Moving a safe up stairs

[Decoligny]

Unless your 400 lb buddies are going to sit in the corner and not move for months at a time, design parameters for static vs. dynamic loads for buildings are quite different. Further a 400lb safe quickly becomes a 1000lbs when filled.

Total Reading Comprehension Test Failure

I know of several people who are 400 lbs. Never heard of them busting through apartment stairs. 400 lbs is the weight of two grown men. If the stairs collapse with 4 grown men walking up them, then they are not up to code by any means.

Show me in my post anywhere where I mentioned it would be fine sitting in the apartment full of 600 lbs of guns and ammo.

Hell, the OP never even mentioned any concerns about the apartment floor collapsing.

[ferrarifly]

[SJgunguy24]

You might want to see if that's even legal. Some muni ordances forbid safes on upper floors. If you were a fireman would you want a gunsafe crashing down on your head after a fire?

[Gary13]

Helped my friend yesterday with his 500lb safe. He rented a dolly with a strap. That helped a lot. Him and his brother were pulling, I was below pushing. 16 total stairs. Having a good dolly makes all the difference.

[cranemech]

My son and I moved my Bighorn safe into my house, only had 3 steps to navigate. With a couple friends you shouldnt have an issue. I purchased this appliance dolly

http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-capacity-appliance-hand-truck-65685.html

from Harbor Freight on sale. I believe U-haul rents them by the day.

The door does come off,just lifts off the pins I didn't bother messing with it

From time of order to time of delivery was approx. 2 weeks

If you weren't so far away I'd let you use the dolly and give you a hand

[Andy Taylor]

My safe is smaller, but heavier. I used a rented Uhaul dolly, as mentioned and three friends. Two at the top of the stairs, pulling a tow chain from my friend's 4x4, around the handle of the dolly. Me and another friend pushing from below. Had twelve steps to get up. Worked great.

[JoeJinKY]

First, are these concrete steps SOLID concrete, or are you talking about the concrete slabs that are suspended across two metal I-beams that make up the risers? Which one?

THESE steps will support a lot of weight.



THESE steps will NOT support a lot of weight.



A 400 lb. safe, a dolly, and three or four hefty helpers is one Hell of a lot of weight. Check those concrete steps to make sure they're not going to crack under the weight.

It might not hurt to prop up the center of the span with a couple of 4x4s or something, so that the full length of the runners does not have to support the weight. Put the supports under the FRAME, not one of the steps, because with excessive weight, the step would simply pop off of its mounts.

One very good trick to using a dolly for this type of job is to suspend a length of 2x3 or 2x2 under the dolly wheels with some rope. It should be slightly wider than the dolly wheels. It should follow the load up each stair such that when the wheels are dragged up onto a step, the wood wheel chock will be dragged up onto the step in front of the wheel to prevent it from rolling down the step if someone loses their grip or their footing. With each step up, the block would also be dragged up over the step and swing down to become a safety wheel chock for the dolly wheels. In this way, when someone says, "Hold on a sec!" or "I'm slipping!" you can balance the safe with the dolly without worrying about it rolling down off of the step and causing certain death.

I once brought an old upright piano down a flight of the "Weak" stairs in the second photo BY MYSELF, with only a woman to help. The piano was positioned so that with the dolly laying flat on the ground with the blade up, the piano was in it's normal position standing upright on the dolly. I used the ratchet straps to attach the piano to the dolly. It was tough to get it upon to the two wheels,but once I found the center of gravity, it was balanced.

I used a long, strong nylon rope. I tied the rope to the dolly axle in a triangle, so the pull would be equal on both sides. The nylon rope ran up one side of the stairway, once completely around the base of the steel hand railing, back to the next strong railing, then making a U-turn to the dolly axle. It ran between my feet.

As I got the wheels near the end of the top flight, the woman put tension on the rope. I rolled off of the deck and down to the first step. the rope stretched a bit, but it was a surprisingly soft landing.

I couldn't roll farther until she slacked off of the rope a bit. The next two steps were a bit dramatic and rather quick in succession, until she figured out exactly how much slack I'd need her to give me to roll off of one step and descend to the next step, stopping the forward progress with the rope tension. The rope would slide around the railing frame which was wrapped with cut bleach bottles to act as a sliding surface for the rope.

I took that piano down 18 steps that way at about two steps per minute, and it worked beautifully! I still had a lot of weight on my arms, but it felt very controlled and manageable. Would I do it again? Maybe!

[jmust1991]

I moved a 500 pound safe up 16 stairs, there were 3 of us, 2 pulling , one pushing from below with an appliance dolly and that was no joke (all of us 200+ pounds). Call me a***y, but a 4th person would have made all of the difference in the world.

I have seen postings of people claiming they moved a 500 pound safe upstairs with two people, they are a better man than I am .

[surfcitydude]

I bought the same safe a few months back. The door comes off easily and I moved mine with 2 friends up my oak staircase to an upstair room with a appliance dolly without a problem. No reason to bolt it down, no one will ever get it out again. If I ever move, it's going with the house.

[coyotebait]

I just bought the 24 gun bighorn safe from costco. I live on a second floor apartment with about 12 concrete stairs in the way of the safe and it's home. The safe weighs about 400 pounds. Need some ideas on how the hell to get this thing up the stairs. I was thinking on hiring someone but can't find anybody doing a google search.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm locating in foster city (sf bay area)

What you need is a trampoline, a mattress (King size) and 4lbs of TNT.....

[bsg]

I just bought the 24 gun bighorn safe from costco. I live on a second floor apartment with about 12 concrete stairs in the way of the safe and it's home. The safe weighs about 400 pounds. Need some ideas on how the hell to get this thing up the stairs.

i'm feeling tired just reading this.

[glockman19]

Been there...done that...never again...

I'll sell the house with it as I had to bring it up the back stairs and they have been removed.

[bsg]

btw... congratulations on your safe.

i don't know his name, but there is a safe mover who is a member here; he has posted in the "Accessories: Holsters, Safes, Locks & more" section of the forum here; it may benefit you to cruise through that section to find safe movers and more discussions regarding moving a safe. believe it or not... this topic has been discussed here before. do check out the section i mentioned.

[Intimid8tor]

Rent a stair climbing dolly. It makes it SO MUCH EASIER! Last time I moved a safe it was up 2 steps, 2 do steps then up 2 steps again.

The rental was more than worth it.

[NYRangerfan2]

Was your safe delivered yet?? Howd it all turn out??