Where you put your safe in your home matters. Some areas in your home are better than others. In fact, putting your gun safe in some parts of your home could actually damage the safe or your floors. Here is what you should know about where you should put your home safe.
Should You Put Your Home Safe in the Basement?
Concrete is one of the best floors for anchoring a gun safe and is the type of flooring you will find in most basements. When anchored properly, it’s extremely difficult for a thief to tip the safe over and pry it open. This is typically the easiest way to bust into a safe, so anchoring it in concrete is a great anti-theft precaution. This also helps keep thieves from peeling the back off the safe or picking it up and removing it from your home.
The problem with basements is they tend to be damp. This can be bad because not only could it cause corrosion to the safe’s exterior, but the moisture can also get inside and cause your valuables and firearms to rust. If you want to install your safe in your basement, it’s a good idea to run a humidifier inside the safe, and monitor the moisture levels with a hygrometer.
Should You Put Your Safe in a Second-Floor Room?
It might seem like a good idea to put your safe on the second floor of your home. A safe in your bedroom gives you fast access at night, after all.
But you need to be careful. A good, heavy-duty gun safe can weigh more than 1,000 pounds. That’s a lot of weight on your second-story floor. You don’t want a safe falling through your ceiling. If you want your safe on the second floor, make sure to have the floor and ceiling below it evaluated for support strength.
Should You Put Your Safe in Your Garage?
If you like to clean or work on your guns in your garage, you might want to keep your safe there. Garages have concrete flooring, a good surface for anchoring down a safe. However, most garages are not temperature-controlled spaces. The valuables in your safe could be exposed to extreme heat or cold. It’s better to install your safe in an area in your home that is climate controlled.
Having a safe in your garage also makes it an easier target for thieves. For one thing, they're more likely to see it if you're working in your garage with the door open. For another, it's easier to bust into a garage and grab a safe than it is to break inside the main area of the house.
So…Where Should You Put Your Safe?
Choosing the best place to install your safe may mean compromising convenience for protecting your safe and its contents from damage. You should choose an area without a lot of humidity, heat, or traffic: a closet, home office, or a bedroom other than the master bedroom may be your best bet. Why? The master bedroom is the first place burglars look for valuables. However, purchasing a quality gun safe and properly anchoring it to the floor go a long way toward making your safe much more difficult to break into.
Need help deciding where you should put your new Liberty home or gun safe? Talk to your local Liberty dealer. For more information about how to prevent your home from being a burglar's target, check out this video.
