Why does it matter whether or not moisture gets into your safe? It’s just a little water, right?

Wrong. As you know, water can cause a few major problems if it sits around anywhere in your home, not just your safe. The mould and mildew that you find in your kitchen and bathroom come from prolonged exposure to water. So if your safe has moisture in it all the time, you can be sure that that water is destroying your property in addition to your safe.

Your papers and electronics will be utterly ruined, and the spread of mould will put you, your children and your pets at risk. If your safe is full of moisture, you need to fix it as soon as possible.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Replace the Seal

Moisture often invades your safe because its seal has cracked, peeled, torn or wrinkled. Moisture seeps in through those tiny openings and collects on the inside of the safe. Check for flaws in the seal if you have noticed a lot of moisture in your safe. If the seal is flawed, you’ll have to replace it.

2. Fix the Weather Stripping in Your Home

The seal on the safe might not be your only problem. You might have excess moisture in your home because the weather stripping around your windows or doors has worn out. Check the weather stripping to see if it has the same kinds of cracks and tears, and replace any that is worn out.

3. Put Desiccant Materials in the Safe

If the seal isn’t the problem, try absorbing the moisture with desiccant materials. Silica gel packets, moisture catchers and dehumidifiers are all viable options. They’ll absorb any existing moisture and any future moisture, but you’ll need to replace them every three months to keep this treatment effective.

4. Air the Safe Out

You might have moisture in your safe because you didn’t air it out after cleaning it. If you decide to clean your safe, it should air out for several hours before you put anything in it or seal it again. That will help prevent moisture from building up inside.

5. Replace the Safe

Your safe may be completely ruined, or you may have bought one that wasn’t built to keep out moisture. If that’s the case, you need to replace your safe with a new one that has silicone, foam or caulking around its seal. These kinds of safes are more effective at protecting your belongings against moisture.

Hollywood spy thrillers and heist movies portray safe ownership as a luxury enjoyed only by the rich or the criminal. But most people have valuable items or documents that could benefit from secure storage in an at-home safe.

As you decide what to put inside your safe, use this list as a starting point. Everything described here has an irreplaceable or near-irreplaceable quality that makes it a good candidate for safe storage.

Documents and Vital Records

Safes work well as a central document storage location because they protect these papers against theft and fire damage at the same time. Space inside a safe can be a limited commodity, though, so keep only the most important and hard-to-replace documents inside.

1. Birth certificates. The government and some private groups require a birth certificate as a form of identity verification. You may need it to prove citizenship, obtain a driver’s licence, or apply for a passport. If you lose your birth certificate, you can get a new one, but the process for doing so can be complicated and time-consuming. You avoid that hassle when you keep birth certificates for you and your family members in your safe.
2. Passports. Unless you travel internationally on a regular basis, your passport should stay in your at-home safe. Not only will this protect it against fire and theft, but you’ll know its location when you need to access it for an upcoming trip.
3. Legal documents. Everyone’s life touches the law in some way, and you can’t easily replace legal documents because they usually have original signatures on them. Some legal papers you might want in your safe are:
   • Powers of attorney
   • Living wills
   • Contracts
   • Health care proxies
   • Your marriage certificate
   • Divorce papers
   • Death certificates
4. Financial papers. Similar to legal documents, financial papers accumulate for everyone. They contain exact figures and sometimes even proof of investment, as with stocks or bonds, so take steps to secure them against fire and theft. Your safe is a good storage place for financial documents such as:
   • Retirement plans
   • Investment records such as stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit
   • Employment contracts
   • Tax information for a personal business
5. Emergency cash. While a home safe is not a good place for your life’s savings, you might want to keep a little emergency cash inside it. In a disaster or after a crisis, you may not have time or the ability to get to the bank.

Tangible Items

You can keep items of significant value, either financial or sentimental, in a safe. They’ll be in a central, easy-to-access location when you need them, but they’ll also be safely inaccessible to thieves or curious hands. Remember to secure your home safe somehow; if you don’t, a thief can take it and its contents, rendering its anti-theft properties useless.

1.  Jewellery. Whether it’s a family heirloom or a valuable treasure you wear only occasionally, jewellery deserves a place in your home safe. Storing these items in a safe protects them against theft or being misplaced. It also gives you easy access to them when you want to wear them.
2. Collectibles. If you have a collection you use as a back-up retirement fund, consider keeping it in a safe. You may not be ready to part with these items yet, but a thief might not leave the choice up to you, especially if they’re portable. Though the size of collections and individual collectibles varies, you can find a safe to accommodate your needs.
3. Safe deposit box keys. Some people have both a safe deposit box at the bank and an at-home safe. You’ll always know where the key to the bank box is if you keep it in a secure safe.
4. Computer-stored version of all family photos. While many photos are purely digital now, you probably still have family photo albums somewhere in your home. Ensure you have them in the future by creating back-up copies and storing them on a thumb drive or other external storage drive in your safe.

Information Regarding What Happens if You Die

Although it’s not fun to think about the prospect, you need to take precautions for what happens in the event of your death. As long as someone else knows the safe’s code or has a key, you can keep this information in your safe. In there, it stays out of sight and, therefore, out of mind but still exists, just in case it’s needed.

1. The original copy of your will. This is probably the most important document you store in your safe. Your partner or will executor needs to know this document’s location. Make sure to replace it with the most recent version any time you alter or update it.
2. Contact information for your lawyer, insurance agent, financial advisor, doctor and others. With most contact information available online nowadays, you don’t need this list for yourself. However, if anything happened to you, family members and friends may need to contact these parties. A quick reference sheet can help them act fast in a time of crisis.

A safe helps you prepare for and protect yourself against theft, fire and death. Get the most out of your home safe by storing these items inside.

Every 30 minutes, someone reports a home fire to the Canadian fire department. Chances are that you won’t experience a devastating home fire, but it’s still best to be prepared. If you fortify your house and teach your children about the dangers of a home fire, you’ll feel confident in the face of a fire.

Prepare Your Home

Your home should be fire ready at all times. The first step is to install smoke detectors on every floor. Place them where fires are more likely, such as near kitchens and fireplaces.

Make sure you replace the batteries twice a year, and check that each smoke detector is working at least once a month by pressing and holding the detector’s test button. Make sure the sound is loud and shrill enough to wake you up at night.

You should also keep a fire extinguisher near the kitchen and anywhere else particularly prone to fires.

Finally, secure important belongings in a fireproof safe. That way, they will stay intact if a fire occurs. The most important things to include are:

• Insurance policies and contact information
• Passports and birth certificates of all family members
• CD or drive with copies of family photos
• Legal documents, including wills
• Information on family doctors and prescription medications
• Family members’ social insurance numbers (SINs)
• Keys to your bank deposit box, if you have one
• Important papers regarding investments, retirement plans, bank accounts, etc.
• An inventory of your home belongings (written or videoed) for insurance claims
• Heirlooms, jewellery or cash

Prepare Your Children

Although you may keep your cool in a fire, your children probably won’t know what to do unless they practise first. Thus, it’s a good idea to hold a family meeting to plan a fire escape route. Choose a location for everyone to gather if a fire occurs, and practise your escape route regularly.

Also, teach your kids what to do in case of a fire. Make sure they know:

• The number for the fire department
• How to escape through smoke by crawling on hands and knees
• How to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches on fire

Teach your kids about the dangers of cigarettes, lighters and matches. Keep these items locked away.

Practise Fire Safety Techniques

Fires generally don’t come out of nowhere; usually, a human error or faulty appliance causes the blaze. To prevent fires, make sure you and your children practise fire safety techniques in every room of your house.

Kitchen

First of all, keep an eye on everything you cook. Don’t put something in the oven and then leave the house while it cooks.

Don’t use a microwave with a broken door or any other malfunctioning parts.

Did you know that one of the main causes of kitchen fires is something in your kitchen coming in contact with the hot stove? That’s why you should clean off all grease on your stove, and keep dish towels, pot holders, utensils and Tupperware® away from the stove.

Make sure there is nothing near the stove that your kids would be tempted to reach out and grab. Also, keep pot and pan handles to the side; if the handle is sticking out, your kids may grab it or someone may accidentally bump it and send the hot pan flying to the ground.

Don’t forget to keep your appliances away from wet areas to avoid any electrical kitchen fires.

Living Room

If you have a furnace or space heater, make sure nothing flammable comes near it. Inspect these devices regularly to make sure they’re functioning correctly. Don’t leave a space heater on if no one is in the room. This wastes energy and could lead to an unnoticed fire.

Similarly, fireplaces should be covered by a screen or glass. Don’t ever burn trash or paper in your fireplace or heating stove. Finally, don’t start your fireplace with gasoline.

Any Room

Electrical appliances are extremely useful but can also be dangerous. An overloaded extension cord is one common cause of house fires. Make sure you don’t use too many appliances on one extension cord; if the cord is hot to the touch, stop using it. Don’t run cords under carpet or rugs, and replace all loose or frayed cords.

If a lamp sputters or sparks, replace the light bulb or repair the lamp. If your home experiences an electrical problem – lights going out, flickering or making noise – call in an electrician immediately.

Don’t forget to cover all outlets with face plates!

Prevent Fire Damage

Taking the necessary steps to protect your home from fires is well worth the effort. It takes only a weekend to set up your fireproof safe, develop a family fire escape plan and check smoke detectors, but these steps are worth it if you want to protect your home and family.

Putting in the effort to prevent fire damage can greatly reduce the chance of a fire in your home. In the case of an accident, you will avoid the worst case scenarios if you and your family are prepared and if your belongings are safely stowed away in a fireproof safe.

As moving day quickly approaches, you begin to wonder exactly how you are going to move that safe, piano or other large, heavy and awkward object. Here are few gangly items that need special care when you relocate.

Safes

They’re heavy and cumbersome, but don’t let that fool you! They are also fragile, in their own way. Once the locking mechanisms are damaged, they can be difficult to repair. Protect the inner workings of your safe by careful handling.

Hiring professional movers is a great option. They have the equipment, know-how and manpower to move your safe. Or you might consider hiring a safe mover. Safe movers have the experience to keep your safe protected during a move.

Pool Table

Your pool table is an unwieldy piece that is expensive to repair. Damage to the felt is the most costly repair, and it is also the most common. Because it cannot be completely disassembled, you run the risk of damaging your walls and floors. Cover the felt before attempting to move or disassemble the pool table in any way. Secure or cover the pockets to protect them during moving.

Outdoor Equipment

Don’t forget all that stuff out in the shed or in the backyard. Patio furniture, lawnmowers and the kids’ jungle gym equipment might need a little extra time and effort to transport.

You probably don’t want to put the lawnmower next to the leather sofa. Consider moving outdoor equipment separately from your indoor items to protect them from the dirt, oil and sharp metal parts.

Washing Machine

One of the most awkward things to move is your washing machine and dryer. They’re big, heavy and square. There isn’t much to grip as you move them. They barely fit through doors, if you’re lucky. Plenty of people decide to leave them behind or sell them before they move.

Your moving company should be able to move your washer and dryer without difficulty. Just watch the corners of walls and doorjambs to ensure you haven’t left any dents or scratches behind.

Exercise Equipment

Workout gear is more oddly shaped and heavy than most everything else you own. Don’t attempt to move equipment fully assembled. Moving parts can pinch, smash and crush your fingers and toes.

Completely disassemble the equipment, keeping all the pieces organized. Have the manual close by so you don’t’ get frustrated when it’s time to reassemble.

TV

Televisions aren’t necessarily heavy and cumbersome to move, but they can be delicate. One wrong move and your LED TV is done. The key is packaging and proper handling. Invest in a specially made TV box with plenty of padding. Mark the box well so the movers know this box has special needs. They’ll carefully place it in an optimal location to minimize damage.

Fish Tank

A smaller fish tank is no big deal, and you can probably handle it yourself. But things become complicated if you’re moving a large tank full of tropical fish.

First, you have to worry about how you will transport the fish – maintaining the temperature and salinity at the right levels is important to their health. Next, you have to think about emptying, drying and transporting a large glass box that resists packing. Ask your movers about their experience with fish tanks. Often they have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Art, Wine and Other Valuables

Fine art and wine require a gentle hand to make a move successfully. If your valuables could sell for thousands of dollars, you should probably consider hiring a specialty mover.

Specialized movers have custom boxes and packing materials that will secure your items. They handle your valuables with white glove treatment, and they aim to take better care of your items than you would.

Piano

Most people know better than to try to move a piano themselves. They also know that an everyday moving company isn’t always the best option. Professional piano movers are usually the best choice. A piano is more than a piece of furniture: it is a fragile musical instrument that can easily be damaged. Protect your piano with professional experience so you don’t have to pay for major repairs.

Plants

Plants are not heavy or cumbersome, but moving them is difficult enough that most people leave them behind when they move. If you simply can’t bring yourself to leave behind your grandmother’s philodendron, what do you do?

Putting plants in the moving truck won’t work – they’ll likely die before you arrive, so you should probably take them in the car with you. Plants should be secured so they don’t tip or break. Before moving, water them, but remove excess water that could damage your vehicle or the box.

When moving any of these items, don’t forget to ask a professional mover for advice. Even if you go solo, you can learn from their moving methods and techniques to keep your valuables safe and sound.