Question I: What do you intend to keep in the safe?

Documents, money, the media, weapons, files, etc. It is an essential thing and, depending on what you will keep in the safe, you have to choose the safe of the appropriate level of security, size, function, etc.

Question II: What size should your safe be?

If the safe is going to be used only for money and jewellery keeping, it may be small; however, you will not be able to keep your documents, files, photographs, or laptops in it. A hunting weapon requires a tall safe. The size of the safe is often limited by the size of the place where it is intended to be. The general rule is the following - you should always choose a larger safe than you think to choose at the beginning, if possible. Pay attention to delivery possibilities of the safe to your desired place – it may be impossible to bring the safe weighting a few hundred kilograms into an inconvenient place.

Question III: What are the safety requirements?

The more valuable your items are (not necessarily in monetary terms), the more secure safe you should choose. The security of the safes are indicated by certificates. If you are concerned about the safety, we advise you to avoid safes without certification. Some of the companies in Lithuania indicated the security of the safes by stars, which helps to choose the right one.

Question IV: Do you need fire protection?

People usually do not consider that the safe protects not only from thefts but also from fire. That is why there are certain fire resistant safes in which the level of fire resistance is rated according to the number of minutes over which the things in the safe are not damaged in case of a direct flame. Please note that there are different types of safes to protect paper and the media from fire since the critical temperature for the paper is significantly higher than for the media.

Question V: Where will you install the safe?

There are three following types of safes according to the method of fitting: standing – fixed to the floor and/or wall; wall – mounted into a wall; floor – mounted into the floor. All these types are used, and the decision is mostly determined by the location in a specific home.

Question VI: which lock of the safe will you choose?

The most popular safes are with these locks: a key safe lock, a key safe + a mechanical combination lock, a mechanical combination lock, safes with an electronic lock. Nowadays, the best solution is safes locked with an electronic locks. After having chosen this type of safe, you will not have to carry big keys in your pocket. You will be able to change the code when necessary and the level of security will be very high.

The investment in the safe is a long term investment. Thus, it is worth "investing" your time in choosing the most suitable product for yourself. It is advisable to buy the safe from the specialised companies, where you will always get an advice how to change the code of the electronic lock of the safe or where to make a copy of the key, how to install the safe, etc. 

It is difficult to explain why it is so. A common perception is that there is nothing to keep safe, or that there are armoured doors in the house and because of them it is safe, or that the house is equipped with an alarm, the property is insured, etc. It is particularly surprising when the residents of private houses or cottages have no safes, since it is extremely easy to get into these houses, for example, through the window, and recently there have been a lot of such kind of thefts in Lithuania. We all have some acquaintances or friends who have been robbed. It is surprisingly strange that even the most luxurious homes in Lithuania have no safes.

So why do people need a safe?

We all have to take care of our own property and protect it; otherwise, we take a considerable risk.  Only a combined protection may protect us effectively; therefore, safe, good armoured doors are necessary in a usual house, even if it is a private house, because if a thief gets into a house through the window, it becomes very inconvenient to carry the objects out and the neighbours may notice the broken window. It is extremely important especially in private houses or flats of the ground and upper floors to install additional locking devices protecting from window opening by force or lockable window handles. The price of these things is low, but they increase the safety of the house significantly. The residents of private houses or cottages should never leave ladders, large boxes or other things that may help a thief to get into the house, for example, through the window, outside. Although the alarm is useful, but it does not make any restrictions to the thief to get inside, though it shortens the time for a thief to be inside of the house; however, it takes only a few minutes for the thieves to cause a lot of damage.  The insurance is also not a problem for the thief, it is only a chance to get the money or part of it back in case of a theft. Actually, it is common in the Western world that the insurance companies insure objects and valuables only if there is a safe in the house and the amount of the insurance depends on the level of security of the safe in the house; therefore, the safes have ‘cash and valuables’ ratings that the insurance companies follow. This has not come to Lithuania yet, but, apparently, the experience of the Western countries shows that it will soon be here. And what about our precious things that cannot be evaluated in cash, for example, the media with the most important photographs, documents whose loss itself causes a lot of problems, computers with our important information that goes into somebody’s hands, money - even if there is only a little of them? And here we see the need for the safe, i.e. the safe does not replace other necessary security measures but its purpose is to prevent the thief from taking quickly something that otherwise he will definitely take and destroy. Of course, there are certain safes that the thieves will not be able to open even having a lot of time but even a simple domestic safe will become an insurmountable obstacle to a thief who has little time.

In order to understand the importance of the safe better, the following list of the things possibly be kept in the safe(s) at home is provided:

• Passports, birth certificates, personal identity cards;
• Cash, credit cards;
• Documents: house books, agreements, company incorporation and other documents,etc.;
• Important media and other recorded information that people do not want to lose and that they cannot allow others to see;
• Computers and other expensive equipment and / or the equipment storing important information;   
• Jewellery, coins / collections of precious metals;
• Wristwatches;
• Stamps;
• Works of art;
• Expensive instruments, equipment;
• The most important photographs, old valuable photographs;
• Diaries;
• Keys, access cards;
• Tickets;
• Other important and valuable (not only in cash) things.  

To sum up it can be said that no protection measure can replace one another and it is necessary to have all of them especially nowadays. The safe is a necessary part of the house protection and it is one of the most important parts. No other protection measures may secure from the instantanenous theft; only the safe can do this.  There is only one advice to follow – let’s take care of our houses and valuable things right now to avoid regretting tomorrow.