Installing a Safe

[jack010203]

I am very close to getting a gun safe, and I am curious about the anchoring of the safe to the concrete foundation. I will have it lag bolted to some studs in the wall, but I have never dealt with drilling through concrete.

Is this some thing one person can do on there own?
I have carpet in the area that it will be installed, do I just drill through the carpet, or do I remove it, or do I just remove the sections for the bolts?
Anything else I should watch out for while drilling through the foundation?

Thanks

[Sidro]

I reccomend putting a piece of 3/4" plywood under your safe if it is going to sit on carpet. Cut it about 1" larger than your safe. If your safe is large enough and heavy enough to not need lag bolts to secure it this gives it a more stable platform. Neither of mine are bolted but they weigh 750 empty. Friend has the same safe and did not want to put it on plywood, when he opened the door the first time its weight caused the safe to tip forward fortunately the door hit the floor and stopped it from tipping over. Could be a little of uneven flooring but as soon as we put plywood under it problem was solved.

[PappaGun]

It's really not difficult.

You will need to rent a hammer drill and bit. If you do this at a Home Depot, you can also buy the anchors if they don't come with the safe.

You're not drilling the foundation. The foundation is the perimeter of your house and is what holds the weight of the walls and the transferred weight of the roof.

It sounds like you have a concrete slab for a floor. It would be best if you remove a section of carpet for a more firm base.

All you really need to make sure of is that you don't have any water pipes below the area you are drilling. You probably wouldn't be drilling that deep, but I have known people who accidentally hit one during other types of work.

Good Luck!

[troglodyte]

If your safe is large enough and heavy enough to not need lag bolts to secure it this gives it a more stable platform. Neither of mine are bolted but they weigh 750 empty.

I'm not meaning to sound confrontational.

One of my boys and I could probably get your safe outside and loaded in the pickup in 15 min. (assuming no stairs and I know I'm going after your safe). I'm no hulk nor a thief but I do remember how the Egyptians moved the stones for the pyramids. Used the same process to move my safe into the house and set it...in less than 15 min. Took me longer to uncrate it. And it saved me the delivery charge.

Secure it to the floor.

[Salty1]

I second the plywood, what I would do is place the plywood where you want it to be, then place the safe on it and mark the holes then drill them through the plywood (you may want to stain and urathane it for a custom finished look. Place it back on the carpet and mark the holes then cut an X at each spot, this will stop the drill bit from tearing apart the carpet, then drill the holes into the foundation and insert the anchors. Depending on the lag screw length typically it will be no more than 3 inches and any water pipes should be below that. If your in the Flower Mound area I have a hammer drill you can borrow.

[ske1eter]

I am very close to getting a gun safe, and I am curious about the anchoring of the safe to the concrete foundation. I will have it lag bolted to some studs in the wall, but I have never dealt with drilling through concrete.

Is this some thing one person can do on there own?
I have carpet in the area that it will be installed, do I just drill through the carpet, or do I remove it, or do I just remove the sections for the bolts?
Anything else I should watch out for while drilling through the foundation?

Thanks

I didn't do it myself but watched the guys who delivered and installed my safe do it. So long as the carpet wasn't Berber(sp?), it would get a run in it from the drill, they just drilled right through the carpet into the foundation. Then they put in expanding bolts and were done. Looked pretty straight forward. After I watched how easy it was for those two guys to move a 600+ lb. safe, there was no doubt it needed to be bolted down.

[markthenewf]

I've done it both ways: did it myself for a small safe and let someone else do it for the big gun safe. It's pretty simple. Use the plywood trick as noted above. Drilling into concrete with a hammer drill was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be. Took longer to line up the holes in the safe bottom than it did to actually make the holes!

One thing: go back and give your bolts a little snug up turn every 60 days or so. As the carpet and underlay compress it'll loosen the connection a bit. After a couple of those tightening sessions you're good forever.

[Stupid]

I asked the very same question before and the very kind XDgal gave me a lot of tips. So i'll share my part of stupid experience. Please note that I am not very handy and this was my first time.

Safety:
1. Wear steel toe boots - unless you think your toes are worthless.
2. Get some good gloves
3. Good eye protection - goggles
4. hearing protection - that thing is LOUD. Yes, the headsets/mufflers you use at gun range would do.
5. Watch your legs and arms - when you put pressure on the drill, be careful not to bend the drill bit. You may break the drill bit and fall.
6. If you drill through carpet or wood, watch it so that it doesn't catch on fire


Tools and Gears:
1. Get a hammer drill!!! I tried to rent one but Home Depot wants too much money. I'll tell you, it takes a while to drill. So I ended up spending $80 and bought a top-of-the-line Bosch hammer till from ebay.

2. Ditch the lag screw and buy your own proper concrete anchors. Home Depot sells them and I bought the 1/2 inch ones.

3. Get a good masonry drill bit - again, I bought a Bosch from Home Depot for $12 (1/2 inch). I didn't go for the "diamond tip" one but I only had two holes to drill.

4. Vacuum and light at ready

Fun Part:
1. Cut the carpet out, if you can. Mine's about 1/2 wood floor. I was too lazy to cut the wood out.
2. Move the safe into its position and mark the spots from inside of the safe
3. Start drilling!!! I didn't not move my safe out of way. I just put my drill through the hole and started to drill from inside of my safe. My safe was very small but still gave me enough room to put enough pressure on the drill.
4. Take a break if you think the drill gets too hot
5. vacuum as you go

It took me 1.5 hours to drill 1.5 holes and another 30 minutes to finish another 1/4 hole, then I gave up.

Essentially you want to drill deep enough that in case you want to move the safe, you can just hammer the anchors down till it's flush to the floor. My anchors are 4 inches and I did 5 inches hole. In the process, as XDgal predicted, you would probably hit something really hard and the drill bit would stop advancing. Check the drill bit and see if there's any filing. If yes, you probably hit a rabar, you may want to try a different spot if your hole is not deep enough; if not, just keep on it and the hard piece will break.

On my first hole, the hard piece did break after about 15-20 minutes of trying, but on the second hole, I had to give up after about 1 hour, fearing that I might burn up my drill.

Either way it's a fun process and it helps if you can get the wife and kids out so that you have your house to yourself; otherwise the nagging/yelling would be worse than the drilling noise and harder to muffle or deal with.

[Keith]

Just a thought. I agree bolt it but as the you tube video shows on some safes and 2-4 ft pry bars they can get into safe in about 10 Minsk. If it's bolted down it makes it easier to pry. If it moves when they pry they lose all leverage. Depending on where you live most thieves want to get into safe not carry it out and bring attention to themselves . Both ideas have pos and Neg good luck.

[KD5NRH]

1. Get a hammer drill!!! I tried to rent one but Home Depot wants too much money. I'll tell you, it takes a while to drill. So I ended up spending $80 and bought a top-of-the-line Bosch hammer till from ebay.

2. Ditch the lag screw and buy your own proper concrete anchors. Home Depot sells them and I bought the 1/2 inch ones.

3. Get a good masonry drill bit - again, I bought a Bosch from Home Depot for $12 (1/2 inch). I didn't go for the "diamond tip" one but I only had two holes to drill.

If you have to make do with a non-hammer-drill, make sure you've got a good masonry bit, and also pick up a star drill in the appropriate size: you can use it to pop through the hard spots even more effectively than a typical hammer drill can, (4-5 solid hits should take care of most of the tough bits of aggregate, then go back to the rotary drilling) and the a normal drill will go through the rest of the concrete just fine if the bit is good.

[Stupid]

Just a thought. I agree bolt it but as the you tube video shows on some safes and 2-4 ft pry bars they can get into safe in about 10 Minsk. If it's bolted down it makes it easier to pry. If it moves when they pry they lose all leverage. Depending on where you live most thieves want to get into safe not carry it out and bring attention to themselves . Both ideas have pos and Neg good luck.

If not bolted down, they can tip the safe over, then put an enormous amount of force to pry it open, they can attack the typically weak sides by an axe or they can simply wheel it out on a dolly. The point is to bolt the safe down in a "confined space," a small closet, for example, where wielding an axe or long crawl-bar is impossible.

All you are doing is to add time to their attempt. Safe must not be the only layer of defense. You must couple it with a monitored security system that you actually use.

[mossytxn]

[soapbox]
DON'T JUST DRILL...ESPECIALLY IF YOU HIT A HARD SPOT!!!

It may not just be rebar you hit. Many homes are built with a post tensioned slab. The tendons you have a chance of hitting are streesed to around 30K psi. If you cut a tendon, it can quite literally go shooting out of the side of your house several hundred feet if the conditions are right.

Look for grout pockets around the side of your foundation along the perimeter. If you see them, do your self a favor and rent a metal detector to locate the tendons so you don't cut through one accidentally. Most post tensioned slabs in my area are only 4" so the tendons are only around 2" down.

Check before you drill.
[/soapbox]

[jack010203]

Thanks for all the help and tips guys. I had no idea there was so much involved, guess I will start looking into the hammer/rotary drills.

[jimlongley]

If your safe is large enough and heavy enough to not need lag bolts to secure it this gives it a more stable platform. Neither of mine are bolted but they weigh 750 empty.

I'm not meaning to sound confrontational.

One of my boys and I could probably get your safe outside and loaded in the pickup in 15 min. (assuming no stairs and I know I'm going after your safe). I'm no hulk nor a thief but I do remember how the Egyptians moved the stones for the pyramids. Used the same process to move my safe into the house and set it...in less than 15 min. Took me longer to uncrate it. And it saved me the delivery charge.

Secure it to the floor.

Also non-confrontational, but at my advanced age and poor physical condition I would be willing to bet I could get an unanchored safe out ALONE without too much trouble, weight is not a problem if you have the right tools.

[03Lightningrocks]

I watched two guys install my safe. It weighs 1200 lbs empty and they moved it around like it was no big deal. I am trying to remember exactly what they used but I believe it was a piano dolly, some golf balls and maybe a hand truck. Bolting one down does not make it any easier for someone to pry a door open. If the door on a safe can be pried open...it isn't a safe...it is a security container. I bet they were in and out of my home in less than 20 minutes...and that includes showing me how to use the combo lock. I strongly recommend it be bolted to the floor.