My family’s legal documents are being kept somewhere at home, and its kinda weird to think about, like zero security, I doubt its even fireproof, definitely not waterproof, some flood is gonna destroy it.
Well, I do I have tucked into a random bookshelf one of those “World Atlas” book safes that everyone already knows is a storage box and not a book, because they’ve been sold virtually unchanged as far as I can tell since at least the early 1990s. As a little treat to anyone observant who notices this and thinks they’re so damn clever, inside I have nothing but a scaled down 3D printed replica of a cinder block.
It is astoundingly unlikely anyone will find where my valuables are actually hidden in my house, nor am I going to admit it on the internet.
Keep in mind that many “fireproof” safes misrepresent their capabilities and the fireproofing itself can severely damage or destroy safe contents in a fire.
Tl;dr: the contents slow cook and soak in a mixture of water and whatever else was present for hours to days. Depending on the severity and duration of the fire, plastics will melt, metals will tarnish, and unprotected paper, wood, and similar contents will be destroyed.
Most more affordable safes are fireproofed via a layer of drywall material. Drywall is composed of gypsum, otherwise known as calcium sulfate dihydrate: CaSO4·2H2O .
The fireproofing doesn’t come from any direct insulating properties but the hydration of the gypsum. When exposed to enough heat, the water bound to calcium sulfate begins to unbind and boil out. The interior of the safe will remain at 100°C or less as the external heat energy from the fire is absorbed by this dehydration/phase change process, releasing water as steam.
This turns your safe into a big steamer/(low) pressure cooker. The safe boils during the fire, then sits and “cooks” for hours afterwards as the area cools down. The safe keypad will be inoperative, so you’ll be reliant on the backup key working. If that mechanism is damaged, the manufacturer or a locksmith will need to open it. No matter what, the contents will remain in a hot, damp environment for hours to days.
I put everything in our fire safe in silicone bags so I hope that does the trick.
That’s exactly what I’d recommend! The contents will crisp long before a quality silicone bag will.
Yeah, though our hard drive backup will fairly quickly become trash, I think.
Probably, but it’s the good ol’ cost-benefit analysis. It’ll survive so much longer than if it wasn’t protected at at all, but the next-level fire protection that would increases its chances is really expensive.
Gun safe. Water proof, fire proof and locked. 200 lbs won’t be walking out so easily.
My mom bought me a fireproof safe because she was giving me some jewelry to hold for my kids, and she also had some documents for me to keep.
It sat on the floor under a bed for years. Then I decided to get appraisals of the jewelry to add it to my homeowners insurance.
When I opened the safe, everything in it was moist and moldy.
Nothing important was lost or damaged, but it was nasty as hell.
At least it was safe
Badumching
^rimshot
Nice try, Danny Ocean.
Important documents and hard drives with photos are in a fire- and water-proof safe. It’s also just easier to find them since we never move it anywhere so passports and certs are all in there.
Most of my legal documents can be reproduced easily or they are in a folder I can take with me. Apart from that I don’t own anything of value.
I have a home safe that doesn’t lock properly. To replace it would cost me everything that I’d put in a home safe.
This is not a thing one should answer in a public forum.
Shhhh 🤫 you’re ruining my burglary plans
He might not rob us. He might know who/where to sell this information though, and they might burgle rape and pillage
My sister inherited my dad’s big fireproof gun safes and things like birth certificates are in there (at this point maybe they should be on our person).
Papers, please.
Yea… I feel like this isn’t just one country, as technology gets more developed, every government now wants to use more biometrics, face scanning, fingerprinting, mandatory ID. Eventually, we might DNA checkpoints to verify people.
And eventually everyone will be identified by a chip in their hand or or picture of your face. Sounds too much like the mark of the beast. Right? Thousands of years old prophecy. Not gonna do it. I dont want to do it least.
I don’t think they’ll give you an option to opt out.
In China, for example, you need ID for even for just a domestic train ticket. Random checkpoints are common, especially after Covid. I heard from my aunt that they do QR code contact tracing, but there are also (western) reports of dissidents randomly had their QR code “turn red” which prevented then from travelling.
Eventually, western countries will do the same.
We’re cooked.
Unless? 🤔 (France 1789? 👀)
That is scary stuff to me. Losing most freedoms. And I hope to go to heaven when im done here. I dont necessarily want to go around again. Especially if its sn authoritarian hellscape, nuclear war and whatever
Edit: I have a theory that maybe people reincarnate if they dont go to heaven after they die, for whatever reason. Maybe, Like, they didn’t believe in Jesus, or they werent willing to sacrifice themselves for something greater than themselves. The importance of being able to die for something that is greater than self is the last and greatest lesson Jesus ever taught.
And probably yes to the France thing
I just moved into a place with a (gun?) safe I don’t know how to open. So technically I have one.
Bruh you gotta update. Lemmy now deserve to know, you owe us the update. Open it lol. Don’t leave us hanging on a cliffhanger
I doubt there’s anything interesting. We did wonder whether the “numbers” were related. It’s certainly got character!
My important documents are all in a folder inside my closet. Somewhere.
Other than that, the only stuff of value that I have are electronics, like my laptop, tv, phones.
Single person, living alone in a 1 bedroom apartment. Even I have a small fire safe.
Everyone should have a cheap fire safe. For the documents that are super difficult to replace, if nothing else.
I keep my valuables in an old CRT television that weighs more than sisyphus’s boulder. No one’s stealing that.
Thanks, now I know how to quickly burglarlize your house /kidding
But you don’t know which CRT television.
