Hi, Dye the Safe Guy here, manager of Safe & Vault Store.com to talk today about why is composite concrete material better overall for burglar and fire protection then drywall material. Right here you will see a display showing two different safe constructions out there today. I'm talking about burglar fire safes, I'm talking about gun safes. All kinds of safes.
Many gun safes and burglar fire safes use two layers of steel, the inner and outer layers. And for the fire protection inside they use drywall. Regular drywall that goes up in a home or a commercial building. Other manufacturers, the more credible manufacturers use a concrete composite material such as you see here, sandwiched between the two walls of steel and metal. So why is the composite material a better material than the drywall for not only fire protection but also burglar protection?
Burglar protection - If a burglar gets through the outer layer of steel with some sort of a cutting device, now he is facing at least 2" of concrete composite material. He is going to have to switch gears and go to another type of tool to get through that concrete. And then he hits the third layer which is the inner layer of steel used on your major brand safes such as American Security, Gardall, Hayman and many others.
Also, our own Safe & Vault Store brands use the composite aggregate concrete materiel. A lot of gun safes and burglar fire safes out there that are manufactured overseas use simple drywall for fire protection. When we talk about burglar protection, obviously if they get through the outer layer of steel and they hit that drywall, it's like a knife in butter. It's not going to give anywhere near the protection of the concrete composite aggregate material. Now that we have discussed the advantage of a concrete composite material over drywall for burglar protection, let's talk about the real meat of the matter, fire protection.
The fire protection given by a concrete composite aggregate material uses the laws of physics. When the interior of the safe reaches 180 degrees F, the concrete composite material has wetting agents and other agents in it that will release moisture into the safe and literally create a cloud of steam. And you want that because that cloud of steam will maintain a temperature of between 200 - 240 degrees F inside your safe. Money and paper singe at 380 degrees F. Money and paper literally burst into flames at exactly 451 degrees F again under the law of physics.
The drywall material in many safes out there uses reflective properties in the drywall and some steaming effect, but primary reflection. So what happens is, many manufacturers put two, three, even four layers of 5/8" thick drywall in between all six sides of the safe. And it works most of the time. However, Safe & Vault Store, we have offices in the Pacific Northwest in three locations; our safe technicians that go out and crack open safes after a fire so that they can get their belongings out often find the drywall method to fail and not work properly.
However, the composite aggregate material method in almost every case is successful in protecting the paper and money inside the safe. The other thing that is important to know is that when they put drywall in between two layers of steel and they come up at a corner at the top of the safe and the two walls coming together, there is no way to cut that drywall without having some metal exposed. They can't just get it just right. On the other hand with the concrete composite material, what they do is they pour it under pressure in a semi-liquid form and it fills up all the voids and gaps in the corners and all-around six sides of the safe. And once it cures and hardens, you've got a rock-solid layer of at least 2" - 3" of concrete composite there to protect your belongings and protect you from fire. Don't believe me? Well, ask yourself this question. All the high-security safes that are used by banks, credit unions, jewelry stores, pawnshops, on our site the TL-15, the TL-30 the very high security that go in the top-secret military installations; every one of those safes uses the concrete composite aggregate method.
Why is that? Because it provides superior fire protection and an additional barrier against a burglar attack. The final point here folks is that when you are shopping for a burglar fire safe or a gun safe, be sure to ask what type of fire protection does it have? What kind of material are they using in between the two layers of steel in the walls and the door? Major companies like American Security, Gardall and Hayman and our own Safe & Vault Store, we use the concrete composite aggregate material in most of our products. So remember this and thank you watching. This is Dye Hawley, manager of Safe & Vault Store signing off for the day. Give us a call at 800-207-2259 if you have any questions.
