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Safe Location Question

Build a cement wall room with a thin steel liner on the inside of the cement wall. Put your bench, reloading etc in it, lots of outlets and a lot of light. Line the walls with old cabinets on the floor and countertops. Put your guns on a rack standing on the countertops. I have a link somewhere to the safe door (reasonable and well made) that I bought. I'll never use a safe again. Besides. If you have a fire, you will have a safe with roasted and then drowned guns in it. Insure them. It is nice to have your guns secure, but when you are in the room, able to look at them.
i would luv to have a concrete room where my loading room is now. but i caculated the weight on my 3.5” thick concrete floor and it doesnt seem like a good idea. mabie someday.
 
I have had my 1000 lb (empty) Browning safe in four homes now. Two walk-out basements, a separate workshop and a third garage bay converted to a workshop. The drive up access is the preferred location. Lugging guns and ammo up and down stairs is not the way to go.
 
We put a large Browning safe (1000#) down the basement stairs of a 1920's house. We put 4x4s under the stairs, strapped the safe box less door to a hand truck, put two planks on the stairs and slid it down using a rope attached to a pickup.
 
I can tell you this, I have about 650# of aquarium on the main floor of my 1925 Craftsman home. I put it against a wall that has the massive (true) 2x12 transverse beam under it. No issues or movement in the last 5 years, even with a few minor earthquakes in that time. 55g of water, 120lb sand, 75lbs of glass tank, steel tubing stand on 4, 2" diameter feet, and its 4 feet long. It's really not much different than a safe for weight and size.
as an aside, my father and my uncle built a Sears home in the middle 1930's. It was delivered in crates via Railway Express. It is still standing about 1/2 mile from the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
 
as an aside, my father and my uncle built a Sears home in the middle 1930's. It was delivered in crates via Railway Express. It is still standing about 1/2 mile from the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
Those houses are neat, mine is Craftsman style architecture though.
 
Those houses are neat, mine is Craftsman style architecture though.

The one that they built was a 2 story. I couldn't imagine how it was packaged for shipping.
 
Any good safe mover can put it downstairs for you. If you saw where two guys put my 900# safe you'd wonder how they did it. Not only did it, but they moved it upright the entire distance.

As for the floor, like folks said above that's nothing. Think large double door refrigerator loaded plus heavy people standing there with the door open letting the cold run all over the floor while they contemplate what they want (lol). More to your point, would you think twice about two 250lb people standing over the same spot, or that same room filled with people.

Here's one for you, when I asked my safe guy about where to put it relating to fire, he said outside wall. Then he pointed out that fire on the outside wall is several hundred degrees lower than interior spaces. Outside wall it was. Add a dehumidifier in it and something to monitor temp and humidity over time so you know exactly what's going on you're all set, no guessing. the little battery operated ThermPro units from Amazon work great. All set until you realize one day (sooner than imagined) that the safe is no longer large enough.
 
My thinking is put it in the garage if you have one…With a peet boot dryer…Drill holes in concrete attach with big bolts..If you put on main floor gonna end up in basement with a fire anyway with everything burning on top of it….Done for many years not a speck of rust or any other problems..
 
i had a 1600# fort knox safe that traveled cross country with me several times. I moved jobs between several western states every 18mo or so. that safe was on every known footing at one time or another. (apts/condos/homes) concrete, solid wood, std floor I-joists, microlam joists.. etc. finally, the safe resided on the main floor of a new construction house, I-joist with 3/4 ply for 6 years, no issues whatsoever. just site the safe close to the foundation / support walls.

over 2000lbs? yes, time to take a good hard look, and get out the calculator. 1500lbs and under, no sweat.

*DO* find a way to secure the safe to a floor or wall. Its amazing how fast one guy and a good dolly can move a 500# safe.
 
I put my 1200 # + safe in the basement. I put 2x4's hammered into place under each step, and a couple of 2x10 planks down the tops of the steps. Had a come along tied to a 4x4 across the kitchen opening to lower it down.
I I had to do it again, I would call a safe mover.

It sat against an outside wall, on 4 pieces of 1" thick steel to keep it off the concrete. Installed a safe heater, wire comes out the bottom, the hole in the bottom and top of the safe allows some airflow, guns have been in there for 30 years, no rust.
 
I'm thinking, a king size Sleep Number bed, with headboard and 2 moderate adult onboard must weigh 800 lbs. or more. Safe sounds pretty reasonable to me. Put a piece of 3/4" plywood under safe to spread the lbs. per square inch loading.
 
Floors should be designed for 55psf total load in new residential construction. And that’s 40# square foot live load so you really shouldn’t exceed that. You definitely want that safe next to an exterior wall or very near where there is an interior bearing wall or beam below. And don’t forget the weight of the guns and ammo in the safe. I’d opt for the basement if at all possible.
This
The load will also be distributed to adjoining joists.
You'll be fine.
 

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