FAQ On Safes, Vault Doors and Shelter Safe Rooms

Safes and vault doors have been used to protect valuables from theft for over two-hundred years, and are fundamentally the same today as they have always been with a few exceptions and upgrades. As long as there have been safes and vaults, there have been people attempting to defeat them in order to reap the rewards concealed within them. Almost as soon as new technologies are developed to secure valuables, someone has figured a way to defeat that technology. Even during World War I and II when some safes were manufactured using sealed vials of poisons and gasses behind the front panels of steel in front of the locks and mechanisms within their doors to stop drilling and cutting attacks, safe crackers learned how to either capture the gasses while cutting or brought gas masks with them so they would not be poisoned or gassed. Essentially, no matter how good a safe or vault is perceived to be, with enough time, proper tools and knowledge, every safe or vault can be defeated. However, when combined with other deterrents and current technologies a safe or vault is the most effective means of protecting valuables, and more recently people from would be thieves, defending against intruder attacks or providing protection against fire, tornado, hurricane or any other natural disaster.

When buying a gun safe it is important to purchase the best gun safe for the job of protecting your guns from burglars and keep firearms out of the hands of children and others who should not have access to them. There are a number of factors one should consider when purchasing a gun safe for home or business.

1. What type and how many guns will you be storing? Most individuals make the mistake of purchasing a gun safe that is too small to properly store their guns, or don’t consider future purchases. If you plan to store mostly handguns there are many options available that will allow you to store a large number of handguns and still allow quick access to them in case of emergency. Handguns can be stored in their boxes or holsters on shelves. Pistol trees are very useful for storing handguns on the inside of your safe door. Long guns require additional consideration. Scopes and longer barreled rifles and shotguns require more vertical and horizontal space. Many people buy a gun safe at a big box store only to realize it is woefully inadequate to the task at hand when they get it home. Rule #1. Always by a safe that will hold twice as many weapons as you currently have. Even if you don’t add more guns, you will find the added space ideal for storing important documents, electronic media and other valuables.
2. How secure is the safe? Many imported safes are made with inferior materials and have thin walls. They can be breached quite easily and don’t have adequate fire proofing materials. Look for a safe with at least 90 minute fire and heavy duty steel body. A well designed door helps repel pry attacks and seals the contents of the safe during a fire.
3. Bolt down capability. Even a heavy safe can be lifted or turned on its side to allow a burglar to get extra force on a safe. A safe with a bolt down system provides additional theft protection and makes moving the safe nearly impossible. Ask for more details about bolt down systems.

Vault Pro makes a variety of safes in sizes for almost every individual or business need. We are custom safe specialists, which allows us to build the exact safe you may need for private use, business or government use. Please contact us with your requirements. 800-299-6929

The old adage you get what you pay for is very applicable when it comes to gun safes. Think of the valuables you are trying to protect with your safe. Do you really want a cheap gun safe? Cheap safes are usually foreign made and use inferior materials to save on manufacturing cost. A quality gun safe is a lifetime investment. Our safes are not cheap, but they are a very good value and provide added security and features not found on cheap safes. To find out more about the difference between cheap safes and our quality American made safes call us to talk with one of our safe pros.

While everyone's needs are different, there are a few good guidelines that you should consider. First and foremost, size. Make sure you consider the future when choosing a safe. If you are an avid gun collector or have a sizable coin collection, precious metals, jewelry, cameras or documents and are looking for a safe; figure that those collections will grow. Get something larger than what you currently need or risk having to get another one in the near future to accommodate future collectibles and valuables that you need safe keeping for. The same goes for a vault, vault door or shelter. When looking at vault doors, consider the things you are going to be moving thru the door. Furniture, couches, chairs, desks, safes, etc. If you or someone in your family is getting older and maybe wheelchair bound now or in the future, consider ADA regulations and make sure you have at least a 36" clear thru space and that the accessories of the door are at reachable height. If you have children who will need to access the door in case of emergency, make sure your door is simple enough for a five year old to open with minimal effort.

Are American made gun safes better? We think so. It comes down to quality control as well as pride in products made in the USA. Not only are we proud to be an American manufacturer, employing American's in good jobs, we are also proud of the high quality safes, vault doors, and safe room shelters we produce. The images you see on these pages are our products made here in the USA. That is our plant with American workers. Can other safe manufacturers say the same?

Does it cost more to manufacture safes in America? Yes. But it's worth it when we deliver a top quality safe or vault door to one of our many satisfied customers. We use only top quality parts. No cheap locks that will break when most needed. We use American made locks from S&G to secure our safes. Be sure to ask any dealer where the safes they are selling are manufactured. Many sell cheap foreign made safes with cheap steel, thin walls and fireproofing that won't hold up to a major structure fire. Call us for more information about our American made safes.

Most of you have witnessed the multi stepped doors used inside your bank or credit union. Still, most safes are created with flat doors that close on only one level against the body and are poorly sealed and easily defeated by simple pry-attacks. Properly built Step System Doors and frames are an effective means of deterring pry-attacks and are also the most effective means of achieving higher fireproof levels when used with proper fireproof materials. Most flat doors have a tendency of warping in fire, even the best of gaskets have trouble providing an adequate seal against smoke and heat damage inside the safe or vault. Step Systems are commonly built using bent steel on the outside edge of doors and layered steel within frames providing strength and a more rigid door that is more resistant to warping in the highest of temperatures and can be sealed using multiple gaskets. Essentially, a properly built stepped door locked against a stepped frame is far superior to a flat door.

A quality gun safe is a lifetime investment for the protection of your guns and valuables. An often overlooked question is HOW BIG a SAFE can I fit in my home or business? Normally businesses have larger entrances and opportunities to install very large safes, however, homes can be limited by the size of your door jam. Fortunately Vault Pro displays minimum size door jams for all our Eagle Series safes. When in doubt about whether you think you can get a certain size safe in to your home, please contact us. We are safe and vault experts and can help you determine the ideal safe solution for your home. Call us: 800-299-6929

Safes and vault doors that use internal hinges are preferred by some for their appearance, but looks don't provide security. First of all, internal hinges usually only allow the doors to open to a 90º angle or straight out from the safe or vault door frame. This makes the space behind the door hard to reach and in some cases completely unusable. In the case of vault doors, internal hinges narrow the usable space thru the door. Many safes and vault doors that use internal hinges don't use locking bolts on the back side of the door making them vulnerable to easier pry attacks and simple one sided frame attacks.

External and exposed hinges are often attacked and in some cases ground completely off the door, with the thinking that without hinges, the back side of the door will pull open. Unfortunately for the would be thief, safes with exposed hinges normally have locking bolts (active or deadbolt) on the hinge side of the door. All Vault Pro Safes feature fully active or deadbolt locking mechanisms. Attacking external hinges is simply a waste of time. An external hinge allows for the door to swing open to it's full 180º...making the interior of the safe fully usable and accessible.

External hinges also improve fire resistance. Internal hinges create gaps in the door lining, which allow heat to infiltrate the door into the safe body. Vault Pro Safes external hinge system allows the entire door to seal tightly against the body frame and heat sealing Palusol® gaskets.

Steel itself is pretty well fireproof but holds heat and readily allows for heat to penetrate into a safe or vault. While a bare metal safe or vault door can be secure against attack it is only half of what it could be. 

Hi Grade Dry-wall provides an adequate level of fire protection inside safes and vaults so long as it is used properly and should include several layers and supported in a way so it does not pull away from walls and collapse into the safe or vault during a fire. At best, dry wall is limited to the temperature it will withstand for a given amount of time before it breaks down.

Concrete makes safes very heavy and is a good fireproofing material, but it is my opinion that it should not be used inside a safe or against any bare steel barrier because it is a water based material that will cause corrosion in time, shortening the lifespan of the product.

The best fireproofing I have found to date is Kaowool Ceramic. It is not only a lightweight dry material that provides exceptional fireproof ability well beyond drywall, it doesn't have the corrosive effect and properties of concrete. If properly installed, Ceramic is by far the best available fireproofing. To see the fireproofing capabilities of our 2300 degree ceramic insulation check out our video in the resources (Video) section.

• Foam, basic closure
• Silicone, water tight (can be high temp)
• Palusol®, Fire gasket (expands to seal door in heat) provides superior heat and smoke resistance
• EPDM, Chemical resistant
• NBC, Chemical resistant
• Knife Edge & Double Knife Edge, EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse)

Rotating Dial Locks (Spy-Proof & Locking Dials), arguably old fashion dial combination locks are still the most reliable all around locks. However, advancements have been made to electronic and digital locks that make them the new standard even to our government and military.

Digital locks are not only fast and simple, but they can have multiple users and combinations that can be changed or added to in order to satisfy the owner or manager of the lock. Most digital locks come with features that make picking almost impossible and will shut down temporarily if attempts are made to pick their combinations. Most rely on an electric source (battery or direct power). Some might argue that Digital Locks are somewhat vulnerable to Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) , however their are also Digital-Dial Locks-- that's right, I said Digital Dial Locks that are powered by the user rotating the dial and are protected against EMP.

Biometric or Fingerprint locks are fantastic for families and for children who might need to get into a storm shelter/vault room in seconds. Biometric locks usually hold multiple users and can be used as a Digital Lock as well. For a higher level security, most Biometric Digital Locks can be set up to require both a fingerprint identification and a combination.

Bluetooth Enabled Safe Lock is the latest state-of-the-art locking device. AxisBlu, from Sargent & Greenleaf is the lock that brings you convenience and security. AxisBlu combines the latest Bluetooth® technology upgrades with our proven Titan lock body to create a radical new option for safe security—accessing your safe securely via mobile app. AxisBlu is the first secure safe lock with a no keypad option. Users may choose from a sleek, modern medallion or our tried-and-true traditional gun safe lock keypad. 

Most shelters are without fireproofing and will always have an in-swinging door, usually without locking capability. This means that the common shelter is not much good for anything other than personal protection during a storm.

Vaults are usually fireproof and almost always have out-swinging doors. This means that the common vault is great at protecting valuables from fire and theft but not much good as a storm shelter due to the fact that debris piled against the door could lock people inside.

Combination shelter/vault. Fairly new in the marketplace, combination shelter/vaults are usually fireproof and equipped with in-swinging doors that lock but can be internally opened.

Vault Pro builds the only American's with Disabilities Act or ADA Compliant Vault Doors. Our new 45” standard size doors can all be built to ADA (Americans with Disability Act) standards by providing a walk thru clearance of at least 32” width with the door open at 90°, and will have no more than ¼” vertical raise in the threshold. Please call us for more information on ADA compliant vault doors.

Most modern safes are created using steel. Exotic metals such as stainless steel, copper, aluminum, etc. are also being used successfully to prevent certain types of attacks such as cutting torches and plasma cutters and can provide a modern look acceptable in just about any setting. Still, the best kept secret and most secure safe or vault is one that no one knows you have. Safes and vault doors are being hidden so creatively that even when in plain sight they are indistinguishable from common everyday items like staircases and bookshelves refrigerators, etc... I have even seen movable concrete walls with running water falls on them that conceal entire rooms, staircases and safes. Stacked stone walls make external doors virtually invisible. Even outdoor and underground vaults can be concealed using the natural camouflage of the environment (trees, bushes, rocks, etc...). With a little creativity, the possibilities of concealment are endless.