The options for customizing your safe, vault, or safe room are constantly changing as new ideas come to market. Our sales staff not only keep up with the growing number of options, but also spend a great deal of time following up with these new ideas to see what works, and what was just a new idea. We also offer custom built safes for those clients who have specific needs and have years of experience in supporting design and quality manufacturing.
The areas where customization of your safe can be done are almost as numerous as the ideas and products on the market, so this is not a comprehensive list. if your questions are not answered on this page, be assured that we are only a phone call away, and ready to see your needs are met.
Common Customized areas for safes are:
• Colors and Finishes
• Fire Standards
• Lock Types
• Installations
• Size requirements
• Alarm System hookups
• Multiple access codes
• Time locks
• Interior Designs
Colors and Finishes
How can your safe look? Most stock safes are available in two or three colors and finishes. Rough finishes are often preferred for rough environments such as garages, and work rooms, while more public areas often look for high-gloss finishes or bright steel. While the “no” or “low” cost options are limited, this doesn’t mean that you are when it comes to creating the safe you are looking for.
Pin stripes to airbrush, a good rule of thumb in safe color and design is; if you can do it to the hood of a car, you can do it on a safe, and we are here to help you at every step of the way, with references and a knowledgeable staff insuring you have the backing of experience at every step of your design fulfillment.
Other options may include the handles themselves, such as the spin wheels on larger safes, whether they have 3 spokes or 5. Whether they are chrome or gold. Which direction the safe door opens.
Fire Standards
There are two types of Fire Safes, safes designed and rated for different purposes. The UL350 rating is for paper storage, and also good for items which will not be effected by temperatures of 350 degrees (f) for an extended period of time. Then there are the data safes which are rated UL120 or UL72, which remain much cooler to safeguard magnetic media, such as backup tapes, CD’s and DVD storage.
There are different time periods for fireproof testing as well, depending on the UL rating that the product is attempting to reach. The most common ratings are for ½ hour, 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hour, and 4 hour. As the time goes up so does the temperature to which the product is heated.
For ½ hour the product is heated to 1550°F, for 1 hour 1700°F, 2 hours 1850°F, 3 hours 1920°F, and 2000°F for products rated 4 hours. Once the product reaches the set time and temperature the furnace is turned off. The test product must then cool in the unopened furnace until there is a significant decrease in the internal temperature of the product. This cooling period can take as long as 68 hours and is the point at which most products fail the test due to the fact that the interior of the product continues to rise in the unopened furnace.
You can find out much more about fire safe standards on (this page). It also talks about Insurance requirements for fire safes (HIPAA).
Whatever your needs are, we can help you accomplish them, providing the storage space you need with the protection you require.
Lock Types
Currently the most common lock options are:
• Key Locks
• Dial Combinations
• Electronic Locks
• Biometric Locks
There are also options which combine several of these on one safe, giving multiple methods of access. A good example of this is the Biometric Wall safe from SecureLogic.
What is right for you is a matter of access need, and accountability, as well as personal preference. Just about every safe on the market can be adapted to one of these options. If you have a specific need, or requirement our staff can help achieve your goal.
Installations
Where your safe will be located and how it is installed is often just as important as the choice of safe. Many times the location dictates the parameters of the safe, and then there are times that the safe dictates the parameter changes required by the installation. We have been installing customized safes and helping with the design and construction needs for installation for many years. If you are looking to add a safe to your home which will require a major installation, make sure you call us, we may be able to save you a great deal of money and time.
Size requirements
Capacity is always an issue, but there are times when size and shape are an issue as well. If you are looking for a custom safe to be built which will meet the parameters required by your home or office, we can help you.
Alarm System hookups
Want to know if your safe was opened, or tampered with? Many alarm systems now have direct hookups which can be accessed by models inside safes, which will notify you or your security company on the event of entry or tampering (too many wrong codes). We are also working with a San Diego company who has created a notification system which works off cellular technology, so that power outages, or cut phone lines do not disable the alarm notification. In fact this new self-contained system isn’t even detectable from outside the safe, and can not be disarmed.
Multiple access codes
Deposit safes or drop safes often require several levels of access, but there are also applications where your company may want to know not only that the safe was opened but whose code was used for access. There are several electronic lock systems which provide exactly this kind of information.
Time locks
Time locks have been around for a very long time. They can be programmed from 4 to 144 hours, and insure that the safe can not be opened even with the right combination during the programmed duration. Another type of lock which is very similar is the Time Delay. The Time Delay is a combination lock equipped with a delay timer that delays the actual unlocking of the combination lock by a preset delay, usually less than one hour. Unlike the time lock, which unlocks at a preset time and must be manually reset daily to a new time (as in the case of a bank vault), time-delay locks operate at any given time, but the operator must wait for several minutes to elapse before the lock actually unlocks.
Time-delay combination locks are usually incorporated into money safes as a robbery deterrent, since most robbers are unwilling to wait around for the timer to unlock the safe. In many instances, time-delay combination locks are also equipped with an ‘ambush’ combination which may be dialed that will activate the time delay as well as send a silent alarm.
Interior Designs
Shelving needs, door racks, file cabinets, interior safes, and much more can be created for the interior of your safe depending on your needs.
While we have only covered a small area of the available customization options for your safe, rest assured that if you have a requirement, we Safe & Vault Masters has a safe to meet them. Give us a call.