Alternate method of securing my future gun safe to the floor

[CarlMc]

I'm going to be getting a gun safe soon and I was struggling with a way to secure it to the floor in our bedroom. My problem is that I can't stand the thought of bolts going into the hardwood floor, since they are quite permanent and removes many possible ways women like to rearrange every now and then, as well as affecting the future value of the house. I don't mind screwing into the wall, as sheetrock is patched up easily.

3M has a product called VHB tape. I came across it a few months ago while looking for holsters. It seems there's a holster alternative (Clipdraw) that's essentially a metal clip held on to the side of the gun with a small strip of this tape. I was curious, so I got some for various things we do at work and am in love with this stuff. I once mounted a chassis to the side of another chassis (temporarily) and it took me two days to get it off. Had to drive wedges between them, wait a few hours, drive the wedges in a little more, and repeat until I could get a knife in between them to cut the stretched tape out. VHB is a foam type double back tape with a wicked adhesive. It's strength is incredible, and we're it even in applications we consider permanent now, since it's so awesome.

My idea was to use strips of this on the bottom of the safe to secure it to the floor, in addition to some lags into the wall studs. Not a lot of tape, just around the bottom edges and not on the back edge. To get it off, I'd have to drive in wedges, come back a day later, pound the wedges some more, and repeat until I can cut it out. The beauty of this is that once it's split away, the adhesive rubs off (little more work than that, really) but it also spreads the load (either way) to a broader surface area, making it more secure than the point loads of four lag screws. This stuff also tolerates shock loads really well.

I never expected this tape to work as well as it did, and when I got it, I was naturally cynical, because doubleback tapes by nature, have never been that great. After gaffer's tape, this is incredible stuff.

Is this a bad idea or a good idea?

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[buick455]

I look at this kinda like locking the doors on a convertable car if a criminal wants your tunes they'll slash your top and and you'll need a top and a cd player.

If a bad guy wants your safe and they brough a hand truck with them I'd expect that theyll also bring a prybar and they will be less carefull about your floors than you'd be

My method is to make it really hard to move by bolting the safe to a ammo cabinet with the nylock nuts on the inside of the safe so a bad guy would need to move two cabinets one full of ammo or spend some time prying on them.

 

[CarlMc]

I look at this kinda like locking the doors on a convertable car if a criminal wants your tunes they'll slash your top and and you'll need a top and a cd player.

If a bad guy wants your safe and they brough a hand truck with them I'd expect that theyll also bring a prybar and they will be less carefull about your floors than you'd be
.

That's why I never locked the doors on my British car... I also never had an expensive radio either... And it slid right out if someone wanted it. Had that problem once already!

On the topic of how much effort a bad buy will put into removing my safe, it's always a judgement call. I live at the end of a dead end street and I know all my neighbors (some better than others) so folks are less likely to make a racket when there are nearby homes. My only given is that I have homeowner's insurance so that whatever is lost can be replaced, and so far nothing except my family's lives and mine are truly irreplaceable. Anyone who is serious about taking something will need time, and when I have family coming and going at all hours of the day and night with annoying lack of predictability, those who attempt to case my joint will move elsewhere. The last bunch will be smash and grabbers, and that kind is highly unlikely to have time or tools to get the safe open or out of the house.

Securing a gun safe for all possibilities is always going to be a source of long discussion, and I see no point in being more secure than what's reasonable given my situation. If I lived out in the country, I'd have a different set of circumstances that would cause me to make other decisions.

 

[The B]

if you throw two bolts through the mid section of the safe into studs, that sucker isn't going anywhere. use specialty bolts call "ledger locks," they're designed specifically for screwing into studs lengthwise, and to lock up tighter than any traditional lag bolt could ever hope to. we use them any time we need something to not only fasten, but fasten tight, in construction... like ledgers.

they're like a dollar a pop, you could stick 20 of them through there if it makes you feel better, but 2 will do it.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

Most safes have predrilled holes to allow you to secure it to the wall instead of the floor. Walls patch easily so just secure it to the wall.

 

[RainMan_PNW]

How big is it? Most I've seen big enough for more than one or two long guns were too GD heavy to worry about someone walking away with them. Of course, you would be wise to bolt to or wall to keep the thing from tipping with the door open, but a couple of the LedgerLOK screws either direction (wall OR floor) ought to do it.

Of course, I am not one to talk...since I went a bit overboard with my setup. Built a custom tube-steel frame with tabs on the INSIDE of the frame and 3/4" flat plate running across the top of the frame. Leveled and bolted the frame to the floor in my gun room with (4) epoxy concrete anchors (it sits on a concrete floor), then grouted the inside of the frame solid so the bolts are fully encased. Placed the safe on top, then marked (through the holes pre-drilled in the floor of the safe) the 3/4" steel plate. Pulled the safe back off and drilled/tapped the plate for the floor bolts. Put the safe back on and bolted down to the frame. Finally, added a couple of LedgerLOK screws into 2x12 blocking that was installed into the wall behind it as well. With the safe in place and door closed, nothing holding it down is accessable. And if they want to pry the thing over, they'll have to rip the bottom off the safe before the anchors will come out of the floor (which I'm sure they'd have the door pried open first anyway).

 

[CarlMc]

How big is it? Most I've seen big enough for more than one or two long guns were too GD heavy to worry about someone walking away with them.

Don't know yet. Looking at 10 long guns tops. I don't have enough to fill it, so that's my future growth built in. Yup, it will be heavy, and since I have a crawspace under the floor, a screw jack will be put in place to keep the floor (and furniture around it) from sagging and making the house even more warped than it is already.

 

[skywag]

Just bolt it to the floor.

You can fix the holes in the wood in 5 minutes.

 

[Inspectorkluso]

I hope that you solved your issue by now...but here's my two cents worth!! If you go through the drywall as you have talked about AND there is another closet or unused space behind the wall, use long enough bolts to get into the next closet. Put a metal plate between the bolts (stove bolts, of course, with no head) and make sure that you span, at least three or four studs. The burglars will have to tear your whole wall out to get you safe out.

HOWEVER, if you have a newer alarm system in your home, you can have your alarm company install a dedicated (and hidden) dedicated circuit to your safe. The circuit is triggered if someone even TOUCHES the safe. You can also get a shock sensor that will detect hammering on your safe. In other words, the bad guys don't have to beat my safe to death or pry the door off to activate the alarm. My alarm company put a wireless remote switch inside of my safe so I can move it anywhere in my house/garage and it will protect my safe. The service call and the remote switch were less than a hundred dollars. My alarm is monitored so if the bad guys somehow found and cut the phone wires, it would go into "trouble" and the police would be notified. If they just crashed through my front door, the stobe lights and the siren (with battery back-up) on the exterior of my house would activate. No bad guy is going to have time to open my safe before either my well-armed neighbors or the police show up. Oh, and the bad guys would have to find my very well concealed safe, too!!!