Suggestions for a safe room?

[notazombie]

I'm currently building a new house with a walkout basement. Most of the basement will be unfinished and have concrete on 3 sides. I've been considering doing a reinforced cinder block walled room in one corner to keep safes in as an added layer of security. I'd plan to use a door similar to this Maximum Duty Hollow Metal Doors, 14 Gauge Steel Door and conceal it behind shelves or boxes. I'd either coat the cinder block to match the concrete foundation walls or sheetrock all of it. Due to the irregular shape of the digout it wouldn't really look like an added room.

Suggestions? Thoughts about the ceiling for fire resistance or security?

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[The Heretic]

You can buy a safe door - requires reinforcement, expensive but another layer.

I would also consider lining the interior with steel, although that could get pretty expensive itself. There are kits for this. Depending on where you are, maybe consider structural reinforcements (e.g., beams) for earthquake resistance.

I am not a builder, but I seem to recall that some sheetrock is of a type that improves fire resistance, IIRC they actually use a kind of this inside safes.

I am thinking of doing the same thing. Another thing I considered is getting a 20 foot refer shipping container and putting safes/etc. inside that in my shop.

 

[HB of CJ]

A safe room as for valuables or firearms? I was not sure. What you can do is create a multiple use safe room. People and things. Do you live in storm country? How about quick nasty wildfires? Floods? Earthquakes? Radiological.? Nuke war? Tsunamis?

For some of this you would need to go 12 feet deeper with a minimum 8 foot packed dirt capped roof plus specific designs.

Be sure to provide a floor drain with pipes for flooding. Pipes break. Consider secure dedicated ventilation for people. Consider electrical outlets. How about a safely designed battery bank for providing ventilation for how many people for so many days?

A flush toilet? Heat? Air conditioning? Humidity control? More to protect than just guns? Just me. Respectfully.

 

[notazombie]

All good suggestions. Maybe I should clarify a couple things. I'm essentially thinking like a hidden closet with a locked door -- not really a panic room. The primary objective is to get the safes out of sight and maybe add a layer of fire resistance. Roughly 8'x8' would do it. I won't need to worry about flooding as the entire basement is above the downhill finished grade. It's being dug out of a steep hillside.


The worst case would be a wildfire coming through while I was out of town. Theft isn't a really big concern but better safe than sorry.

Was hoping maybe some of you guys had done something similar and had some tips.

 

[KKG]

I spent quite a bit of time in a Safe Room by another name called an Arms Room by the Army. A double door arrangement is Standard. Actually a room within a room. With a Dead Air Space in between which is designed to stop a fire from spreading and it also helps control temperature and humidity both of which are very important. You might want to check with a contractor. A room like that could easily be lined with Gun Racks and shelving for storage. I'm of the opinion that an oversized door would also be very useful. Depending on how many Safes you have and would be replaced with this "Arms Room" you could sell one or more and that would help cover the cost.

 

[Camelfilter]

Have done a short bit of thinking on a "safe room" for both people and "stuff".

If I were to actually build one, I'd do a bunch more thinking.

However you might give a look at ceramic tile. Double layered provides ballistic protection (limited, but superior to cement block by far).

Being ceramic tile, I would imagine it would provide heat/fire protection as well. Would need to do your own testing on it though to confirm such.

Lighter than steel, and for the steel to provide any ballistic protection it would need to be hardened steel (nit necessarily AR400 or AR500 hardness, but still hardened). So the tile would also be more cost effective.

Tile would also be something a Home handy person could do, vs having specialized installers/equipment etc.

 

[IronMonster]

I just got a TW200 after wanting one for years.... Cool little bikes.

My grandparents built a house in the early 50's and built a concrete room into the basement with a heavy steel door. I never really ask them about it but I suspect just going through WWII was the major reason why. They had a big book case that got moved in front of the door when they went out of town, the room primarily housed my granddads stamp and coin collection.

Anyway.... I would just have the room poured in concrete when you do the foundation. Block is weak comparatively and I suspect if you do it when you do the rest of the concrete work it will not add much to the cost. Pour a concrete slab with some rebar and pick points and set it on the room for a roof and frame around it and you will end up with a top notch ultra fire resistant bunker for small bucks.

 

[notazombie]

TWs are unstoppable.

 

[Argonaut]

TWs are unstoppable.

I'll talk to my contractor about pouring in place. I suspect it's not in the budget but can't hurt to ask. Haven't even gotten much past excavation yet and costs are getting out of hand.

I bought 8 TW 200's from Yosemite a few years ago. Great scooters. If they weren't so valuable I would have kept one. My brother is building a huge Mausoleum (house) near Mica south of Spokane he is pouring a steel reinforced room in the daylight basement that has excavated about 15 feet below grade. He decided while he has the concrete pump in there finishing the foundation it was easier to just form it up and pour it.

 

[IronMonster]

TWs are unstoppable.

I'll talk to my contractor about pouring in place. I suspect it's not in the budget but can't hurt to ask. Haven't even gotten much past excavation yet and costs are getting out of hand.

Forming it up and pouring it as part of the foundation I bet would cost less than doing it in cinder block after the fact.

 

[notazombie]

I'll find out.

 

[Argonaut]

TWs are unstoppable.

I'll talk to my contractor about pouring in place. I suspect it's not in the budget but can't hurt to ask. Haven't even gotten much past excavation yet and costs are getting out of hand.

My wife is a structural engineer, she designs over 200 houses every year. She told my brother he would have at least 40,000 in his foundation, he estimated 20,000. (He does a lot of the work on it himself) we were up there a couple of weeks ago. He is up to 50,000 (according to his wife) in the foundation and still counting. He tries to do way too much himself so is behind schedule probably 8 months. His wife told me he has 2 years to finish, then she is going to write a check..........it is always an adventure.

 

[notazombie]

Sounds like his budget is a bit bigger than mine.

 

[IronMonster]

My wife is a structural engineer, she designs over 200 houses every year. She told my brother he would have at least 40,000 in his foundation, he estimated 20,000. (He does a lot of the work on it himself) we were up there a couple of weeks ago. He is up to 50,000 (according to his wife) in the foundation and still counting. He tries to do way too much himself so is behind schedule probably 8 months. His wife told me he has 2 years to finish, then she is going to write a check..........it is always an adventure.

That sounds pretty typical.

I had a deal here a while back where I wanted to get rid of row of a dozen 100 foot tall old poplar trees. I had a guy come give me an estimate to get rid of them which came to $7000.... I thought that was nuts, so I rented an excavator and did it myself. It only took me a couple weeks and in the end I spent about $12,000 and had to do the work.

 

[Mark W.]

Pour the pocket as part of your foundation use a little extra rebar in it then for a cap have the contractor pour a 6" thick slab framed up on the floor with a sheet of visqueen under it have plenty of rebar or mesh in it also put a loop in the middle. You can then hoist it up and set it on top of the pocket just like they do with a tip up wall. Put a couple feet of flower bed over top of it and anchor your steel door in the frame. (you can even anchor the frame in the foundation pour.

Your not trying to keep out Hollywood master thieves just the local kids and meth heads. Maybe a real burglar 1 chance in 100.

 

[notazombie]

Concrete guys showed up a week early and unannounced this morning. We all had a chat. It's happening.

 

[Camelfilter]

Nice!