gun safe advice

[Sigarms]

Do I take 600 lb plus safe upstairs to the bedroom (and up stairs and onto a new hardwood floor that I should finish up this weekend and God forbid get a scratch on the new floors in which case my wife may use one of my guns on me), or do I go for a bigger and heavier safe and take the easy way out and put it in the basement?

Will be far easier to go the basement route. Just bring the truck down back, open the double doors and wheel it in and lay in on the carpeted floor next to the wall somewhere.

Upstairs will be tricky. However, since we sleep upstairs and will have children up there as well, would prefer to keep firearms safe and secure in the bedroom next to my person.

Pic of the stairs to give you an idea of what I'm looking at if I go that route.

Looking at the smaller safes (smaller than the one I currently have) I almost get afraid that there won't be enough room if I go with a smaller one upstairs. However, I'm not sure how the steps will handle 1,000 plus pounds (for some reason, the thought of the safe tipping and falling over the railing while going upstairs has crossed my mind).

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[RobertN]

Small safe for defensive weapons upstairs. Big safe with rest of weapons, documents ect in the basement.

We thought we bought much more safe than we needed. It is full... Not just weapons, but papers ect.

 

[CurlyDave]

Big safe downstairs. And bolt it down into the concrete floor. You would be amazed at how adept the professional safe-movers are at removing safes. (I knew a guy who had a safe professionally installed, and then a while later had it professionally ripped off -- most likely a tip off.)

Small safe upstairs. It only needs to hold a pistol or two and the magazine and bolt from whatever you prefer for varmits. And varmits can come bigger than you think. I shot a cougar from my front porch once. It was stalking me and the dogs (Labs, not little ones). When you see one doing that you want to be able to eliminate that threat in a hurry.

 

[Jstpssng]

Do I take 600 lb plus safe upstairs to the bedroom (and up stairs and onto a new hardwood floor that I should finish up this weekend and God forbid get a scratch on the new floors in which case my wife may use one of my guns on me), or do I go for a bigger and heavier safe and take the easy way out and put it in the basement?

Will be far easier to go the basement route. Just bring the truck down back, open the double doors and wheel it in and lay in on the carpeted floor next to the wall somewhere.

Upstairs will be tricky. However, since we sleep upstairs and will have children up there as well, would prefer to keep firearms safe and secure in the bedroom next to my person.

Pic of the stairs to give you an idea of what I'm looking at if I go that route.

Looking at the smaller safes (smaller than the one I currently have) I almost get afraid that there won't be enough room if I go with a smaller one upstairs. However, I'm not sure how the steps will handle 1,000 plus pounds (for some reason, the thought of the safe tipping and falling over the railing while going upstairs has crossed my mind).

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

View attachment 155951

Agree with the others. i helped move a big one inside last year that ended up going on it's side; even with 4 of us, once it started to tip off the dolly there was no stopping it.
Also in the unlikely event of a fire, it'll end up in the basement anyways; whereas a well built safe in the basement will survive heat and water damage for a period of time.

 

[BungeeII]

Two safes would be my vote.
I only have a small safe for my daily carry upstairs, but, I'd think it prudent to have a cache of home-defense weapons in a safe that fits in the walk-in closet. The basement is where you can put a larger safe to store all of the other weapons and valuables. (collectibles, rifles, paperwork)

 

[LD1]

IMO it depends on what you are buying the safe to protect against. If for theft, I'd say it doesnt matter as it is going to be hard to remove anyway. If you are wanting it to protect against fire, I'd say neither. Most fire safes are rated at like 1200 degrees for 1/2-1 hour. If your house unfortunatally did catch fire, wherever you put it, a 600lb safe is going to eventually wind up in the basement, where it will more than likely be over 1200 degrees for more than the rated time.

When dad got his safe a few years bace, we took this into consideration and located it in an addition to the house that was built on a concrete slab and only one story. so if the house burns down, it isn't going anywhere and isn't going to have a whole house comming doun on top of it and continue to burn.

 

[Hookblock]

I don't know if this will help?

Handgun and Long Gun Safes | Zanotti Armor

 

[dmccarty]

If you have wood floors, a heavy object on a dolly can be problematic. I have seen T&G hardwood floors fold up when the dolly wheels hit the seam between the two pieces of wood. Not nice. It traps the dolly wheels making it all but impossible to move. Oh. And does not do the floor much good. SWMBO might not be happy. Not something you want.

One would think with the stringers under the steps the stairs COULD handle the weight.....

On the other hand a good appliance moving dolly can handle the weight. They have a strap to hold the appliance and a belt on each side of the dolly. You angle or lay down the dolly on the steps so it can be pushed pulled up the stairs. A single person can move a lot of weight on an appliance mover. Going up is easier than going down. I bought one last time we moved. They are pretty cheap and come in handy from time to time.

A piece of plywood at the landing can be helpful for turning to go up the next set of steps. Depends on how big the stuff is on the dolly. How heavy it is and how much room you have to handle the dolly.

Later,
Dan

 

[om21braz]

If you decide to go the basement route with a big safe, don't do like a friend of mine and place it right down there within reach of an acetylene torch. Needless to say, it got carved up, guns very damaged and stolen.

 

[dave1949]

I vote for the two safe solution too. Those are very nice looking floors and stairs, don't send an invitation to Mr. Murphy

I wouldn't put a safe in a basement that wasn't absolutely dry and could 99.9% never flood. My brother's sump pump quit once while he was at work, his gun safe and guns got wet. Even in a basement that has always been dry, it wouldn't hurt to put the safe on a stand up off the floor.

Time to start planning your armory addition.

Good luck,
Dave.