Home safes are a recommended home security option and now most insurance companies will insist on you having one. The most popular range is the £4,000 cash rated safes as they’re the first step on the ladder of cash rated safes.

With home safes, you need to be aware that they’re easy to pick up and carry – which is great for delivery costs but not so great for security. The solution is to bolt your safe down to your floor (or wall where suitable) to ensure it can’t just be carried out of your home in a burglary.

Choose your location well. Safes should be located in the best possible place. Not only should they be discretely positioned, they should also be put in an area with a good solid floor, and of course somewhere that you can get to easily if you visit the safe often.

A good place would be in a cupboard under the stairs or in the floor of a bedroom wardrobe. But fixing is key and you must bolt it down to be covered by insurance.

Here’s our simple guide to fixing your home safe in place and what to consider

• Who can do it?: Fixing a home safe is a simple DIY job and any competent person can do it.

• What tools you’ll need: You’ll need a drill, drill bits, a power supply for your drill, a ratchet and sockets and some screwdrivers.

• Ideal screws/fixings: The vast majority of safes will come with suitable concrete fixings. Some safe may have wooden coach screws also included, but some may not. If you’re fixing the safe to a wooden floor you’ll need to use coach bolts which you can easily obtain them from a local DIY store.

• Time to allocate. This will vary on the location and size of your safe but a small home safe should be secured in under 30 minutes.

Fixing to a wooden floor:

Wooden floors can be tricky and require a good size coach bolt, which preferably needs to go into a joist for a solid fixing. If this can’t be achieved then we would recommend gluing the safe down (as well as a bolt). You’ll need to clean the surface first and use ‘GripFill’ glue. Simply mark out where the safe is going and glue the area before placing the safe and bolting down.

Note: We only recommend gluing safes of a manageable size. Ask for advice from our professional team for more heavier safes.

Fixing your safe to a concrete floor

• Firstly place your safe in position and with a marker pen draw your drilling hole by using the holes in the floor of the safe as your guide.

• Then remove the safe and you can drill the points you’ve marked off on the floor.

• Now select the correct size drill bit (usually stated on the fitting instructions). Make sure you get this right! If your hole is too big, the bolt won’t take and you will have no choice but to either move the location or buy a larger bolt.

• Drilling is fairly simple, but always keep the drill upright and keep clearing the flute of all dust to allow for smooth operation. Always drill a small ‘pilot hole’ with a much smaller drill bit to get you started.

• Once you have your holes drilled out you can then place your safe back over the holes and screw it down into place after you’ve placed your rawl plug into the floor.

• Other options for concrete are Thunder Bolts. (These have a self-tapping concrete fixing.) These bolts are absolutely amazing but must be done correctly. And always use a drill bit 1mm smaller than stated as it allows for a stronger fixing.

Things to watch out for when fixing your safe to the floor

Underfloor heating: NEVER bolt down your safe in an area where underfloor heating exists. Look at either changing the location or using the glue option for wooden floors above.

Check for pipe work: If there are pipes running in the location of your new safe you’ll need to be VERY sure you don’t put a drill through a gas or water pipe.

Good luck, and of course we can always fit your new safe for you if you’re not quite brave enough or don’t have the time to do it.

Call us on 024 7664 4560 for more advice on installing your safe.