collar/flange to hide where the two pipes will meet. Stick a pulley and line set up inside the skinnier pipe, run the line down and attach it to the inside of the water heater. In the cut out base of the water heater, install a carousel rack for your long arms. Put it all together, and when you want access, you pull the line and the tank goes up leaving a carousel rack of guns in front of you. Let the line down/out and you cover the gun rack (kinda like a bell housing, yes?) Don't mind me guys....I'm bored.  |
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Post by scbrian on Nov 27, 2015 21:07:54 GMT
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But I need a plan B.
