• Most of these boxes are rather small.  They are about 1/2 the size of a briefcase.  If you are planing to use your fire safe box to hold documents in, make sure the inside is at least 11″ tall and 8.5″ wide so you don’t have to fold your papers (if you need to store legal sized documents, you need a safe that is 14″ long).
• It is important to purchase a fire safe that has been tested by underwriters laboratories.  This important feature means that a neutral third party has put this safe through a rigorous set of tests to insure it can live up to the manufacturers claims.
• Confirm your safe is rated to store media such as computer discs, memory chips and tapes.  While paper must reach 400 degrees in order to catch file, media can be damaged at as little as 125 degrees Fahrenheit.  Building a safe that protects media takes another level of design.  This safe will cost more, but will be worth it to protect your computer work.
• While stack on safes are very popular with the hunting crowd, you may be surprised to learn that they do manufacture and sell a fireproof safe that is slightly larger than a fire safe box, but functions in an identical way.  It looks like a more traditional safe.
• These safes are really meant to keep valuables and documents from being destroyed in a fire.  They have locking mechanisms, but are not meant to be high security safes.  If you have the room and the budget, a larger fire safe may be a better investment.
• Some fire safeboxes are designed to work almost like a small file holder.  The top opens up to allow folders to be dropped into the safe and protected against fire.  It can be a great place to keep all your important documents organized.
• If possible, see if your firesafe box can be mounted or tethered to something to make it more difficult to be stolen by a burglar.  Because these safes are so small and light, they could easily be carried out of your home where they would be opened later with ease.

Buying a fire safebox is a good investment, but be sure to do your homework before you buy on.

What Can You Put In A Fireproof Safe?

Obviously, what you will put in the safe depends on the size of the safe. Keep this in mind when you are making your purchase. However, you will want the safe to be large enough to hold at least certain papers and other items.

• Life Insurance Policy Information
• Homeowners Insurance Policy Papers
• Birth Certificate, Marriage Licenses, Divorce Papers, Child Custody papers
• Digital memory cards containing copies of all family photos
• Passports and Social Security Cards
• Vehicle titles and Real Estate Deeds
• Larger gun safes can hold many guns

In addition, you may also want to store some family heirlooms in your fire security safes. Again, size may prevent this. However, if you have your great grandmother’s diamond engagement ring that is worth thousands of dollars and is priceless to you, that should be in the fireproof safe. If you buy extended warranties for cars, electronics or other items it’s a good idea to keep these papers in the safe until they have expired. If you have a biometric safe, the fireproof safe is a good place to keep the key to that safe.

How Do You Choose Your Safe?

Once you have an idea of what you will want to keep in your safe, you will know what size safe you want. You can choose a very simple, small safe that consists of nothing more than an open cavity with a top lid that closes and locks. You can also choose a large safe with shelves that can be used to house many of your valuables.

Not all fireproof safes are created equal. Some will withstand higher temperatures for longer periods of time. Generally, the greater the level of security against fire, the more expensive the safe will be. You can choose a ½ rated safe that will withstand a temperature of up to 1550 degrees for thirty minutes. Next is the 1 hour rating that can withstand one hour of 1700 degree external temperatures. If the safe will be kept in an upstairs room, consider purchasing a safe that can also withstand being dropped. For example, the 1 hour+ rating is a safe that can withstand one hour of 1700 degrees temperature, and being dropped thirty feet. The 2 hour rating can withstand 2 hours at 1850 degrees, and the 2 hour+ can withstand that heat level plus survive a drop of 30 feet.

Fireproof safes are an important addition to any home. They will keep your most important papers and small belongings protected from theft or fire. They will also ensure that the next time you need your cars’ title or your child’s social security card; you will actually know exactly where they are.

A fire safe filing cabinet may be too large for home storage, but for an office it will be ideal and will be able to hold both staff and client information. For home use you may instead use one ore more fireproof wall safes, or a fire safe cash box or similar small device to keep both cash and valuable documents safe.  Wall safes are great for privacy and hiding things, but the down side to installation is that you may have to do quite a bit of retro fitting your existing structures.   Usually this entails reframing walls and extensive drywall work. Usually these in wall safes only are large enough to hold small papers, and may require that the documents are folded.

There are also options that are available in between the sizes of the small domestic and large commercial fire safe storage options, and there is nothing to stop the use of a filing cabinet for the home, or a small safe for an office. Fire safe boxes are small boxes that can be portable and inexpensive, but protect their contents in the event of a fire.  Other fire safe storage options for documents would include online storage of a document that has been scanned. This then is stored off site in a secure facility.

With all of the various options that are available you want to be sure that you are getting something that best meets your needs. This is not a place to buy a cheap fireproof safe, which will not protect your valuables.  With the fact that you are not only parting with your hard earned cash in the purchase but are also risking potentially irreplaceable items, you have only one chance to get it right. Spend time looking at the various choices online before you settle on any particular one.