Buying a new safe, any advice?
 

I have been needing a floor safe for a while now and have been researching and searching for the right one for about a year now. Does anyone have any soound avice they can offer. It seems to me I need a 90 minute or longer fire proof safe but what no one can seem to tell me is what happens to my cards stored in plastic sleeves? i know paper is up in smofe at 451 degrees what about penny sleeves or my 9 pocket plastic pages? If any one has any practical experience they can share it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

When I colleceted baseball cards back in the 80's & 90's, (1993) I had all my old sets in Books with Vinyl Pages and acrylics stored in a small walk in closet that was deadbolted & locked.

After leaving the dryer on, I went to my daughters Open House. When we came home, the house was destroyed and the fire dept was mopping up. The lint inside the back of the dryer caught fire, set the kitchen cabinets ablaze and the house was gutted. The big Screen was melted to the floor, Pictures on the wall were gone. The dog was dead.

The cards in the closet were a bit smokey, but not one card was ruined or plastic melted. Every window in the house was blown out from the heat. I wiped down all the pages, sprayed some lysol and everthing was fine. All the clothes were ruined and every piece of drywall was replaced, but pictures that were in cabinets were fine. The cards were eventually sold and no one could ever smell the smoke.

I can only imagine in a safe...that everything would be safe. That's about as practical experience as you can get.

If you are looking for a top quality safe, go with a Ft. Knox.

http://www.ftknox.com/redesign/safes/guardian.htm

I have owned two now...my first advice is get one size bigger than you think you need...it is remarkable in this hobby how fast one safe can fill up. My second thought is my floor safe hold my truly valuable cards (high dollar/hard to replace)...I then bought a fireproof file box...I keep several cheaper but one of a kind items in that. It is fire rated and I feel secure with it even though it is not bolted to the floor like my safe.

Joshua

I agree with the advice about buying it big. But buy the tallest one also with nice shelving. I am so glad I didn't go cheap on my safe. It is so much nicer not having to bend down when I'm fiddling with cards and valuables.

local gun or security shop
 

When I was looking for a safe I went to a local security system business, retail store. They had a ton (well, more than a ton, but you know what I mean) of used but almost new looking safes. I got a 1200lb jewelers safe for around 1k. It is awesome. They had to bring it in with a tow truck :). It is rated TL 15 and is fire proof for a few hours. I would recommend doing the same thing. Since these are so heavy it wouldn't usually make sense to buy from out of state, or non-local, unless you live in a place with none of these type establishments. regards