Thinking about building a secret gun closet.

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Lex Luthier

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Just wondering how you fellows with small houses and lots of toys do it.

I have had the good fortune to collect enough toys that the small safe is full and I am trying to find creative solutions for ammo storage. We try to not let our hobby's acoutrement within the boundaries of our studio doors. There are no kids to worry about, so it could be located almost anywhere in our story and a half bungalow. We entertain frequently, so our more sensitive artistic friends needn't catch on.

Am thinking: floor joist bays, false closet walls, under/ inside furniture etc.
 
Build a box/cabinet the same size as a box spring on your spare bed. You could even cover it with fabric like a box spring has to camo it. Use it under the mattress instead the box spring.
 
Your chances of having a fire are about as good as the chances of a break in. Get a safe if you can afford it and build it into the back of the closet where no thief will find it.
 
A safe is a good investment. If you can cut out a space in a closet wall to park it, you might just be set.
 
Build a box/cabinet the same size as a box spring on your spare bed. You could even cover it with fabric like a box spring has to camo it. Use it under the mattress instead the box spring.
Like the BedBunker but less expensive.

OP - if you want a concealed compartment/closet/whatever, go for it.
 
False wall, and make sure you SPECIFY in your will where things are hidden.

Don't want your collection going to some Remodeler 80 years after it's been forgotten, do you?
 
The best safe is the one nobody can see. Put it in a recess in the wall behind the refrigirator or somewhere a thief will not look. No hiding place will do you any good in a fire. You need a safe and the safe needs to be out of sight where service people will not see it.
 
Personally, I'm not too concerned with fire. My homeowner's insurance covers guns as personal property for fire loss. The only limit is for theft. I can see the reason to want to hide guns if you don't have space for a safe.
 
dead-spaces behind doors are Awesome places for false walls, hang an old bath-robe on the back of door, they wont look twice ;)
 
I have a 38 inch dead space between two rooms and there is enough room for 3 safes side by side. Behind bead board walls with strategically placed "hooks" to use to remove the tight fitting panels. Even if I told you there was a safe in the house, without first smashing the walls you probably could not find any one of them.:neener:
 
First I whole heartily disagree that chances of you having a fire are about as good as you having a break in.
I know many people living here in Houston as well as other large cities that have had their home burglarized one,two,or like me three times.
I only know of a couple of instances of a home fire of someone I have known through out my entire life.
As far as having a discreet place to secure things can be a little tuff in a small house but with enough good thought is still doable.
All that being said my experiences with three home break ins is every closet,cabinet,drawer,mattress and seat cushion was gone through or over turned.
So it's going to be hard to mask an area large enough to store a collection of guns,ammo,optics,and other goods in a small home.
My suggestion is to buy a quality gun safe with a strong door and body and place it bolted down in a strategic strong point location.
That's what I did.
Good luck and let us know what you finally decide.
 
Dnaltrop:

80 years before a remodeler sees something? Not down here. Maybe 80 years was not meant to be literal, or your building codes are much better.

You should see the flimsy homes built in the last few years around Memphis (by the best builders).
This is my first (new home).

Despite the need to make homes affordable, these will have parts rotting or coming loose in far less than even 20 years.
 
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I'm thinking about storing some stuff in an old freezer. I've also thought about getting a junk water heater and "plumbing" it so it looks just like any other water heater. Unless someone knows stuff is in them, I can't imagine a thief knocking boxes off an old deep freeze to see what is in it, or seriously checking to see if a water heater is the real deal or not. I figure a cheap gun cabinet with a sacrifice gun or two in it should help too.

First I whole heartily disagree that chances of you having a fire are about as good as you having a break in.
I know many people living here in Houston as well as other large cities that have had their home burglarized one,two,or like me three times.

Funny, because I have had a fire in my house when I was a kid growing up, but know no one that has been burgled. Guess that stat greatly depends on your area.
 
Tim one of the persons I personally know whose home was burglarized in 2008 not only had most of her clothing stolen but they also went into the garage where her Kenmore freezer was placed and stole all the meat out of it.
Once you get out of Iowa and into the modern big cities of todays new America you will see clearly what I speak of here.
 
Where I live, (forest) fire is much more likely than theft, however, that does not mean you cannot "fireproof" you storage area as well as any safe. I also live in a smaller 1 1/2 story "cabin" It's only 1800 square feet.

My first idea would be a waterbed frame for your spare bed...Make the bed a tip-up like in a motorhome. Line with steel and concrete based waterproof fireboard (like gyprock, except most if the gypson is replaced with concrete, normally used in a bathroom). Make sure you put enough gel in it to absorb the moisture or you will just rust whatever you have stored.

The second place would be under the stairs to the second floor. In my house this area is a closet. The back part could easily be converted to a fire safe for weapons the same way as with your water bed frame. If you use the back of the understair closet, make sure it looks finished (the "door" should look like finished wall.)

If you have a basement and do not have water problems, that would also work. If you don't have a basement you could build into the floor and use a trapdoor (unless you are old like me)
 
Tim one of the persons I personally know whose home was burglarized in 2008 not only had most of her clothing stolen but they also went into the garage where her Kenmore freezer was placed and stole all the meat out of it.
Once you get out of Iowa and into the modern big cities of todays new America you will see clearly what I speak of here.

Bummer to get your meat stolen. That sure sucks.

I'm pretty sure I'll never live in a "big city". If I do, I'll make sure to see if burglaries in my new town match up with burglaries that my wife experienced in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and in Manhattan - which was zero in more than a decade of living there. We actually have an apartment in Brooklyn that we sublet out to a friend. No burglaries since she has been there, or to the woman that lived there before her. I'll be looking forward to this experience in more modern big cities, should I ever live in one.
 
When I finished the interior of a house once, there was a useless area that went behind the stairs. There were no utilities and so there was no reason to access the area. Rather than just putting an access door to the dead space for storage or whatever, we came up with a great idea. We decided to make a "closet" out of the entrance. On the back wall of the closet (sheetrock) I installed a magnet to keep the wall in place. It was a strong magnet so you had to really push on the rear wall to get it to open into a relitively large secret area. Because I obviously couldn't tape and mud the seams of the rear wall, I just used some window casing to trim out the entire closet. When I finally build my own home, I will definitely use this experience to my advantage. If you saw it, you would do the same.
 
How about a fake metal or metal clad utility box, with warning stickers indicating fiber optic lines (nothing valuable) or high voltage (dangerous).
Add some "tamper tags" and a sturdy padlock to complete the illusion.
 
Your chances of a breakin are MUCH greater than a fire. I've been in the security business for 15 years and have put in roughly 1000 security systems per year. Of those , roughly half of them got the security system because they were broken into. Of the 15000 that I've put in personally I've only had to put in a new one or replace parts due to a fire a grand total of 3 times. My house has burned to the ground years ago and I barely made it out as I was asleep in bed with a bad headache and the fire started on the other end of the house. It was started by a 13 year old kid that later said he did it bc he wanted to see the fire trucks. Anyway, I know firsthand what it is like but it just isn't as likely as a breakin.
 
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