--- title: "Fixing a Safe in a 1970s Flat With Brick Partitions" description: "A third of Ibi’s built floor area dates from the 1960s and 70s. Where a safe can really be anchored in a flat with thin brick partitions, and where it cannot." url: "https://locksmithibi.es/blog/fixing-a-safe-to-a-1970s-brick-partition/" business: "Locksmith Ibi" --- # Where a safe can be anchored in a flat from the boom years About a third of Ibi’s built floor area dates from the 1960s and 70s. In flats of that age, inside walls are often thin brick partitions, and a safe bolted to one is not much safer than a safe standing loose. 23 October 2026 · 4 min read Ibi grew fastest in the years of the toy factories: 6,129 people in 1960, 19,846 in 1981. About a third of all the floor area built in the town dates from the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the flats in those blocks are now being bought by new owners who want a small safe for documents, jewellery or cash. The safe is the easy part. The question is what it is bolted to. ## What the walls of a flat are made of In Spanish blocks of flats of that period, inside walls between rooms are usually partitions of thin hollow brick, plastered on both sides. They carry no load, and a drill goes through them easily. Anchors set into hollow brick grip only the thin skin of each brick. The parts of a flat that do hold an anchor are the concrete floor slab, the pillars and beams, and the thicker outer walls. They are also where water pipes and cables are least likely to be hidden, though that still needs checking before drilling. ## Three ways to fit a safe - **Bolted down into the floor slab.** For most flats the best option. The safe stands in a wardrobe or a cupboard, and its floor bolts go into concrete. - **Built into a solid wall.** Possible in an outer wall or beside a pillar, not in a partition. It needs building work and making good afterwards. - **Free-standing and heavy.** A large safe can rely on its own weight, but a light one standing loose is carried off under an arm. ## Before you buy one Measure the cupboard or the corner you have in mind, find out what the floor is made of, and check whether the flat has underfloor heating pipes. A short visit to look at the floor and walls before buying saves a safe that has nowhere good to go. [Safes opened and fitted in Ibi](https://locksmithibi.es/safe-opening-ibi/). If the safe is part of tightening up a flat after a break-in, see also [high-security locks and guard plates](https://locksmithibi.es/burglary-repair-ibi/). And if you have just bought the flat, start with [the lock check when you move into a resale home](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/seventy-three-of-seventy-four-homes-sold-were-second-hand/). Want a safe fitted properly? The wall or floor is checked first, and the safe is anchored into something that holds. [Safe opening in Ibi, and safes fixed where they stay put](https://locksmithibi.es/safe-opening-ibi/) Two more from the same town - [Moving into an Ibi flat that has had other owners](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/seventy-three-of-seventy-four-homes-sold-were-second-hand/) · 5 min - [A small child on the other side of the door](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/a-child-locked-inside-the-first-five-minutes/) · 4 min - [All the guides for Ibi](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/) ## Quicker to ring than to read on? Ring, or send the lock and your location on WhatsApp. Open 24 hours · 7 days [+34 678 583 290](tel:+34678583290) [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/34678583290?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20a%20locksmith%20in%20Ibi.%20Where%20I%20am%20(street%2C%20barrio%2C%20the%20partida%20or%20the%20industrial%20estate)%20and%20what%20has%20happened%3A)