Customers regularly ask if putting their safe in a garage or pole building, as opposed to inside the house, creates any potential problems.
A safe or gun safe in the garage is typically not as secure, for the following reasons:
- Depending on placement, it might be that every time you open the garage door the safe is visible to whoever is driving or walking past the home.
- It is likely to be seen by delivery or service people like UPS, FedEx, the gardener, maintenance personnel, etc., people who have legitimate reasons to go into the garage.
- A safe may be seen by neighborhood kids who enter the garage looking to steal bicycles, beer, etc.
- Everyone has heard stories of the ATM or safe that was stolen when burglars put a chain around it and dragged it off. In a garage or pole building, burglars could open the overhead door and back a truck right in so they could easily do the chain trick.
- Many older safes are on wheels which allows someone to just roll them outside.
- With a safe or gun safe in the garage, you could even be in the house watching TV or sleeping while someone is working to open it with quiet tools like torches.
- Many garages are loaded with tools that burglars would find useful in opening your safe.
Aside from security issues, temperature variations in northern states can cause problems for safes in garages. Rust and lock problems are not uncommon.
The next post will cover how to protect your safe or gun safe from these issues.