The selection process prospective safe buyers undergo, with all the complex, contradictory, oft-times misleading labeling and terminology coupled with the downright disingenuous marketing and poor quality all too common within the industry today is often so bewildering and time-consuming that many end up delaying a prudent purchase and even abandoning the idea of effectively securing precious valuables and records in a good safe easily accessible from home, work or a vehicle.
Here, we aim to assist
you in finding the ideal safe for your application and budget as well as the peace
of mind that a smart purchase provides.
A safe holds within it much of one's most treasured and important material valuables. We implore you to take some time to educate yourself on the fundamentals to help ensure that you invest wisely in the future security of your cherished and chief possessions.
Please Call for Pricing and Availability. Thank You!
281-469-8027
In addition to retailing safes and safe products, we open, repair, move, deliver and install them, change and acquire combinations for them; offering established small-business (30 years and running) comprehensive safe customer service to clients of all types and sizes. This affords us excellent insight into the actual quality of the products on the safe market, and we adjust our inventory accordingly. We guarantee and take pride in our work & back up our products and service with our good name. All of the manufacturers producing the safes we carry are reputable and we have maintained good relations and longstanding accounts with each.
We will take the time to answer your questions, address your concerns and do everything within our power to ensure your happiness with your purchase - from the selection process to product support down the road. Our business model allows for no-hassle, extensive customization for most models. We have operated a thriving shop and showroom since 1984 and have no plans of going anywhere, staying in business by an unwavering dedication to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Our prices are more than competitive for the size of our operation and our customer service is enabled by it.
For all technical questions, please ask for Charles Saylor, our Founder and President, or Cecil Sanchez, our Senior Locksmith and Safe Technician. For basic product questions and pricing, any of our staff will be glad to assist you 8:30 to 5:30 Monday - Friday and 10:00 to 3:00 on Saturdays. We keep a phone line open after-hours directed to a technician on-call for emergency service. We hope you will continue reading and choose us to build a relationship in providing your safe and locksmith security solutions.
281-469-8027
There is no such thing as a Fire PROOF or Burglary PROOF container. Anyone claiming otherwise is just not being honest.
With enough time, the right tools and expertise, a safe burglar can breech almost any container. Deterring the "honest" , denying the incapable and slowing down the knowledgeable thief for more time than he has is what a safe is designed to do, be it an opportunistic home burglar or a well prepared veteran. We endeavor to recommend a safe with the level of security that fits your needs appropriate for the contents stored, its application and location and last but not least, your budget and comfort level to give you peace of mind with effectual security by attentively addressing the eventualities you are paying to insure against. We will assist you in determining what your individual requirements are and what they are based on if need be. We know the good products from the not so good, and we regulate our merchandise accordingly. We only offer the fire-rated safes truly constructed to comfortably perform well within the plausible margins of the many variables involved in a major house or business fire; also appropriate for the contents the safe. Certain items such as computer media, firearms and film stipulate higher or lower temperature and humidity thresholds. We will not endorse a safe that does not err on the side of caution and prudence, and our familiarity with the pertinent industry standards, ratings and certifications (both genuine and disingenuous) cuts through the terminology to communicate the actual and necessary performance of a fire safe. (Read More in the Fire segment below) We like to say that the house will likely burn to the ground before the contents of a safe we sell are damaged. Well established guidelines for fire-retardant safe construction are followed to this end, and while fire is mercurial by nature and will never follow set patterns 100% of the time, its ferocious moods are anticipated by quality safe manufacturers.
However, few certification bodies and their testing regimes utilize the meticulous, exacting procedures of UL, and some builders will mark and market their merchandise with misleading labels such as "Tested to UL Standards" when the product in fact did not pass the test or wasn't even tested with U.L. While some of the product lines we carry have elected to utilize less well-known product testing laboratories, we refuse to offer safes from any company that does not have an excellent track record of performance and integrity. Reducing overhead in a market that has been flooded and corrupted by cheap, inferior imports is sometimes a necessity for honest, quality American safe companies to fairly compete in today's marketplace.
We always recommend that you leave yourself room to grow by considering possible future assets so as to not find yourself in need of a secondary or larger safe too soon down the road. Often, you will find that the next size up on any given model entails a very reasonable mark-up. While determining the safe dimensions most suited to your needs as well as the location you wish to have it situated, be sure to take into account the space needed for the safe door to comfortably swing open and simulate the opening process before having it installed. Safes properly insulated for fire are constructed with thick walls and doors, so be sure to check the interior dimensions and consider the space and security advantages of a non-fire rated safe. (Read more in the "How Much Security do I Need" segment.)
If you wish to lock-up and conveniently organize paper documents in legal or letter files while protecting them from fire damage, you may find that a fire-proof file cabinet which maximizes your storage capacity is the way to go. FireKing is the industry leader in this field. We maintain a direct account with this company and have access to their complete product line. Their 2 and 4 Drawer "Turtle" Series cabinets are effective, affordable products we have sold with a great track record to many satisfied customers.
Locksmith Professionals, Fire-Fighters, the insurance industry, and scrupulous retailers are in agreement that a U.L. (Underwriters Laboratories) Class 350 1 Hour Safe Certification is the benchmark for secure storage of paper documents and cash to survive a major house or business fire. The National Fire Protection Association has set the same time and temperature parameters as Underwriters Laboratories, and the UL Label is the most widely respected in the industry. The label itself is usually found on the inside of the safe door. Other reputable independent laboratories test fire safes, but UL is the gold standard.
The UL Class 350 1 Hour rating ensures that the interior of the safe will be kept under 350 F and 85% humidity sustaining an exterior temperature of 1700 F for 1 hour through a carefully controlled heating process that uniformly distributes the heat to account for a real fire's temperature fluxuations and then a natural (as opposed most other laboratories' artificially accelerated) cooling process. The contents are then examined to determine whether they are undamaged and in usable condition. To maintain this certification, the safe must be tested annually. Unless you are storing combustibles, live or work in a structure that burns at unusually high temperatures (e.g. antique hard-wood construction) and/or live in a rural area where your fire-fighter response time is lengthy, this rating is more than adequate to provide assurance that your irreplaceable documents, cash and other treasures will survive a major fire. We do carry safes with higher ratings to address these variables. Amsec's classic UL Series boasts a UL Class 350 2 Hour Fire and Impact Label. Tested for two hours at 1800 f and built to survive a 30 ft. drop, this safe combines great residential grade security with top of the line fire protection and affordability.
Unfortunately, many "Fire Safes" on the market Do Not offer adequate fire protection. A fire safe not tested to meet the Class 350 1 Hour UL Standard or bearing an equivalent independently tested rating by a TRUSTED manufacturer will likely imperil the very possessions you paid to protect in the event of a major fire. Misleading labels such as "tested to U.L. standards" (did it pass?) abound. We do not recommend 30 minute ratings, or any 1 hour ratings tested below 1500 f.
Note: The Vast majority of Gun Safes retailed are NOT constructed to protect paper document or cash. We can order you a quality gun safe that will. All Gun-Safe models made by American Security Products are available to us, and they produce some of the only gun-safes on the market that double as both effective Fire and Burglary Safes. Our local locksmith distributors keep a wide selection in stock - a day or two away - and we can generate a custom factory order. Ask for Charles Saylor, our resident expert, founder and president.
Listed below is
the terminology we use to classify a Fire-Safe based on its level of security. We have
provided a link to the manufacturer website pages that corresponds to the safe series
featured. Most models can be easily customized to meet your requirements with
regards to lock-type, shelving and color. Please call for current pricing.
281-469-8027
For more information on safe security, please continue reading to the "How Much Security do you Need" section below.
Solid Steel and/or hardened composite armor and Heavy Weight with sophisticated security features Price Range - $850.00 +
THICK Solid Steel Construction and Very Heavy weight with state of the art security features Price Range - $2,000 +
Just Keeping the Honest Honest?
If denying the access of prying,
curious but unauthorized fingers that Do Not present a forced entry threat is
your primary objective, a well built, inexpensive chest is often the solution.
We refer to such products as Chests, not Safes, as they are not built to
withstand a determined attack. The Non-Fire Rated models are constructed with
thin to medium gage steel, and the Fire-Rated Safes utilize a moisture-producing
thick composite (which has the effect of reducing the amount of available
interior storage space) with metal hinges and bolt-work.
The products we carry in this category will,
however, force the would-be intruder to apply not-insignificant force, and if
you so desire, effectively protect the contents from fire.
Several
Shapes and Sizes should be considered:
We carry models that can be
mounted to the floor or wall studs, simply sat on the floor, situated in
cabinetry, mounted In-the-wall for concealment, or if concealment itself will
suffice, we offer a range of Diversion Safes
(containers that look like everyday brand name household products like Lysol or
Hairspray)
We carry, display and
recommend these models for storage of minimally valued assets, documents or for
applications that do not pose a serious forced entry threat. Please call for
current prices.
Price Range - $80.00 - $600.00
The average Home Burglary lasts 8 - 12 minutes. The average loss is just over $2,000 per event. Do you have (and use) an alarm system? What is the police response time in your area? Do you have good neighbors that will keep an eye out? Big Dogs? Take these factors into consideration along with the value of what you wish to secure when pondering the size of your investment. Using a poor safe is often worse than not using one at all. You may assist your burglar by compiling all of your prized possessions in a box easily opened in minutes with simple tools, or simply wheeled out on a dolly.
The First Line of Defense for your Safe is, of course, having as few people as possible aware of its existence.
Here we must consider what you are storing and how much it is worth to you. If you feel that the loss of your valuables should be stored in a container that will withstand an attack by a run-of-the mill or opportunist burglar equipped with basic tools (a hammer, a screwdriver, chisel, crowbar) for more than a few minutes (sometimes seconds), an investment in a proper Safe is imperative. Don't confuse a Safe with a Chest. Most on-line and chain retailers do. Too many consumers do so and are rewarded with a false sense of security in the best case scenario. Read more to see what constitutes a chest vs. a safe.
 LEVEL I - Burglary and Fire Chests
What we designate as a Chest (Fire or Burglary) is built to conveniently lock up and quickly access your valuables with or without fire protection, but they will Not withstand a determined assault. A reliable chest is ideal if your desire is to simply deter opportunists, slow down a thief for a few minutes, for when you won't be utterly devastated if it is forced open and for those who just want to keep out the nosey guests, employees, children and other such pesky potential interlopers who won't be forcing their way in. These containers also offer very effective fire protection if need be. They have their place in the legitimate safe industry being more budget, lighter and versatile for various installation applications, but we do not endorse their use for storage of any significant assets. For Basic Security as described above, we carry and recommend:
LEVEL II - The Home Fire Safe From Chest to SAFES - The next step up in security: a container constructed to thwart forced entry Unfortunately, much of the current safe market is dominated by cheap products touted as quality safes, often rather stout looking, but fairly useless in a Real burglary or fire event. A safe's value is measured firstly by its Heavy Weight and Solid and Six-Sided Construction, then by the quality of the bolts, bolt work and hinges and the safe lock. We take all of these into account when selecting the product lines we wish to carry and promote. The actual performance of a safe's anti-theft features (too often touted as selling points in and of themselves) suffer greatly without said rugged, smooth construction and Heavy weight. A heavy safe bolted to your concrete slab also denies a burglar the opportunity to wheel or carry out your treasures easily without a fight.
"The bitter taste of poor quality lingers far longer than the initial sweetness of a cheap price"
Sticker-Shock! is not uncommon when first-time or "it's been a long time" buyers are shown a quality safe, as the material and fuel-costs involved in bringing the Safe to market have risen dramatically in recent years. Also, a massive influx of cheap imported "safes" permeates the current market, lowering the bar and inducing domestic producers to cut corners, but cost concerns are usually appeased when a customer finds peace in knowing that their valuables are comfortably secured in a safe that performs its mission.
For Superior fire protection and secure storage of documents and moderately valued assets against unsophisticated attacks by a house burglar, we highly recommend the following series.
A GOOD SAFE Ideal for the Average
Home-Owner
LEVEL III - The BF (Burglary/Fire) SAFE
This breed of safe should utterly defeat crude and brute force attacks using common tools by both untrained and more skilled burglars and is solid enough to thwart more sophisticated assaults (using power tools and know-how) by keeping the crook out for more time than he has or is comfortable with. They are constructed with solid steel or comparable hardened composite armor on all sides, drill resistant hard plate protecting the locking mechanism, bigger and better bolts and hinges, additional security features including a good re-locking device (which throws the bolts when undo force is applied) and they weigh usually at least twice as much as a basic safe. Expect to invest about twice the money, but you will receive twice the product in a true BF safe relative to its lesser cousins. NOT ALL BF SAFES ARE CREATED EQUAL! The RSC (Residential Security Container) Label is often associated with this type of safe, and is awarded to containers that meet or exceed the following standard by U.L.'s (Underwriters Laboratories) rigorous, objective testing:
Ability to withstand 5 full minutes of rigorous prying, drilling, punching, chiseling, and tampering attacks by UL technicians (using very basic tools such as a screwdriver, hammer or chisel - NO power tools)
Are you comfortable with this level of security? We feel that this legitimate rating is over-emphasized in gauging the true anti-theft value of a BF safe. A BF Safe worth its salt should be constructed to meet at minimum the industry standard of a B-RATE or equally rugged construction. This is a full step up from the (vast) majority of safes sold which bear the RSC rating, and anything less sturdy is susceptible to brute force. A B-Rated safe is defined by incorporating armor of at least ¼" solid steel plating in the body and, ½" in the door, presenting a serious obstacle to even the prepared and educated thief. A crook without power tools can bang on a B-Rated safe all day long without success. Even a thief with power tools and know-how will have his work cut out for him and will need a significant investment in time (the primary commodity you are buying with all security products). No safe is impenetrable, but a quality BF safe is a tough nut to crack. B, C, and E Ratings are given to safes that
meet a set of unwritten agreed upon industry standards as follows:
B-RATED -
Built with at least 1/4 inch solid steel plating in the body on all sides and
at least 1/2 inch plating in the door. (Most Residences and Businesses)
C-RATED - Built with at least 1/2 inch solid steel plating in the body on all sides and at least 1 inch plating in the door. (Pawn Shops, Bars, Restaurants) E-RATED - Built with at least 1 inch solid steel plating in the body on all sides and at least 1-1/2 inch plating in the door. (Jewelry Stores, Credit Unions, High Dollar Collectors)
All of our BF Safes utilize an intumescent seal in conjunction with high quality fire retardant material to regulate the interior temperature as opposed to the moisture producing crystals found in the majority of Fire and Burglary/Fire Safes. This means that your guns and other belongings sensitive to humidity can be stored safely with no fear of corrosion.
We carry and recommend the following series for storage of High-Valued Assets and Documents: No-Hassle Customization - Extensive Lock, Shelving & Finish options Paint and Interior Options
Price Range - $1,000.00 - $3,000.00 - Please call for current pricing
Price Range - $900.00 - $2,000.00 - Please call for current pricing
Price Range - $1,200.00 - $4,000.00 - Please call for current pricing
LEVEL IV - THE TL SAFE
If you plan on storing Very High Dollar, High Value Contents, you should consider purchasing an Underwriters Laboratories TL (tool-resistant) RATED Safe.
We highly recommend the following
series with complete assurance that they will perform as advertised:
Price Range - $2,000.00 +
This certification is awarded to safes by Underwriters Laboratories to only the most secure safes. TL is an abbreviation for Tool, followed by a number, which designates the minutes the safe has been tested to withstand highly advanced penetration attempts as described below. TL RATINGS EXPLAINED
 CLASSIFICATION TL-15:
Successfully resist entry (opening the door
or making a six square inch opening entirely through the door or front face) for a net working time of 15 minutes when attacked
with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools,
grinding points, carbide drills and pressure applying devices or mechanisms. (By
a two-man team of expert safe-crackers at U.L. armed with the safe blue-prints)
Construction Requirements
CLASSIFICATION
TL-30: 
Successfully
resist entry (opening the
door or making a six square inch opening entirely through the door or front
face) for a net working time of 30 minutes when attacked with
common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools,
grinding points, carbide drills and pressure applying devices or mechanisms, abrasive
cutting wheels and power saws. (By a
two-man team of expert safe-crackers at U.L. armed with the safe blue-prints)
Construction
Requirements:
Same as TL-15
Additional TL Ratings:
TRTL-30
The TRTL-30 rated safe has all the same capabilities as the TL-30 with the added protection against oxy-fuel and gas-cutting or welding torches. (TRTL= Torch Resistant and Tool Resistant) TRTL-60 The TRTL-60 rated safe provides all the protection of the TRTL-30 but resists break-in for an additional 30 minutes.
Statistics
show that if a company's records are lost in a fire, 43% go out of business
completely.
For quick, convenient movement and
storage of cash, checks, etc. in envelopes or bank bags in your safe without
the need to dial the combination or open the door, both
Under-Counter and Depository safes facilitate making quick deposits in a secure
compartment then only accessible through the safe lock. They are available
with a number of options including double-doors that will allow for organized
storage of petty cash and other items with staff having access to only one or
both compartments, Dual-Key Locks if you want the consent of more than one user
to be a requirement for the opening of a particular compartment, Electronic,
Time-Delayed, Audit-Trailing or Bio-Metric safe locks and body construction for
varying levels of security.
Hayman Safe Company has come through consistently for us
and our commercial clients in providing this necessary convenience. We carry a
wide selection and can order their full product line.
DEPOSITORY
SAFES 
Surrounded by concrete on all 5 five sides with only the door exposed, an IN-FLOOR SAFE not only offers a concealment bonus, but is naturally fire resistant, as heat rises, and is very secure. Since only the door facing upwards needs to be fortified, for a fraction of the price of an equivalently secure upright safe, one can enjoy Serious "C" rated security enjoyed by businesses such as bars, pawn shops and restaurants which need to store large amounts of cash overnight by placing a full inch of Solid Steel between a burglar and the safe lock and the contents below. A powerful drill and special hardened drill bits in the hands of a skilled thief knowing where to drill and a painfully uncomfortable amount of time on his part are all necessary to defeat this type of safe. An In-floor safe is usually only advised for new construction applications. The cost advantages are negated unless the safe is being installed before the concrete slab is poured, as a tremendous amount of labor is obviously necessary to rip out a hole large enough to accommodate the safe and then pour the new cement re-submerge it. They sure are nice though, and while we no longer perform such fresh installs, we can refer you to a reputable installer that will.
We have, with a great track record, bought direct and sold Hayman's Polyethylene Body In-Floor Safes for Residential Use for over 15 years. This series offers an impressive array of custom options including new-construction seals and different locks. Its Polyethylene Body will not rust. If you are concerned about flooding, we recommend placing your belongings in Tupperware within the safe. We also carry the Classic Amsec C3 Tubular model (used successfully for years in commercial applications for overnight storage of large cash quantities), and we can order all in-floor models not featured here from either company. Price Range: $350 +
Most but
Not All Long Gun-Safes on the market today, despite claims to the contrary,
will NOT adequately protect your documents from fire damage and usually don't
offer much in the way of burglary protection. However, a gun usually needs be
stored in a Gun-Safe … Not a Fire Safe, as in many cases the humidity produced
by the fire-retardant material (both in stasis and especially during a fire) will
not, of course, be friendly to your firearms.
Certain
BF (Burglary/Fire) Safes (the Amsec BF
and Hayman MV
Series being among the best) are the
exception in that they do not rely on moisture producing crystalline material,
but will protect documents and offer serious security for handguns and other
short barreled guns. A Heavy Gage Steel Burglary Safe (we carry Hayman's CV Series)
without a Fire-Rating presents another secure alternative for short barreled
guns.
We can
order you a Truly Secure Gun-Safe made by American Security Products, and
customization is no problem, entail an investment in (all) the Four Figure
price-ranges in exchange for a Long Gun Safe with a great selection of Interior
Setups to accommodate your arsenal and protect it from all but the most
prepared and knowledgeable intruder.
We also carry several models of Pistol Safes, constructed to offer
both quick access through a rapid pushbutton feature or biometric
access and heavy gage steel security.
If you already own a gun-safe, we recommend inserting a U.L Certified 1 Hour Fire Rated Chest for proper document/fire storage should you wish to consolidate your fire-damage prone valuables and guns into convenient one container.
If so, investing in a FireKing FIRE/FILE
CABINET may be your best bet. Capacity is maximized to organize your important
papers and files in letter or legal format with a 2, 3, or 4 drawer UL Class
350 1 or 2 Hour fire-rated file cabinet. The crook may very well overlook this
container in search of ostensibly greener pastures, but he also will have to
take the time and expend some elbow grease to get his fingers inside.
This consideration is crucial when determining the lock-type for your safe, the type of safe and where on your property it should be installed. An electronic keypad or bio-metric lock can be opened in a few seconds, whereas a traditional dial-combination lock requires turning the dial about 10 times, a tedious process from some; especially if poor vision or dexterity is a factor. A mechanical Dial-Combination lock will of course be more reliable than an electronic one, but the electronic locks we choose to carry are just as secure (appearances aside) and have low failure rates with a low-battery warning and user-friendly battery replacement.
If you will be accessing your safe often, a freestanding (stands upright on your floor usually bolted to the slab) in a bedroom closet or another area away from guests and workers is usually your best bet here. Remember to consider the space needed for the door to comfortably swing-open when taking measurements. If you will need to open your safe only on occasion, your location options multiply - with more secure or well hidden spots now viable such as under an appliance in the cement of your garage using an IN-FLOOR-SAFE or mounted in the wall.
Most safes come standard with a traditional mechanical dial-combination or an electronic keypad lock. We can customize the lock-type to your preference in most cases. We will set your combination for you if necessary or desired, and we never retain combination records unless specifically requested by the customer. You can set your own combination with a digital keypad and change it at will. Other options include Bio-Metric safe locks, locks with an audit trail capability and multi-user function to varying degrees of sophistication. Some safes employ a key over-ride feature, where a high security key opens the safe in the event that a combination is lost or forgotten or in the rare event that the primary lock fails. Some safes, mostly commercial, are exclusively key-operated, requiring one or two keys to open simultaneously. The Keypad is no less secure (barring your few and far between high-tech savvy crooks) than the Dial, but by virtue of being Mechanical, a quality Combination Lock is by and large is more reliable and requires no batteries. Convenience is the hallmark of the Keypad (enter 12345) vs. 4 to the left, 3 to the right, 2 to the left, back, etc. on a mechanical dial.
Our experience in servicing safes and locks gives us a great insight into which locks perform and which do not. We scrupulously avoid selling safes with a lock that falls in the latter category.
Amsec's
UL Series,
CSC Series
and BF
Series as well as Hayman's MV Series can all be fitted with
wood drawer interiors for convenient and organized access.
We are equipped for both delivery
and installation in the greater Houston and Harris Country metro areas.
Any Safe available to us can be Drop-Shipped by our Distributors or Factory Direct to your Home or Business.
Please call for Current Pricing and Delivery/Installation Rates. Thank You! 281-469-8027
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American
Security Product's classic 
