How to Hide a Home Safe

If you've spent money buying gold and silver bullion, then naturally you'll want to protect your bars and coins. One obvious way to do this is to buy a home safe. There are many home safes on the market, of various sizes and with different levels of security.

One way to make sure your collection is well protected is to use a double line of defense- a strong, secure safe which is also hidden from sight.

The question is: Where to hide it?

The first and most obvious point is that it needs to be out of sight. But you also want it to be easily accessible for yourself. Some people have been known to hide a small safe in the soil of a large houseplant. While this will probably do the trick in terms of being invisible, it's quite an effort to have to dig up your treasure all the time.

A small safe can obviously be hidden more easily in your house than a large one, so if you need more storage capacity then it may be worth considering having two smaller safes that you can hide, rather than a larger one.

Under the Floor

A popular place to hide a safe is under the floor. This is a good option for a small safe that can fit between the joists of a wooden floor. Once installed, it should be covered with either removable carpet tiles, wooden flooring or a rug. Just make sure that the floor covering doesn't show signs of being frequently removed- for example carpet tiles with curled edges.

It's also possible to conceal a safe in an existing concrete floor, but this would require a lot of work. You would need to drill through the concrete, dig a hole and then install the safe with six-inch padding of new concrete around it. It would be an expensive operation. Probably the best way to hide a safe in a concrete floor is to install it when the house is under construction.

Inside a Wall

Another popular hiding place is inside a wall. It's relatively easy to make a recess in a wall to conceal a small safe, then cover it with either a clock, painting or bookshelf. This would also make for ease of access.

Camouflaging Your Safe

Camouflaging your safe is another answer. Small safes can be hidden behind an electrical appliance such as a washing machine, or even inside a bed-frame with pillows or bed covers on top.

The garage is a great place to conceal a larger-sized safe. Garages tend to be unorganized places, so here are some options: behind boxes, inside a cupboard, inside old clothes. Just make sure that your hiding place isn't too difficult for you to get to.

A child's bedroom can make a good hiding place for a safe, especially younger children's rooms which burglars usually don't bother to search. These rooms are often cluttered places, and it's unlikely a burglar would find anything of real value there. A teenager's room may be more attractive to an intruder, since it could contain expensive electronic equipment, so this may not be a good place to conceal a safe.

The worst place to hide a safe is in the master bedroom- this is the first place a burglar will look, as it's where most people keep jewelry. A safe hidden here, for instance in a wardrobe, would be easy to find.

Use a Decoy

A clever trick is to install a decoy safe in a fairly obvious position, filled with cheap jewelry and trinkets. A burglar may not appreciate your taste, but could be fooled into thinking he has found your valuables when the real safe is actually hidden away.

It's possible to buy decoy safes that are disguised as other objects. For example there are books safes, can safes, etc. They can be placed on shelves or other normal storage places, effectively hidden in plain sight.

Conclusion

Overall it's worth investing a little time and thought into considering where to hide a safe in your home, and how to do it effectively. If you buy silver bullion on a regular basis, then you need a good hiding spot that is easily accessible.

See also: