A Waterproof Safe.

A Waterproof Safe.

A Waterproof Safe Can Shield Your Documents From The Destructive Power Of Water.

Water
covers around 70% of this planet’s surface and is essential for life as
we know it to exist, it makes up more than half of our body weight and
drinking enough of it can improve our health and well-being.

Yes sir,
water can be a vital friend, but it can also be a powerful enemy.

The
power of water can carve out valleys, wash away crops, drown livestock,
uproot forests, wear away rock and crumble man’s largest buildings into
dust.

It is not only large volumes of water that can cause
destruction, just the smallest quantity of it can ruin your valuable and
treasured documents beyond recovery.

Not only paper documents, or rare books can be damaged beyond repair by the effects of water.

Water
has the ability to destroy those treasured family photographs and
movies from yesteryear.

At risk too is any kind of media, such as
compact disks, tapes and flash drives. Valued clocks and watches are
also vulnerable.

Jewelry too can be damaged, certain gemstones
will lose value if they suffer water damage and water will weaken the
cement paste that holds stones in their settings.

What Degree Of Protection Do You Want From Your Waterproof Safe?

What degree of water resistance do you need? If your safe is installed
on an upper floor then the risk of it being completely submerged is
somewhat minimal. Basements on the other hand are a different matter.

flooding
Water can cause irreparable damage.
flooding
Water can cause irreparable damage.

Basements flood easily.

Burst pipes, a leaky appliance, overflowing
bath, blocked drainage, torrential rain and other disasters can mean
your basement gets flooded and your home safe can end up underwater.

You can imagine the irreparable damage caused to the contents of a
submerged safe that is not waterproof.

It is likely that you want all round protection for your documents
and valuables from all possible disasters, ideally you want to protect
them from water damage, from fire and from theft.

And right there may lay a problem.

Obtaining
a safe at reasonable cost that offers both water and fire resistance is
very possible. Indeed many of the qualities that make a safe water
resistant, also help in making it fire resistant and vice versa.

However
an affordably priced waterproof safe is likely to be manufactured from a
fiberboard/metal sheet material and not made out of steel.

The
material is very good for protection from both fire and water, but may
not give you the kind of defense against a skilled safe-breaker that you
may desire.

Yes, these safes will likely thwart the average thief and
do offer a degree of burglar resistance, they are unlikely to withstand a
prolonged attack using tools however.

At the higher end of the
price scale you may be able to find a water resistant safe that not only
is fitted with a strong lock and hinges, but also has a body strong
enough to defeat a determined assault.

As an alternative you
could store your documents in a waterproof chest and lock the chest in a
burglarproof safe.

The safe would have to be quite large though to be
able to accommodate the chest. A completely sealed, watertight and
waterproofed bag would likely fit in the safe easier.

Waterproof Safe Or Water Resistant Safe?

Unfortunately there does not appear to be any testing or rating from the
Underwriters Laboratory as to the ability of a safe to keep water out.

Safes are described by manufactures as being either waterproof or water resistant. It would be reasonable to assume that a safe described as waterproof would do the better job of keeping its contents dry.

The safes described as resistant may withstand a soaking from a
sprinkler system or burst pipe, but presumably would not protect the
contents if completely submerged.

Some companies may conduct
their own tests and give their own ratings. They may rate a safe as to
how long it can keep the inside dry when standing in a certain depth of
water for a certain amount of time for example.

Something you
should know. Floor safes are often secured to the floor by means of
bolts that are inserted through holes from the inside of the safe.

This
means that burglars would have to somehow dig the safe free from its
anchor points before they could carry it away, a difficult and time
consuming job.

Anchor bolt holes in a waterproof safe are not a
good idea for obvious reasons.
There are water resistant floor safes
that can be secured to the floor but these are rare.

Floor safes
are usually heavy and a burglar working alone would have a hard time
removing it, of course a trolley or lifting equipment could be used, or
there could be more than one thief.

If securing your water resistant safe to the floor is important to you, check with the manufacturer before you buy.

Mold.

Leaving documents enclosed within any kind of safe for a period of
time runs the risk of mold. As a waterproof safe is also airtight it
means the chance of mold appearing is increased if the safe is not
opened frequently.

Open up your safe around once per month to
allow air to circulate inside. Keeping a couple of desiccant (silica
gel) packs inside is also a good idea.

Manufacturers claim
that today’s construction methods reduce the mold problem but it is
always better to be sure rather than sorry.



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Waterproof Safe.

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