mounting a safe

djay · 2009-04-18T03:54:09+00:00

I just received a very nice fireproof safe that has no mounting hardware. So it's fireproof etc but not thief proof. It's about 2 X 2 X 2.I'd like to mount the sucker down with something. I'm thinking about strapping it down to the floor by wrapping angle iron around up the left side across the top and down the right side leaving ears at the bottom. Kind of like an upside down U. Then drill into the slab and bolt the ears down to the floor.It won't insure that a determined thief won't just cut off the bolts and unstrap it but it will definitely take longer.Welcome for all comments/ideas?Thanks!Djay

H

HeyBub 17 years ago

Much better, in some ways, than a cigar box. The downside is that it's easier to hide a cigar box. A fire safe will prevent theft by the 'dash and grab' crew but against a determined thief with a smattering of time, not so much.

At my local safe company, they have a display of a Sentry fire safe ripped apart with a roofing hatchet. The construction consists of two thin layers of steel encasing about two inches of concrete. It's the concrete that gets the fire rating - the steel is just a cover. Might as well be plastic. If you can chop a hole in a hunk of corrugated iron, you can chop a hole in most fire safes - the steel isn't much thicker.

I think the most fire and theft resistant safe for the home is the round kind that fits inside the floor. To install it, you rent a 8" or 10" or whatever concrete hole saw for the day, cut out a plug from your foundation, lower the safe and add some cement.

Such as safe won't burn, you can't reach the recessed knob with a tool, and it's REAL easy to conceal. I've got one in a closet, a bit of floor tile covers the section containing the hole, and some nasty-looking underwear - complete with brown stains - covers the tile.

Security safes are "T" rated: T10, T15, T50. This used to refer to the number of thousands of dollars an insurance company would go for and was directly related to how much trouble it would take a thief to crack the sucker. What with inflation, I don't think the numbers refer, any more, to actual money.

Vote

H

HeyBub 17 years ago

Actually, the "conduit" was a 3+" hunk of 3/4" PVC.

Yeah, except the thread-all passes through four slabs and the bottom of the safe.

Once I got everything in place, I built a plywood shell for the slabs. Looks like the safe is sitting on a block of wood. This safe contains data disks and is about desk high. I just scoot my chair to the end of my desk, go tappity-tappity on the combination, and I'm in businsess.

Vote

B

benick 17 years ago

You do realize we are talking about a 2'X2' fire safe for important documents , ect. , don't you??? Not gonna get to many guns in a 2'X2' FIRE safe...A GUN SAFE is for guns and you should keep one hand gun on you.. Not gonna do you much good in a safe even at home...I still think the best place for very important documents , cash , jewlery , ect. is a safety deposit box....

Vote

H

HeyBub 17 years ago

One pistol will easily fit in a document safe. The purpose of the gun is not to be protected by the safe, it is to shoot several times a gremlin that has some less effective method of forcing to you to open the damn thing (such as a knife to the throat of your wife). Hint: shoot the hostage first.

Gun safes are to protect guns. A single gun IN a safe is to protect you.

As an aside: One problem with safety deposit boxes is that people can get in them without your knowledge or permission - such as the Attorney General with a valid warrant.

Vote

B

benick 17 years ago

If you have said gun ON YOU he will never get that far , he will be dead already...A concealed weapon permit is much better than a gun hidden in a safe...You and SWMBO might be dead BEFORE the perp descovers the hiudden safe with the gun...What then???If the AG has a search warrant , your house will be searched at the same time...You will have to find a better spot than a safe or a SDB to hide your illegal stuff and drug money...LOL...An airtight container buried out back , perhaps???

Vote

H

HeyBub 17 years ago

Your points are well taken.

I ALWAYS have a gun on me (except when taking a shower, sleeping, or playing hide the pickle).

I have a concealed handgun license and never leave home without carrying two pistols (admittedly one's not much - a five-shot .22 revolver - but it's my BUG (Back Up Gun)).

True about the AG, but putting your valuables in a safety deposit box is like burying Pharaoh under ten billion tons of stone blocks - it's just a question of determination.

And it's often the "legal" stuff that gets you in trouble. In the '60s, in a book called "Up the Organization" Peter Townsead made the point about purging your files: "In a dispute with the taxing authorities, your records will convict you irrespective of whether you're guilty."

Vote

J

JIMMIE 17 years ago

When my father in law had a business he had two big freaking safes and a cheap wall safe in his office. About 15 years ago it finally happened, while they were gone somone broke in and tried to steal the safes. They must have planned it pretty well because they cut the wall safe out of the wall with a chain saw and had rented a truck with a lift gate to move the safes. The thieves didnt know they had set off a silent alarm and were caught trying to leave the property. My father in law never told anyone there was nothing of value in the safes. He had always kept his valuables in a floor safe hidden under a cabinet. The thieves were 3 ft away from $100,000 in cash.

Jimmie

Vote

H

HeyBub 17 years ago

The cash might as well have been on the moon. How do you crack a floor safe?

Maybe I can answer my own question: With a jackhammer and huge air compressor you could probably break up the concrete. That takes what? A half-hour? Then you can probably yank the sucker and carry it off.

Definitely not a 'crash-and-dash' job.

Vote