[Topgun]

I have always thought ..... outer wall.....farthest possible from kitchen or garage.....at least 4" space between wall.

Is this right? Any firemen out there? Just seems that the middle of house would get hottest for longest.

????????????

:confused:

[MessedUpMike]

Directly in range of the sprinkler system. Residential fire sprinklers get more grief than they deserve and no where near the credit. Went on an apartment fire on night for a young lady who had a firebomb thrown in here bed while she was in it. The sprinklers put the fire out before she got burnt. Unless your prone to cooking or smoking in bed your bedroom should be fire. The hottest part of the fire isn't the middle of the house so much as the middle of the fire. Why 4" form the wall space?

[Mark Tyson]

I've always been more focused on securing them from criminals. Let insurance take care of ruined items by fire.

[Topgun]

The 4" from wall is because an outer wall will "sweat" moisture into anything touching it. The safe can fill up with rust and the wall will mildew without air space. A safe can touch any inner wall.

ALSO.............safes should always be put on a 3/4" square piece of plywood if they are sitting on a concrete slab floor. Even if there is carpet between the floor and the safe.

I have seen many many safes with rotted out bottoms that looked perfectly fine from outward appearance. Tip safe, fish out guns. They WILL rot a hole completely through. I bought my Browning safe used and there was an amazing amount of rust on the bottom. It now sits on WOOD.

And the rug will often begin to rot ...........and spread.........from the safe outward.

[Bob F.]

Good tips there! Last house I owned, was building in a closet, the length of one wall, about 10' and 30" deep as I recall. One end was outside wall. On the other end, inside closet I doubled the sheetrock, set cheap Wally World safe, Homak maybe, and set a couple extra pieces of sheetrock on top. 3" lagbolts x4 into floor and 2 into upper wall studs. Built end of closet to be removable but looked like regular wall w/ false shelf brace and all.

The extra sheetrock was for fire resistance. Never finished the inside of the door face, little single shot 20ga (loaded w/ #4 buck) rested there, along w/Kbar.

Don't have any really valuable guns, but nothing I'd want stolen. Big business here. Also several belonged to my son's Grandpa, so insurance could never replace them.

Consider the weight of your safe-full, when picking a location.

[Mike Irwin]

I've been told that the best, and coolest, space for a safe during a fire is in the corner at the junction of two masonry walls.

That way two sides are protected, and the corner is a natural "dead space" that stays cooler due to the natural flow dynamics of the fire.

[280PLUS]

so i chose the basement in the hopes that if there were a fire, the safe would not be exposed to the most extreme temperatures of the fire

plus i cover it with a blanket so it looks like a piece of stored furniture

AND its right next to the bench where i clean the contents,,,

best of all worlds, for me anyhow,,,

BTW,,,i like mikes suggestion of placing it in the corner of2 masonry walls,,,

makes sense...

:)

its also nice to know i had a reason for leaving it on its shipping pallet, other than i was a lazy:cuss:

:D

[Black92LX]

the more concrete that surrounds it the better.

[444]

I am certainly no expert on the subject, but I would put it on the ground floor or basement. If the building is fully involved in fire, the safe will go through the floor, possibly injuring or killing someone. The lowest portion of the building would also be the coolest. I would keep it as far as possible away from the building's fireload (keep other stuff away from it).

I have seen a number of gun safes that were in burning buildings. They looked to me like they probably protected their contents, although I didn't get to see inside them.