Question about a safe in the garage

[Farmritch]

I have a buddy who used Hockey pucks as supports, drilled through them for the anchor bolts and there u go

 

[bwframe]

I have a buddy who used Hockey pucks as supports, drilled through them for the anchor bolts and there u go

There you go! That's what I was looking to try to explain. I was gonna suggest delrin rod cut to that approximate size. Find the right size metal pipe to surround the puck loosely and you detour sawzalls, angle grinders, hack saws, etc.

Round "legs" are much easier to clean around too.

 

[slimplmbr]

Wood and cement or brick underneath can still wick moisture up to the safe. What I would use is unistrut, it's a channel type steel material that can be found at plumbing supply houses. I would buy the green coated type, line the outside edge with it to stop a two wheeler from being put under the safe and bolt the safe down to the floor through the unistrut ( has holes pre drilled in it).

 

[lovemachine]

I have my safe in the garage. It's away from the vehicles, so no chance of it getting wet.
At the moment, it's sitting on 2 layers of outdoor carpet that I got from Lowes.

I plan on building a separate room in the garage next year, so it's only temporary where it's at. But it's been sitting there for 3 years now, and no problems yet.

 

[Andre46996]

Two words.... Hockey Pucks...

Drill the pucks so your anchor slide through them, figure out how many you need to keep the safe 1/2 inch off the floor. Insulates it from the floor, and keeps it low enough that getting anything under it to reach or cut the anchor bolts.

 

[Apokalypsi]

You definitely want to get it up off the floor. I would either bolt into two walls in a corner or build a brick or cinder block pad under it with a couple of open spaces in the blocks to run bolts through and then bolt into the floor with the biggest bolt anchors you can find. Or both. Inside corners are good because you can deny thieves the ability to use a crowbar on the side of the door that swings out. If they can pull it away from the wall and tip it onto its back they can get it open very quickly. Also if you can camouflage it with a fake wall or something so it's not visible to the smash and grab punks. I have built hiding places in past homes by framing out a fake wall covered in pegboard and installing a door covered in pegboard with tools hanging all over it that opens to reveal the hiding place. Use your imagination. A great book full of good ideas is titled Everybody"s Got Something to Hide. The guy who wrote it worked in New York and built hidey holes of every size and desciption for clients.

Can you provide a link to the book? Can't find it, even on Amazon.

 

[Icarry2]

Just a suggestion..

Outdoor Pads & Brackets

I am sure you can find them locally, maybe even Menards or Lowes or Home Depot... If not there check a HVAC Supply House.

 

[Drail]

Sorry I can't link you to "Everybody's got something to hide" or even the author's name, it's most probably out of print now. I found a copy in a library in Champaign Ill. back around 1982. Maybe your local library can dig up a copy or locate one for you. The guy had some very creative ideas though. One that I used until I could afford a safe was the wall inside a closet above the door. If you lean in and look back out the short wall above the sliding doors in most closets (not a walk in) is hollow and is almost never seen by thieves who rifle through hanging clothes or look on the floor and tap the back wall to see if it's real or not. They never look up behind their head and there is enough room between the framing in the wall to hide 4 or 5 pistols. The author said to slowly walk around your house and look at places with hollow spaces and you'll see lots of possibilities. I have also cut small openings in hollow walls and installed a fresh air return grille with two screws. Fake electrical outlet boxes can hide cash. Or a long tall opening between studs hidden by a full length dressing mirror. My wife's dressing mirror hid my long guns for quite a while.

 

[mospeada]

OK, so I finally got around to bolting the safe down and I thank everyone who contributed to this thread. You gave me a lot of good ideas.

I ended up very simply bolting it to the concrete floor and not to a wall or walls as some suggested simply because my garage has a threshold running around the base of the wall (see pics). Arguably, this isn't ideal and the safe is simply setting in my garage, but there are no windows and my neighborhood is very small and on a dead-end street, so not a lot of strange folk looking in and I keep the garage door shut when not in use. (also, my neighbors know I have guns).

To get the safe up a bit, I simply used two large cutting boards (like for the kitchen), one cut into four pieces supporting the corners and one in the center. Why this? It was easy, it will block moisture and I didn't have to go very high to avoid the water that might get to it off my car. All the rain over the past week allowed me to get a decent idea of how the water off the car will puddle and its a good 2ft from the safe currently and not a lot comes off. Ice/snow melt may be different, but won't be enough to come up to the safe.

I glued the "pads" to the concrete with epoxy to keep them from moving whilst I positioned the safe, it worked pretty well, but one came loose, but I was able to reposition it after the safe was in position with a prybar, so yay.

For anchors, I used 3/8" drop-in anchors at the four bolt-down locations in the safe with 1.25in bolts with washers. Love Kliendorfer's Hardware & Variety, a b'town institution (lunch provided by Hinkle's Hamburgers next door, 'nother institution).

Pic of the cutting board "pad" with anchor.

Pic of the four "pads" being held down by weights.

Now how to keep the humidity down...

and fill er up!

 

[Clay]

Only thing I will warn you about is this is how a guys safe was recently stolen, and it was fully of NFA goodies. He had his anchored to the floor, but also had it elevated to keep water out. They simply took a sawzall/reciprocating saw and cut through the anchors, then hauled the safe off.

 

[HaleysLodge]

We sell alot of safes and the best way of anchoring them is straight down into the concrete. we recommond that if you what to elevate your safe that you pour a new pad in which to do so. If the bottom of the safe is not fully supported on a level surface it CAN TIP OVER!!!. Just putting hockey pucks ect. underneath is not recommend as the two to four bolts holding down a 800 to 1500 lb safe supported by a couple of 9/16" bolts is unstable. You are most at risk when the safe door is open as it acts like a lever on the safe. If as above you place a "pad" of some sort underneath keep it as thin as possible and make sure it is level before you place your safe onto it.

 

[indyjs]

Tractor Supply has rubber mats for horse stalls. It can be cut with a circular saw. Bout an inch thick

 

[Dirc]

I have a bigger safe and store my bulk lead in the bottom of it. I figure an extra quarter to half ton of lead can't be fun for thieves.

 

[StreetStrip01]

We caulk it down in the garage? that will just hold moisture.