Locate Gun Safe In Garage?

[ChipEckardt]

Hello,
I live in Wisconsin, and it gets to below 20 degrees F in winter. I am looking at buying a large and heavy safe. Wife says "no" to having in the house or the downstairs so I was thinking of the garage. It would be bolted to the floor and I was going to build a wood frame around it so it would not be visible from the street when the garage door is open. Not sure if the temperature swings would be harmful. Also the heater/dehumidifier might never shut off in winter. Thoughts?

Chip

 

[Geronimo Jim]

How about wife in garage and gun safe in living room?

 

[artbosco]

Hello,
I live in Wisconsin, and it gets to below 20 degrees F in winter. I am looking at buying a large and heavy safe. Wife says "no" to having in the house or the downstairs so I was thinking of the garage. It would be bolted to the floor and I was going to build a wood frame around it so it would not be visible from the street when the garage door is open. Not sure if the temperature swings would be harmful. Also the heater/dehumidifier might never shut off in winter. Thoughts?

Keep your wife happy! My brother lives in Anchorage and has two safes in his lower basement adjacent to the rear of his garage. He had a wrecker lower them into position, they were that heavy. Put it in the garage, turn it sideways so the front opens to the side [tumbler doesn't face out] and then build a two sided partition or a one side partition to block it's view from the street.

 

[SongdogHunter]

build a platform for it. Last thing you want if there is ever a fire to have your rifles sitting in 6" of water.

SDH

 

[MGYSGT]

+ 1 on the platform. Ever look under something heavy that has sat on the concrete for a long time. It is damp. A simple frame of 2X4 or such and no problems.

Tom

 

[CJ6]

For in garage use you want to be careful of the hinges (lubricating them)especially EXTERNAL hinges, and as mentioned keep the Golden Rod ON.

 

[ChipEckardt]

How about wife in garage and gun safe in living room?

I just about fell out my chair chair laughing on this one

Chip

 

[DaveWhite]

I've had my safe in the garage for more than a decade including half that time in Colorado and now in Utah, where the winters are cold and long, and the garage was not insulated.

I took three 4x4's and wrapped them in carpet, nails on the bottom. Make sure all is level, and I put the safe on top of this very stable platformm door facing out. I then converted a blanket into what I refer to as "urban camoflage." I used a white polyester king-sized blanket (for a very large safe) and folded it so as to make a cover that wraps the front, sides and top in an "envelope." This was then sewn on the top to make it permanent. Gear bags reside on the top of the safe, on top of the blanket, to secure it in place. Just lift the blanket and throw it up over the top to get it out of the way, pull it back down and this urban camoflage works very well; with the garage door open, it looks like a refrigerator from the street. As a rule, I never have the safe open with the garage doors up. If I'm working out there in hot weather, I just leave the door open a foot or so at the bottom.

Cold weather is a different story. A golden rod heater may drive humidity out, but is not enough to heat that huge mass of steel in -20 degree weather. That sounds like a good excuse to convert the garage to a man cave, insulated and heated to boot; that is a project for this summer!

Good luck,

 

[fivering]

One additional bit of advice:
When locating a gun safe in the garage, be sure to bolt to the floor, and to one wall also if possible.
Garages are usually not that hard to get open, and two big guys can easily tip a safe into the back of a pickup, slide it on in and be gone very quickly.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

If your garage doesn't stay above 50 in the winter don't put your safe out there unless your fond of rust.