Nothing Sorry About This Safe
Katrina. Rita. A burst water heater. Not to mention fire, brimstone, and mice. There are so many ways that your important papers and photos could be damaged. Yet there is a simple remedy: the waterproof, fire-resistant lockbox. This year, safemakers like Sentry and Sisco are enjoying booming sales for their allegedly impenetrable "security chests," priced at $30 to $100 at retailers like Target and Office Depot.
Can such a bargain-priced safe really work? Consider: They are constructed of fire-resistant concrete wrapped in waterproof polymer. Inside the lid, a gasket keeps water out. Look for the seal of an independent testing lab like ETL SEMKO. For Sentry, ETL submerged the products for an hour. Not a drop seeped in.
The one possible downside to the small lockboxes is their very smallness. They usually weigh less than 90 pounds, so a thief could walk off with one. (Although so could you, if forced to flee.) But if you'd like a heftier home lockbox, January will answer your prayers. A typical cabinet-style safe by Sisco (under the Honeywell name) promises to be the first of its kind offering full waterproof protection--and it weighs 140 pounds soaking wet.
This story appears in the December 26, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.