Welding your own safe, anyone do it?

[PogoJack]

I would like to get a bigger safe, but I have always been extremely paranoid about OpSec.

Thinking about in the future either converting an upstairs walk in closet into a walk in safe or making a smaller safe inside out of 3/16th steel.

It has to be DIY because I don't want anyone outside my family to know.

Is this even something that someone with decent welding skills should consider? I looked online, there isn't much documentation about it.

I don't need fort knox, but something that might take a druggie with a sawzall more than 5 minutes to open.

Suggestions? I was thinking about putting a murphy door on the walk in closet as well.

[Den60]

Walls, ceiling and floor should be easy. An effective door not so much.

[damon1272]

I have contemplated this myself. Locking mechanism would be an issue to work through and installing s&g lock.

[Uncivil Engineer]

You can buy complete vault doors. So there is no reason to fabricate your own which would likely fail.

[mooster]

A coworker made 2 safes out of scrap armor plates he bought from our work (someone lost the armor cert paperwork so the company couldn't use it). He said he would never do it again. The plates were extremely heavy and a bear to work with. I was sure they would have to convey with his house, but he somehow managed to get them out of his house and into the back of a trailer using the "Egyptian method" (metal pipes as rollers) and a home-made lift.

[Den60]

You can buy complete vault doors. So there is no reason to fabricate your own which would likely fail.

Yeah, Sturdy Safe has a 35.5" x 60" for $2,590.00. Without fire protection it weighs 650 lb - and he wants this to go upstairs.

They have a 32" x 24" x 60" complete safe for $2,050 which also weighs 650 lb that is also not fire rated.

[hermosabeach]

https://www.snapsafe.com/turn-any-room-into-a-vault

So you already have one layer of drywall - fire protection...

What about simply adding 1 more layer of 5/8" drywall and then 3/4" or 1" plywood to all walls, floors and ceiling.

Then add a vault door

one would need to cut through the outside 5/8" drywall
the 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on the inside... then cut through the 3/4" or 1" plywood to gain entrance from the side.



If this is not enough - step it up... Take AR 400 steel strips

Lag bolt them into the studs horizontally inside the closet before you add the second sheet of drywall....

Sawzall cuts into drywall and then hits AR400...

https://www.mcmaster.com/grade-ar400-steel/

1/4" Thick Yield Strength, psi 140,000 2" Wide Hardened 1607T21

3 feet long $45.09
6 feet long $80.51

[baih777]

One is you have to buy the material.
Then have it cut to size. Unless you have tools to cut that material.
Then weld it up outside. Neighbors gonna ask. Whatcha building ?
Then the door lock mechanism.

[SoCal1]

When building secure data closets we would put the heaviest gauge expanded steel we could find local in between steel studs. We would loosely fasten so it would move if a reciprocating saw was used to try and cut throughly it making it more difficult.

Double layer of drywall on the outside and drywall and plywood on the inside.


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[Woodymyster]

Like others have said, just cutting the material to size will be difficult. The door will be an issue of a diy job. I would be worried about the design of where the door meets the body as most diy safes look to be real easy to pry open due to lack or reinforcement where the body meets the door. Hinges also need to be designed well.
We had to make "security boxes" once with "layers" of material for the box. Think steel,stainless steel,aluminum, steel sandwich. This was to prevent the box from being torch cut and messed with cutting tools. I don't think you need to worry about that as torch cutting is not likely at a home. You do need to worry about prying or stealing the safe.

Maybe your best option is hiding the safe completely. Maybe build a hidden wall or door in front of your diy safe. You then could minimize the locking system if you feel you could make a basic safe yourself.

[diveRN]

Thought about concrete block? Might be easier to work with than steel and it's definitely fire rated.

My neighbor used these in a 4'x5' (?) closet in a front bedroom that doubles as his safe, but he built it for a tornado shelter. He put a 30" exterior metal door in place of the 6 panel interior door and two deadbolts top and bottom along with the one by the knob. He had to do some light framing and drywall to get it to look right. His house sits on a concrete foundation.

He got ingenious for the roof and bolted 3/16" diamond plate to the ceiling joists and then built the walls up to it. He then secured the plate to the top wall-blocks using standard drilled-in concrete anchors. His job turned out pretty nice.

[GeeBee49]

There are a few issues to consider when adding a vault type door to a wood frame closet, even if the jambs are reinforced with angle iron. Before you do that is it possible to walk into the next room and be able to cut through the back wall or side wall of the closet? A Sawzall with a long blade can cut through drywall and 2" x 4" studs in minutes.

[rdfact]

OP said "converting an upstairs walk in closet". Are there concerns about weight of a steel or concrete safe? How much weigh would be considered OK in a standard upstairs floor, or even a downstairs floor that has a crawl space instead of a concrete floor?

[broadside]

OP said "converting an upstairs walk in closet". Are there concerns about weight of a steel or concrete safe? How much weigh would be considered OK in a standard upstairs floor, or even a downstairs floor that has a crawl space instead of a concrete floor?

As a structural engineer, I would not do what the OP is wanting to do without massive structural upgrades to support it. This is especially true if the house is of typical tract construction.

He'd be better off building something in the garage on the slab.

[Oldmandan]

I’ve seen a homemade safe welded together out of 1/4” plate. The guy who built it was a welder by trade, so it was no issue for him. The door needed help though, he used a chain & padlock to lock it up

Personally, I think you’d be better off converting that closet into a hidden room. The internet is full of ideas for hidden room entry ways