How do you anchor your safe?

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Tayne

Tayne

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I recently bought a new (to me) home and moved my gun safe to the basement. (Actually, I hired several younger and stronger men to move it, but that's not really important to this story.)
The safe claims to be waterproof up to about 18 inches of flooding, as long as it is properly bolted to the floor (at least in terms of the manufacturer's warranty). At my old house, I bolted it to the concrete floor using your standard expansion wedge anchor. This "works" in the sense that it makes it difficult to scoot the safe across the floor, but if someone successfully applied some crowbar leverage to knock over the safe, its weight would simply pull the wedges right out of their holes.
So my question is, what type of concrete anchor do you use to fasten your safe to the concrete floor in the basement?
 
The one I have on concrete I used some soft lead like Mollies. Just as having a safe, any safe, beats no safe, this is the same. No matter what you do of course someone could get it loose. At least you have a safe. To me the safe is just there to slow down the smash and grab dopers. If someone wants in who has tools they will not need to undo the safe. An alarm system is great too. They have gotten super simple and cheap and add one more layer of protection.
 
As someone who does concrete and uses those anchors......I sincerely doubt that anyone could pop one out of the concrete with a crowbar. Most are rated above 10k pounds from what I remember.

If your safe weighs 10k pounds, no one is moving it with a crow bar anyway.
 
Antihero said:
As someone who does concrete and uses those anchors......I sincerely doubt that anyone could pop one out of the concrete with a crowbar. Most are rated above 10k pounds from what I remember.
Click to expand...

Antihero.....Can you please advise exactly what type/mfr/model/specs of anchor you are referring to? I plan on getting a new safe soon and also want to bolt it down onto a concrete floor. Many thanks.
 
I’m moving in 2 weeks. It will be the 5th home I have had my safe in since I bought it 18 years ago. In concrete, I had found some stainless steel wedges that grab well enough that you break the slab before you pull the fastener. You drill through the slab, drive the anchor all the way through and then as you tighten the bolt to pull pressure on the anchor it opens up below the slab with wings that are attached to the nut. I don’t recall the manufacturer or what they are called, but I need to buy some for the move. If I find what I used before I will post a link.
 
Thanks everyone. So what I'm reading is the wedges work fine so long as they are long enough to get all the way through the slab. Appreciate the help.

And yeah, Alex, I agree. The safe is not going to stop a determined, sophisticated safecracker, but it will slow down a thief long enough to make it not worthwhile. As my dad used to say, "a lock only keeps an honest man out."
 
Sadly, not all concrete is the same.
Many basements have only a "rat slab" of 2-3" thickness, and often without rebar (or with useless wire mesh).
The push-though anchors are best for thin & skinny slabs.
Followed by epoxying all-thread into bored holes.
If there's 4-6" of poured, reinforced concrete, then the wedge compression anchors will work--but, you need to be careful to not punch through the slab when drilling. The wedge/cam anchors work best at 3/4 of slab thickness, as that maximizes their hold versos the huge compression strength of concrete.
 
To each his own but I never bolt one. The weight of the safe plus it's contents make it heavy. A thief is not going to take the time to try and wheel it out of the house. A cordless 4.5 inch cutoff wheel is much faster if they want what is in it. Good insurance, alarm and cameras...
 
How about Tapcons?

tapcon-masonry-concrete-anchors-24192-77_600.jpg

The Tapcon Advantage

• Secure attachment to concrete, block and brick
• One piece design requires no assembly and speeds up installation
• Does not require anchor torque-down
• Easy to remove by simply unscrewing the anchor
• Reduced installation torque
• Close-to-edge placement
Click to expand...

1/2" 3" 7,415 lbs. - equal to wedge - 22% higher than sleeve (pullout strength)
Click to expand...

1/2" 3" 11,960 lbs. - 53% higher than wedge - 89% higher than sleeve (shear strength)
Click to expand...

https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/ba/baf1311b-5c3b-4a11-afb3-93902e523700.pdf
 
I use tapcons and fender washers for mine. All homes in Florida where I live are on steel reinforced poured concrete slabs.

I highly recommend you lay down a rubber horse stall mat first. Then lay your safe on top of that and cut off the excess. It will create a barrier between the concrete floor and the steel of the safe.

Dan
 
JDeere said:
To each his own but I never bolt one. The weight of the safe plus it's contents make it heavy. A thief is not going to take the time to try and wheel it out of the house. A cordless 4.5 inch cutoff wheel is much faster if they want what is in it. Good insurance, alarm and cameras...
Click to expand...

Have you seen the videos where they tip safes on their back so they have more leverage to pry open doors? Yeah, some criminals these days might have "invested" in cordless tools but I'm still bolting mine down just in case. I know for a fact I could tip over my 900lb safe by myself.

OP, like others have said you aren't going to pull out those wedge anchors, especially if you using something in the 3/8-5/8" size. Large tapcons would work as well but with them drilling the hole correctly is more critical.
 
bassjam said:
Have you seen the videos where they tip safes on their back so they have more leverage to pry open doors? Yeah, some criminals these days might have "invested" in cordless tools but I'm still bolting mine down just in case. I know for a fact I could tip over my 900lb safe by myself.
Click to expand...

Like I said it's your safe so do what you like. Seems to me that being bolted down would help with that leverage standing up as well. Just a thought...
 
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