The fully concealed alternative
Our hidden underfloor safes are fitted underneath the floor, out of sight.
How Do Hidden Underfloor Safes Work in Your home or business?
Without thinking, most people instinctively know that the safest way to store their most precious things, is to hide them somewhere ‘out of sight’. Hamber underfloor safes were designed with this human impulse in mind and offer the security conscious with a fully concealed alternative to a conspicuous traditional floor standing safe, at a fraction of the potential cost of a criminal attack.
What is an underfloor safe?
An underfloor safe is fitted beneath your floor, encased within reinforced concrete. It offers the combined benefits of almost complete concealment and immense strength. It is inconspicuous, space-saving, and unlike a traditional floor-standing safe, it cannot be simply lifted away by a burglar. There are thousands of Hamber underfloor safes fitted all over the UK, EU, and wider world, though you would never know it, as they are practically invisible once properly installed. They are suitable for the secure-storage of all types of valuables including cash, jewellery, watches, bullion, coins, cryptocurrency wallets, etc. An underfloor safe offers the highest possible security at a relatively low-cost. The only person who will know it’s there, is you…
How do they work?
An underfloor safe consists of a robust, solid steel storage vault, and a connecting neck, that are fitted under your floor, encased in reinforced concrete. A fully-removeable, highly-engineered locking access door is fitted into the opening on the top of the storage vault and is accessed from above floor level by removing the floor level dust cover and reaching down through the connecting neck section. This removable door is the only part of the underfloor safe that is visible to a burglar and this is packed with integrated features to resist all types of criminal attack (including drilling, abrasive cutting, flame cutting, lock tampering, heavy impact, leverage and wedging, and fire).
Hamber underfloor safes are designed for genuine single-handed operation (an essential feature of an underfloor safe). Simply reach down through the neck, turn the key in the keyhole, and lift the removeable access door out by the handle to remove it. Deposit your valuables inside the storage vault. Then, lower the door back through the neck and into the opening, in any direction, turn the key, and it’s locked again (there are no awkward brackets or lugs to locate).
How are they installed?
Hamber underfloor safes are designed for simple retrofitting in to existing homes, or can also be fitted during the construction phase of an extension or a new home. They are suitable for installation in any floor type, traditional or period, concrete or wooden (and can even be fitted above the floor disguised as a window seat etc.). Full installation instructions are provided in clear English. Any person with reasonable DIY skills can install their own underfloor safe without difficulty. Alternatively a jobbing builder or handyman can do the job for you. If you’d prefer, we can also often offer our own installation service.
Why buy a Hamber underfloor safe?
Hamber Safes are an independent, family company. We have been making specialist underfloor safes for over 60 years, and are the original patent holders. We are widely considered to be the experts in this specialist field of the security products industry. All our safes are individually hand-built by our team of artisan engineers here in our Essex factory (they are not mass-produced on a production line). We use the very highest-quality materials available, without compromise. Our safes are purposely designed to be easy-to-install and simple to use. They are recommended by master locksmiths, security consultants and insurance experts, and are known as ‘the Rolls Royce of underfloor safes’. All our products are supported by a 5-year manufacturer’s warranty.
Underfloor Safes
Frequently Asked Questions
Please see below a selection of questions and answers that we are commonly asked by our customers.
Can I install my underfloor safe myself?
Installation can be simply carried out by any competent DIY enthusiast, or alternatively by a handyman or general builder. Full installation instructions are provided with each safe.
Do Hamber Safes offer an installation service?
A Hamber safe can be installed by any competent DIY enthusiast, handyman or builder. Alternatively, dependent on where you are in the UK, our own professional and discrete team can often carry out the installation for you. Contact us on 01621-862517 for more information.
Where is the best place to install a Hamber underfloor safe?
A Hamber safe can be fitted in any floor type, modern or period, concrete or wooden. The safe will be invisible above floor wherever it is fitted. For maximum security however, an installation location away from normal ‘foot fall’ is best, such as the corner of a room, or the floor inside a cupboard
Can a Hamber Safe be fitted above ground?
Yes. Although an underfloor location represents the most secure way of installation, a Hamber Safe can if necessary be fitted above the ground in a reinforced concrete cube. In the past our customers have fitted safes in various different above floor locations, with various ingenious methods of disguise (e.g. disguised as a window seat).
What different options are available for my underfloor safe?
We offer several different ranges of underfloor safe, each of which is suited to the different needs of our customers. The ‘Minder’ is our all time best selling safe, the ‘Caretaker’ provides storage for larger items (including many laptop computers), and the ‘Dreadnought ABP’ is the ultimate in secure underfloor storage. Each range is available with various size ‘vaults’ and the removeable ‘doors’ can be supplied with traditional key locking or alternatively with mechanical or electronic combination locking.
Can I see a safe before buying?
Our underfloor safes are available to view before purchasing at our Essex factory headquarters. Please contact us on 01621-862517 to arrange a viewing appointment. A ‘pay cash & collect’ service is available for very security conscious customers who want to minimise the number of people that know they have purchased a safe. Alternatively, payment can be made by bank transfer and this will appear discretely on your bank statement as ‘HS Products’.
Can a Hamber safe be connected to the internet or operated by an app?
Although our underfloor safes are hand manufactured to the highest possible mechanical engineering standards, they are purposely electronically ‘low-tech’ and cannot in any way be connected to the internet or operated by an app (even safes that are fitted with electronic combination locking). We can therefore guarantee that our safes are not electronically locatable due to internet connectivity and that your usage of them is not monitored or tracked in any way by us, or any other third party.
Any important do’s and don’ts?
Although a Hamber underfloor safe is designed to provide many years of trouble-free operation, it is a mechanical item of equipment and, as with all mechanical equipment, there are a few things that owners should keep in mind to ensure it’s continued reliability:
- Always keep the flush, floor-level dust cover in place to prevent dust, detritus and particles from finding their way in to the connecting transitional neck section and falling on to the safe door.
- On underfloor safes that are locked by a key, make sure that the ‘key escutcheon plate’ (the metal oval data plate that is fitted on a pivoted rivet over the keyhole), is located to cover the keyhole at all times. This will prevent dust and detritus from entering the safe mechanism.
- If the safe is not in regular operation, try to open and close the safe (by completely removing and then refitting the door), every few months. This will ensure that the mechanism stays free running.
- NEVER, ever, spray or squirt, liquid or aerosol lubricants of any kind (including ‘WD40’), into the safe door mechanism. The safe door is precision made to operate with minimal lubrication and is factory pre-lubricated with a long-lasting and approved lubricant grease. The introduction of additional, non-approved lubricants can cause this grease to be dissolved. Likewise, additional liquid or aerosol lubricants can also cause dust and detritus to accumulate within the safe and this can eventually lead to the mechanism binding-up and seizing.
- In the event that problems are experienced with the locking and unlocking of your safe, place the open end of a vacuum cleaner hose over the key hole for a few minutes. This may remove any dust or detritus that has found its way into the safe door and, in many cases, will solve any operation problems. If this measure does not rectify the problem, please call our team on 01621 862517. Note: Compressed air is available in small spray cans and can also be used for this purpose.
- If your safe is used very frequently (such as in a busy retail environment), or is fitted in an environment that may contain contaminants (such as a dusty bakery), consider sending the removeable door into us every 5 years or so for a full strip down factory service to ensure it remains in top condition. This can usually be carried out ‘while you wait’ subject to booking an appointment in-advance on 01621-862517.
What if I move?
Your investment in a Hamber underfloor safe is not lost if you decide to move home at a future time, as you can remove your safe door when you move out, and take it with you (leaving the original vault behind, still concreted into the floor). Then, contact our team, purchase a new vault, install this in your new home, and simply slip the original door into the new vault.
If you contact us once you’ve exchanged contracts (and not yet moved), we’ll send you a card to place in the old vault, to let the new owner know what the vault is, and advising them that they can quickly use it as a safe by buying a door from us. If they take us up on this, we’ll even give you both a discount of 10% against your purchases.