safe built in closet = walk-in gunsafe

[flyer898]

I am moving to an old house in SF. There is a closet I could modify to be a walk-in gunsafe. I need to find a way to close and lock the 59" wide opening that leaves room for a decorative false door in front. Does anyone have some experience to share in the area of building a safe out of an existing closet?

I have thought about using a metal roll-up door or just putting in solid wood double doors with appropriate locks. All experience, ideas, and other thoughts welcome.

[707electrician]

The liberals in SF would **** their pants if they found out that you were building a walk in gun safe in your house

[Audredger]

You will need to armor the walls so someone doesen't just kick thru the sheetrock. Use steel doors, portable saw will open a wood one! NRP the hinges too. (Non Removable Pins)

[slam128]

Nice! You need a whole closet to fill up your gun collection! I'd make sure the floor is strong enough to hold up all the reinforcement you'll need to keep that room secure. Post some pics when you're done. Would love to see how it turns out.

[WTSGDYBBR]

I have seen a safe door type wall for sale in the for sale section months back. I seen a company who made designer belts make a home made safe in there office. They got a thick wire mesh they installed ply wood on the walls then wire mesh on top 360d around the room.

[G1500]

The main thing about a walk in safe would be the walls and roof. You need to figure out a way to secure it from the sides. As mentioned it would not be hard to kick through a wall and have at it, completely bypassing a vault door.

[GMG]

Probably kind of expensive..................Vault Door

http://www.libertysafe.com/safe_vaultdoors.php

[G1500]

Probably kind of expensive..................Vault Door

http://www.libertysafe.com/safe_vaultdoors.php

Starting at $6,259

[Cnynrat]

No experience, but I am thinking about doing the same thing with a closet in my garage. After the next few purchases I will be just about out of room in my current safe, and would also like a more secure location to store my ammo as well as some emergency supplies, which is what lead to this whole idea.

I have a garage that is separate from the house, and one corner of my garage is set into a hillside - the dirt pretty much comes up to the eaves in that corner. Obviously, those two outer walls in that corner are cinder block. An existing closet sits in that same corner. One of the interior walls is also cinder block, and the other wall and the ceiling are regular studs on 16" centers with drywall. So I have three block walls, and one stud/drywall wall.

I know what I would do about the frame/drywall wall - I would replace that wall with a block wall. Fill the cavities of the block with cement. Use lots of re-bar. I've also read about people building walls with type-X drywall and using metal studs on very close spacing - say something like every 4"-6". It's probably unlikely someone would work their way through that, but it's not really as secure as a safe. It would give you 2 hour fire protection though.

I'm not sure how I would deal with the ceiling. The only good idea I have is to use the metal studs on 4-6" centers with a couple layers of type-X drywall. I've not completely convinced myself I'm happy with that level of security.

As far as door options, there is the option of buying a vault door. I know American Security sells them, probably other safe manufacturers as well. I'm sure this is the most costly option, but probably also the most secure. I've also thought about getting a commercial grade 90 minute fire door and putting a few deadbolts on at least two sides. Certainly not as good as a vault door, but especially if you were going to hide the door you might find this an acceptable level of security. I'd prefer to figure out a way to build some sort of concrete ceiling, but that's probably beyond my DIY abilities.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Still not sure whether it's worth it for me to do this. I'd be interested in hearing how you or anyone else decide to approach this.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

No experience, but I am thinking about doing the same thing with a closet in my garage. After the next few purchases I will be just about out of room in my current safe, and would also like a more secure location to store my ammo as well as some emergency supplies, which is what lead to this whole idea.

I have a garage that is separate from the house, and one corner of my garage is set into a hillside - the dirt pretty much comes up to the eaves in that corner. Obviously, those two outer walls in that corner are cinder block. An existing closet sits in that same corner. One of the interior walls is also cinder block, and the other wall and the ceiling are regular studs on 16" centers with drywall. So I have three block walls, and one stud/drywall wall.

I know what I would do about the frame/drywall wall - I would replace that wall with a block wall. Fill the cavities of the block with cement. Use lots of re-bar. I've also read about people building walls with type-X drywall and using metal studs on very close spacing - say something like every 4"-6". It's probably unlikely someone would work their way through that, but it's not really as secure as a safe. It would give you 2 hour fire protection though.

I'm not sure how I would deal with the ceiling. The only good idea I have is to use the metal studs on 4-6" centers with a couple layers of type-X drywall. I've not completely convinced myself I'm happy with that level of security.

As far as door options, there is the option of buying a vault door. I know American Security sells them, probably other safe manufacturers as well. I'm sure this is the most costly option, but probably also the most secure. I've also thought about getting a commercial grade 90 minute fire door and putting a few deadbolts on at least two sides. Certainly not as good as a vault door, but especially if you were going to hide the door you might find this an acceptable level of security. I'd prefer to figure out a way to build some sort of concrete ceiling, but that's probably beyond my DIY abilities.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Still not sure whether it's worth it for me to do this. I'd be interested in hearing how you or anyone else decide to approach this.

Do yourself a favor; buy the biggest safe you can find; rent some big fellows to move it into place; secure it to the floor and your block walls and with the money and time you save, put more toys in it. You would be absolutely amazed at how fast you can get through block and most any other material with an 8lb sledge hammer.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

I am moving to an old house in SF. There is a closet I could modify to be a walk-in gunsafe. I need to find a way to close and lock the 59" wide opening that leaves room for a decorative false door in front. Does anyone have some experience to share in the area of building a safe out of an existing closet?

I have thought about using a metal roll-up door or just putting in solid wood double doors with appropriate locks. All experience, ideas, and other thoughts welcome.

Do you want to show this off or do you want a safe place for your valuables? If the former, go with the roll up door or the panelled doors with locks (you'll need a lot of money, as other have pointed out to actually make it secure). If you want security, think conventional safes in a room that appears much smaller than it really is. Think small closet with a false back. Still not cheap, but much cheaper than securing all 6 sides of this closet.

[luckystrike]

makesure the door frame is just as strong. some frames might not even hold the weight of the door

[G-forceJunkie]

As others have mentioned, a walk in safe is only as strong as its weakest wall. Sledge hammer or a fire axe will get through pretty much anything short of reinforced concrete in a short amount of time.

[TURBOELKY]

weld 1/2" steel plates on all 5 sides like one big steel box on the inside. Then install a real vault door. Put a huge mirror over the door, or a piece of art.... that's my fantasy anyways.....

[Cnynrat]

Do yourself a favor; buy the biggest safe you can find; rent some big fellows to move it into place; secure it to the floor and your block walls and with the money and time you save, put more toys in it. You would be absolutely amazed at how fast you can get through block and most any other material with an 8lb sledge hammer.

I know block by itself isn't really secure from the sort of attack you suggest, which is why the blocks should be filled with concrete and you would need to use plenty of re-bar. I think done right it could be built to be secure from that sort of attack. In my case, the outside walls of my garage aren't filled, but they are underground, so I'm not too worried about that.

Building the block wall isn't the expensive part of this proposition, it's the vault door that costs a lot of money. Based on the vault door price quoted above it probably would be cheaper to buy a safe, but you would get less space in return.

If I was planning to live in this home for a long, long time I'd be more inclined to invest the time and money in doing this. As it is, I may wait for our next home to investigate building a "safe room".

Still, it's interesting to kick around ideas for how it could be done.