Comments
Folks – My readers would love to hear your story. If you have a safe related story, safe installation, security points, lessons learned, etc please send them to me via the e-mail on the contacts page.
We can no longer accept posts since the number of hackers and scams on the internet have nearly become out of control. Those folks of less then professional character have been using the posting as a means to attempt to boost ratings of their own websites as well as to deliver spam messages. Sorry – Bob
Bob – I cannot agree with you more about keeping the safe installation closely guarded. While I had a combo style lock, I had a copy of the backup key on my key ring. The other I have stored in a safety deposit box. I know – not a very wise move. Everyone in the house was perfectly aware of the safe and fact that I stored my gold investment inside. Before leaving on vacation I changed the combo on the safe as a precaution. The week following our return, I went to place my monthly purchase of bullion into my floor safe only to find it was cleaned out! No signs of forced entry into the house or the safe! It was only when I went to change the combo (which requires the key to be inserted) that I discovered the key no longer worked. A quick comparison to the one stored in the safety deposit box showed the keys were no longer duplicates. The investigation revealed in the end that my 15 year old step daughter swapped the key on my ring with a fake look alike and gave the real one, along with a house key to her 24 year old “Boy Friend”. It was supposed to be the money they could run away together with. That was half right. When we returned from vacation he had moved out of his apartment never to be seen again. Even his identity was stolen from a grad student at the local university.
JJ in Ohio
JJ, I am sorry to hear about the robbery. Still I would like to thank you for having the courage to share your story. Indeed it is a sad time in our history that we need to safe guard ourselves against family as well as criminals.
Bob – I wanted to comment on the discussion about selecting a location for the floor safe. You hit the nail right on the head about keeping the safe out of potential traffic areas. Recently our home was broken into. We have hidden video surveillance throughout the house so was able to record the thieves in action on tape. My floor safe was located below a throw rug behind the sofa. We walk over it maybe a hundred times a day. So much so we didn’t even think about it anymore. During the robbery one of the thieves walked over the safe, took a step back and started stomping on the rug. Having discovered the safe he left only to return within 20 minutes with tools. Watching the video we were amazed how quickly he got the safe open. Thanks to the hidden video cameras the thieves were captured within days and most of our silver and house hold items were recovered. The $30K in cash I had in the safe was lost however. The first thing I did when it was all over was to upgrade my floor safe, and install it in a very different location.
Robbed in Ottawa
Well Robbed, I guess you also make a very strong case to add video surveillance to our home security system.
Bob – Just a tip. I used a concrete saw as per the installation instructions to cut the hole in my slab. I am to here say that was not the best idea. We were cleaning the dust up for weeks! Internet searches recommend the use of a jack hammer to prevent this problem. I suggest to all readers they give the jack hammer method serious consideration.
At the time I did my install, the jack hammer was the only equipment available at the tool rental place. Clean up wasn’t bad at all.
Bob – I have yet another story of how a slip of the tongue can make you a target. The home I moved into already had safe installed. After changing the combo I started using the safe to store papers such as the title to my cars and insurance documents. Important, but nothing of immediate cash value. One day at a party, the topic of home safes came up. I had a little to drink and made the joke that I had maybe $100,000.00 in gold bullion and another $20,000.00 in cash in my safe. The following week, our home was broken into during the day while my wife and I were at work and the kids in school. The place was tossed a bit and the safe was exposed. It appeared that they attempted to break up the concrete to pull the safe out. In the end nothing was stolen and all I had to do was repair the floor around it, but I learned my lesson.
Alex in Wyoming
Alex – the Navy has a saying – lose lips sink ships. It would seem that they also can cause a break in.