In recent years, people have turned more and more to having home safes. Some people may no longer trust the banks with their money after the recent recessions and prefer to keep large amounts of cash at home. Others will have seen large increases in burglaries in the area and will want to protect their valuable possessions by hiding them away under lock and key.

There is no doubt that when you know that your possessions are safe, when you are away on holidays or simply out at the shops, that you will have a lot greater peace of mind.

However, it is important that you choose a home safe that suits your specific needs based on what exactly you plan to store in the safe. Here is some helpful advice that will navigate you through the selection process.

Compare the different models' safety ratings

Safes will be tested for their resistance to fire. The fire rating will be the amount of time that the safe will be able to withstand pressure from a direct flame without having the internal contents combust. This figure will normally be represented in terms of hours. You should always look for a safe that has at least one hour of fire protection, as this will be satisfactory for most situations.

You should also compare the different safe cash ratings. This is an indication of the level of resistance to burglars that the safe has. This figure has been reached by looking at various metrics, such as the strength of the walls and doors of the safe, the level of complexity that the lock has and how difficult it is to remove the safe form its location in the home.

The greater the cash rating, the better the safe is; however, just because a model has a high cash rating, it doesn't necessarily mean that the fire rating is also good.

Choosing the right size safe

You should conduct a comprehensive check of the volume of the items that you will be storing in the safe. You should always allow for a certain extra margin of safety in case you want to store additional items in the near future.

These calculations will allow you to determine what size safe you need. Smaller safes will be easier to hide and will work well in varying environments. You can also choose a model that is portable or permanent. The benefit of having a portable safe is that it can be carried out in case of a fire, while the downside is that a burglar can carry it out also.