Do you own a business or do you hold a valuable position in the company you work for? If you do, you probably have to deal with a lot of important paperwork and perhaps, at times, you need to bring them home for safekeeping.
If there are parties greatly interested in such documents, you bringing these documents home will not prevent those people from trying to get a hold of them. They may be more wary about their plans of illegally procuring the documents because of the people in your house, but you can expect them to keep on trying.
Your job now is to thwart their plans, and there are several ways you can do so. Six of them are discussed below and they are simple additions to your home that can foil attempts to steal your documents.
Table of Contents
1. A security safe
A high-security safe is a frustrating hiding place to deal with even for the most experienced burglars. First of all, it’s difficult to figure it out because it has been designed to make theft impossible to pull off. Only you can access it with a credit card or phone through registration.
Secondly, it is fire-safe. Even if the people who want your documents burn down the room (which can take less than an hour), they still will not be able to break the safe.
Thirdly, such a high-security safe comes with an alarm for added security. Anybody who attempts to force it open it will create a ruckus. This because the safe alarm will automatically go off at any attempt to open it without the credit card or the phone app.
All in all, a security safe offers multiple layers of security to protect important documents you’re keeping at home.
2. Diversion book safes
Books make fantastic hiding places for small valuables and even documents. But what’s better than regular books are those books that are not really books. These are small boxes or chests that look like regular tomes on the outside. You can add them to your collection of books and make them even more inconspicuous.
Putting your documents inside these fake books will make it almost impossible for other people to find them especially if you have a massive collection. It will take an incredibly long time before somebody discovers the particular ones keeping the documents.
It is important to mention that some fake books are even more deceiving than others because you have to turn several pages first before discovering the hidden compartment. If burglars see those pages first, they are likely to give up on the search and move on to check out the other tomes in the collection.
3. Floating wall shelf with a secret compartment
There are sleek designs of floating wall shelves that hold a slim secret compartment. To get to the compartment, you need to slide off the top surface of the shelf. Most burglars will not think that this shelf has a secret storage compartment, so it is a fantastic place to hide your valuable documents.
4. Wall clock safe
This is another deceptive product worth investing in if you have documents and other important possessions that other people take interest in. The clock looks like any regular clock and even works perfectly as one. However, behind it is a compartment that is big enough for a roll of documents, jewelry, and even thick wads of cash.
Place this “wall clock” up high (such as above your door) and you can bet most people will not bother to see its potential as a hiding place for valuables.
5. Sliding coat rack
When you want to hide something, it needs to be placed somewhere unexpected, and another product worth adding to your home for the purpose of keeping your valuables hidden is a sliding coat rack.
Typically, coat racks are made of a thick-ish slab of wood with hooks attached to the wood but you can customize them using a matchbox design to transform them from regular coat racks into secret hiding places for documents.
For the matchbox design, all you really have to do is to hollow out the slab of wood, which will serve as the compartment for the documents. Afterwards, create a sliding cover with a wooden board and attach the hooks to it. Voila, you got for yourself a sliding coat rack safe!
6. False bottom drawer
This is a very easy addition because you probably have a lot of drawers at home where you can create a little stash-away place for your documents. Just choose a deep drawer where you can add a fake bottom secret compartment.
The false bottom is easy to make. It’s just made of a thin wood board that is slightly smaller than the original drawer bottom. Place the documents in the drawer and rest the false bottom right on top of it. To remove the fake bottom, create a small handle or groove at the back part of it that will allow you to lift it off easily.
Have your smart home secret safe
So there you go, six additions to your home that will ensure the safety of your important documents. Even the most persistent home intruders will surely have a difficult time getting hold of what you’re keeping if you use any or a combination of these ‘safe options’.
AUTHOR BIO
Jay Flavell is the General Manager at Sandleford Holdings. He has been working in the DIY & Home Improvement industry since 2007 and has vast experience sourcing and developing products from overseas suppliers in the Far East. Jay has also been successful dealing with a number of major DIY & Home Improvement retailers throughout his career.