What to protect in a house you do not live in
In a second home, the most valuable things are not always the ones you would expect. They are the sets of keys waiting for the next occupants, the gate remote control, the keys to the shed and the boat, the paperwork for the jointly owned family house, the pool maintenance contracts. Left in a desk drawer, the whole lot hands anyone who gets in just once every access point on the property, including the ability to come back much later.
Damp then sets its own conditions. A garage, a shed, a crawl space or an unheated utility room are poor places for documents and digital media, especially in a house shut up six months a year where condensation works away unseen. The location should be indoors, on a load-bearing wall, away from the bedroom and the study, which are searched first. As for the safe's manual and serial number, keep them elsewhere, at your main home.
Finding a wall that will hold in lightweight construction
Anchoring is what makes a safe worth having, and that is precisely where local construction complicates matters. The nineteen-seventies houses built in hollow blockwork, the plasterboard partitions of extensions added over successive summers, the timber floors of some Pyla-sur-Mer villas do not all offer a serious hold. A built-in safe needs a load-bearing wall of sufficient thickness; failing that, a freestanding model bolted to the floor and the wall with fixings suited to the actual substrate is the more honest answer.
On the business side, seasonality changes the picture. Shops in the town centre and businesses around the port take most of their money over a few weeks, with bank deposits further apart than in town: the safe has to stay out of sight of customers, in a room with controlled access known only to the staff concerned. A hut at the port, lightly built and isolated at night, is not the right place. A detailed quote is drawn up before any work and an invoice is always provided.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our safes page. This page focuses on what the service involves in La Teste-de-Buch.