House Flooded…. Where do my guns go??

[Jcremer24]

Is the home still going to have power / net? If so I would leave them in the safe and have a camera and alarm. If not? I would rent a GOOD storage place. One of the kind that is inside a building. Then when moving the guns in I would have them in some kind of cheap containers like you buy at Wally or such or hidden in some way so when you are taking them in no one watching has any clue what they are.

Power has been out and might not be back until the house is reno'ed. I normally have a nest camera and our home security system. I believe the movers are moving all of our personal property to a secure warehouse- that means the guns too. Here is the result as of this evening. It took awhile but wife and I finally got all of them double bubble wrapped. They all fit pretty tightly and I supplemented some of it with some pillows. Im not as concerned about my large as full with the guns it weighs almost 700 lbs- but my little safe- I have concern for as it is much closer to 200 lbs. I have personal property coverage but would anyone recommend purchasing firearms insurance? I used to have it through the NRA.

 

[Glockguy97]

Greetings Comrade. I would be happy to hang onto them while you sort out these personal problems! It would be of no trouble.

Surprised nobody beat me to it.

 

[Jcremer24]

Rent something that works.

Well that's helpful. Lol. This place is a new build- completed in 2020. Apparently it's just one giant turd. Neighbors are all concerned about the shoddy workmanship on their own homes now too. All these townhomes going up in Greater Seattle and surrounding areas… Sure look nice but they are giant $700K POS structures.

 

[Jcremer24]

I've thought about this a lot so maybe a great idea or maybe not - I think finances and space will be the deciding factor.

Where you will be staying is there a place to park a small enclosed trailer?

My medium safe is 650lbs and my 12 gun is probably less then 150.

A single axle with either a ramp or a swing sideways gate should be easy enough to get the safes loaded and then put all of your guns back into them. Pad it on the inside with blankets or something and lag bolt them to the floor (I would put a foot long piece of 2x6 under the floor to reinforce it).

Pad lock the door with a very high quality lock and put a tongue lock on the hitch.

It's not uncommon to see a small trailer in a driveway. Park in front of it at night if you can and once it is parked, remove the blankets and run an extension cord to power a golden rod or similar in both safes for humidity.

If you find an ok one used then you should be able to make money on it come fall or winter when everyone wants an enclosed trailer.

I think most decent trailers are rated for 1/2 ton so depending on how many ammo cans of ammo you have you should have enough room to stack that in there as well.

Edit: you could also put an alarm system in the thing of you have the knowledge and run it from that power cord as well with a battery backup.

That's a great idea… Might not be super feasible though as they are putting an 80 ft. Dumpster in our driveway instead for all the drywall/flooring being cleared up when they gut the house

 

[Glockguy97]

On a serious note sorry to hear about your troubles that really sucks dude. Unfortunately one of the downsides of having a nice collection that most people try not to think of.

My bet is the friends and family special. I would take your buddy up on that offer, if moving the safes proves to be an issue I would even buy some stack on cabinets from Harbor Freight or cases as another user suggested. Buddy could even keep them if he's interested and maybe his top pick of the litter if you're a really decent guy. If he only has one cabinet he'll need more/bigger eventually

I'm sure bonded storage is fine I just have a hard time trusting that plus it sounds super expensive. Leaving them in place or any variation of such while workers are in and out would be a non starter for me tbh.

 

[User 1234]

Remember insurance won't help you replace any "assault weapons" that get stolen. At least not until you move to Texas. I would not let the movers take the safe to storage. I would also affix a GPS tracker to your safes.

 

[Alexx1401]

Power has been out and might not be back until the house is reno'ed. I normally have a nest camera and our home security system. I believe the movers are moving all of our personal property to a secure warehouse- that means the guns too. Here is the result as of this evening. It took awhile but wife and I finally got all of them double bubble wrapped. They all fit pretty tightly and I supplemented some of it with some pillows. Im not as concerned about my large as full with the guns it weighs almost 700 lbs- but my little safe- I have concern for as it is much closer to 200 lbs. I have personal property coverage but would anyone recommend purchasing firearms insurance? I used to have it through the NRA.

View attachment 1421743

Bummer. In that case a GOOD storage place would be what I would use. I would just not want to let it be seen that you were moving things like a safe into one. No point advertising.

 

[Yarome]

I have personal property coverage but would anyone recommend purchasing firearms insurance? I used to have it through the NRA.

You can add an itemized rider on your current home owners insurance policy. That's typically safest in terms of the ins. company actually making good on any claim in the amounts agreed upon per item.

If your contractor has you sign a waiver of liability for any personal property damages (common) then I would probably go the rental storage route. I hear the internet horror stories about locker thefts, but it seems like a lot of that occurs with privately owned storage places with marginal facilities (rundown/old) in more remote locations. IOW... rent at shady places, it shouldn't be a shock if their theft count is high.

Modern chain facilities are quite secure and don't stay in business if their customers are routinely robbed. I've had multiples for years and never a single issue. Common sense applies too. Don't advertise what you're storing for the cameras or looky-loos. I liked the wardrobe box idea or similar.

If insuring them though you want to inform and verify with the ins company that they approve of the storage situation and that it will not invalidate your coverage.

 

[GC265]

What a pita! Thanks for posting this, gets me wondering what I'd have to do in your situation...

Good luck

 

[arakboss]

So… Our townhome rental had a pipe blow up and long story short- the entire house is going to have to be gutted. Where can I store my firearms? I currently have two safes that house my near 40 gun collection. The house restoration guy who is running the show suggested that I could leave them in safe but make sure they are secure- not sure I want to do that… Does anyone have any thoughts on where they could be stored? My collection consists mainly of milsurp rifles- so they cannot be broken down. What happens to my ammunition??

Check with trusted pawn shops in your area, some may do storage loans. It can work out to be pretty cheap on a per day basis.

Nevermind about using pawn shop, you would have to do a background check to get them back and that might not work with new laws up there if you have any "evil" weapons.

 

[NobullSKS]

Build a false wall? Temporary flimsy but looks good…..? Concealment.

Bury them for awhile….?

Have the contractors sign a "promise not to touch "….?
Camouflage paint job on safes….. maybe they won't even know?

Leave them there and set up an indoor camera with notifications….?

I like the wardrobe box idea and possibly the trailer idea if you want them close.

The rentable safe are a neat thing I didn't know existed.

My hope of course is that you get professional trustworthy people working on your home and the safe are just ignored. Like it was said….. their not going to know if they're full or not.

Hopefully the home repairs go without a hitch.

 

[Belial]

Well that's helpful. Lol. This place is a new build- completed in 2020. Apparently it's just one giant turd. Neighbors are all concerned about the shoddy workmanship on their own homes now too. All these townhomes going up in Greater Seattle and surrounding areas… Sure look nice but they are giant $700K POS structures.

Renting something that works would be "my" reality. As I stated my guns go where I lay my head.

I know people that have done storage places, friends garages, and the likes with good results as others have suggested. Just not for me...

 

[Flopsweat]

I've thought about this a lot so maybe a great idea or maybe not - I think finances and space will be the deciding factor.

Where you will be staying is there a place to park a small enclosed trailer?

My medium safe is 650lbs and my 12 gun is probably less then 150.

A single axle with either a ramp or a swing sideways gate should be easy enough to get the safes loaded and then put all of your guns back into them. Pad it on the inside with blankets or something and lag bolt them to the floor (I would put a foot long piece of 2x6 under the floor to reinforce it).

Pad lock the door with a very high quality lock and put a tongue lock on the hitch.

It's not uncommon to see a small trailer in a driveway. Park in front of it at night if you can and once it is parked, remove the blankets and run an extension cord to power a golden rod or similar in both safes for humidity.

If you find an ok one used then you should be able to make money on it come fall or winter when everyone wants an enclosed trailer.

I think most decent trailers are rated for 1/2 ton so depending on how many ammo cans of ammo you have you should have enough room to stack that in there as well.

Edit: you could also put an alarm system in the thing of you have the knowledge and run it from that power cord as well with a battery backup.

Trailers are super easy to steal. Most hitch locks are easy to defeat, and all can be bypassed with a pintle hitch and some chain.

 

[Yarome]

Trailers are super easy to steal. Most hitch locks are easy to defeat, and all can be bypassed with a pintle hitch and some chain.

I can attest to that. I had a boat stolen once from the front of my house. Got it back, eventually, but they didn't even bother to defeat the hitch lock. They did the wrap a chain around the hitch and the ball of their truck and drove off trick.

 

[Joe13]

Take the wheels off and put it on jacks.

Put locking lug nuts on the rotors.

Chain it to the ground with a 1" concrete anchor.

Lots of stuff you can do. I've never had one stolen but I'm sure location is a lot of it.

 

[RX-79G]

Why not put them all in your car?

 

[slimmer13]

With WAs red flag laws, it wouldn't be too difficult to get the sheriff's office to store them for you or awhile.

 

[sobo]

I have personal property coverage but would anyone recommend purchasing firearms insurance? I used to have it through the NRA.

Regarding purchasing firearms insurance, I have checked out Collectibles Insurance Services.They seemed pretty legit, were easy to talk to, and were not the least bit high-pressure. I communicated with them entirely by email. I just haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. I might one day soon, though, when I move out of this communist hellhole to a much freer Idaho, where I'll be more rural and having it might seem to make more sense than my current abode and location. For now, most all of my 35± firearms fit into a 1,400 lb Dakota safe bolted to the concrete garage floor, I work from home and don't go many places for very long (since the botched operation, so I'm almost always home now), and so I haven't been as motivated to buy the insurance as I was a couple years ago.

CIS covers all guns (and ammo, knives, accessories, etc.) for:

• Accidental Breakage
• Burglary
• Fire
• Flood (except in Zones A & V, whatever those mean)
• Loss in the Mail
• Natural Disasters
• Theft
• Other causes of loss, unless specifically excluded from the policy (see exclusions)

Their rates seemed reasonable to me, given my collection. I did not give them a number of guns to insure, but just an estimated value of $30,000 for the collection, and my quote was about $285 per annum.

Remember insurance won't help you replace any "assault weapons" that get stolen.

The above-named company indicated to me that they would, indeed, pay out on any type of insured firearm. Granted, I was talking with them pre-HB 1240, so I don't know what the case is on semi-auto guns these days since I haven't talked with them since that POS law was rammed down our throats...

You can add an itemized rider on your current home owners insurance policy. That's typically safest in terms of the ins. company actually making good on any claim in the amounts agreed upon per item.

If insuring them though you want to inform and verify with the ins company that they approve of the storage situation and that it will not invalidate your coverage.

Indeed, many typical homeowner's insurance policies can be amended with a firearms rider, but that can become pretty expensive. My State Farm policy covers an aggregate of only $2,500, which isn't even enough to cover my Thompson SBR. When I discussed a firearms rider with State Farm, they wanted to assrape me to cover all 3+ dozen of them. That's what led me to CIS...

 

[Jcremer24]

With WAs red flag laws, it wouldn't be too difficult to get the sheriff's office to store them for you or awhile.

I saw a website for this even- all I could think is "IT'S A TRAP"

Renting something that works would be "my" reality. As I stated my guns go where I lay my head.

I know people that have done storage places, friends garages, and the likes with good results as others have suggested. Just not for me...

OH. My bad. I thought you were being smart with me on where I chose to live. HA! I get what you are saying

 

[User 1234]

When I said the insurer won't help you replace "assault weapons" I didn't mean they wouldn't pay out. I meant that you can't (legally) buy a replacement for the same make and model. Until he moves to Texas.