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[UN3178]

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[Yemff]

placement is key. Its not going to be so easy if you put it in a corner and bolt it to the wall as well as the floor.

[fourtraxmc]

Just drill the sides and install a sleeve, GTG.

[not-fishing]

but I think people have a false sense of security when they store their guns in small to mid sized safes. What do you think? Am I crazy?

I tried to remove a small safe that I had lagged to the studs and I figured out very quickly that I would have to demo the wall to get the safe out. 40 years in construction for me

Sure bad guys can take the little safe but it's Slow Carry and only with the right tools. Saw-zaw, sledge, bigger pry bars

Given enough time and the right tools anyone can get into anything. So what burglar carries a battery powered Saw-zaw in their back pocket?

[Dhena81]

I have a mid sized safe and used 1/2' drop in anchors that depending on the psi of my concrete slab are rated for something like 20k pounds a piece and I used Grade 8 washers and bolts threaded into the drop ins. I have it placed in a corner of my garage and I built a wall around the safe to help prevent tipping or to limit any leverage attacking the door using a demolition or crow bar.

[Full Clip]

Safes keep out the amateur criminals.
Safes slow down the pros.

[omnitravis]

Mine is practically hidden in my closet for extra measure. Probably wont keep out the really dedicated thieves, though.

[russ69]

Safes keep out the amateur criminals. Safes slow down the pros.

Given enough time, anything can be moved. If they were able to put it in your house, someone can take it out.

[Bravodigger]

If you have a sub-floor you could make a template of your bolt pattern out of a steel plate and place it under the floor, bolt through the floor and plate below. I doubt a sumo wrestler could knock that down.

[ThiZZ]

My safe is over a 1000 lbs and I still bolted it down. The way I see it is its better to be safe then sorry. Bolting down only helps make it harder for someone to open it. Prying a safe open from its standing position would be a lot harder than prying it after toppling it over.

[monk]

I bolted it down nice and tight since even an 800lbs safe can be moved with the right tools with little effort. I still want to weld a thicker shell on it. Just so that it'll protect from the corner cutting.

[hermosabeach]

You can always roll out the carpet, cut the sub flooring out.

Once you can see where the Joists are, you can marry them with 4x8 to make almost a wooden slab under where your safe will sit.

Re install the subflooring and return the carpet.

behind the safe you could screw a 3/4" piece of plywood the same dimention as your safe into the studs.

Then lag bolt the safe into your new floor and screw into the wall behind the safe.

lots of options that will help slow people down....

[dub762]

Its about slowing the bad guy down. I would stack midgets on top of the safe if it slows the bad guy down to piss him off!

[Librarian]

My safe weighs 1300 lbs empty. If someone of average size and strength throws his weight into it, nothing will happen.

Bolting a safe to subfloor is silly. That's 3/4 plywood. Now lag-bolting it to floor joists with 1/2 lags, that's a different kettle of fish. If the floor joists are not in the right place, then add bridging or extra joists in the right place. Similarly, using 1/2" concrete expansion anchors gives substantially more strength.

I have an application for this coming up, and not being 'mechanical', don't quite see this. Would someone offer a more detailed description for bolting one of the smaller (400 lb-ish) safes to a wood floor over a crawl space?

[hermosabeach]

Librarian-

A typical floor is several layers of materials.
You have joists (beams)as the base layer. Based upon code, they are on 16" - 24" centers- in the case of 16" it is 16" from the center of one joist to the next.

The Joist will be a solid piece of lumber-2" x 10" or 2" x 14" and they will run the width of the house.

something like this-



On top of the joists you then fin the subflooring.... It can be either Plywood or a variation of particle board.

The top layer is your flooring- Carpet, Pergo, Tile, etc.


If you bolt into the subflooring - you have only anchored into a thin material.

If a safe is 5 feet tall, then when you pull the safe over, you have a 5 foot lever attempting to rip the safe out of the flooring.

If you use Lag bolts and screw into the joists, now you have a 4,5 or 6" screw sunk into solid wood... and 4,5 or 6" of wood... not just the 1/2" to 3/4" subflooring.


The trouble is that the joists most likely will not align with your safe.

So you need to remove the flooring and then attach new lumber to the joists so that you now have solid wood, attached to the joists that now sits under the mounting holes in your safe.

If you have a crawl space under your home, you could simply drill the holes and screw long screws into the safe/ flooring.

you then crawl under your home to see where the screws went. Are they into a joist or into the subflooring? If in the subflooring, you would then need to cut a new piece of lumber to be installed between the joists so that the lag bolts in the safe would be screwed into wood connected to Joists.


The additional concern is that some homes are not built with a solid piece of wood for Joists... they use a laminate - composite - joist made of wood and glue..... I am not familiar with these nor familiar with the outcome of screwing a lag bolt into one.....




I hope this makes more sense....