Safe in garage

You probably should know the humidity and temp levels in your safe. You can get a dual zone thermometer pretty cheap. (under $30). That will let you compare temp and humidity in the safe and the surrounding garage. Then run your dehumidifier accordingly.

I was surprised to learn, however, that museums keep wood items in a relatively high humidity state, around 60% if I recall correctly, to prevent the wood from drying and cracking. Unfortunately, that doesn't bode well for the blued metal in a gun.

The de-humidifier (keeping the air inside the safe 'dry' will certainly aid or maybe prevent rusting. Most common problem is surface rusting, which is annoying enough. And yes, a really heavy safe (i.e. an 800 pounder with guns in it would probably stress the flooring.

Solving the temperature and humidity problem is one thing. Keeping it “safe” from burglary may be the more difficult issue.

If you keep ot garage please consider two things.....

1. Bolt the safe to floor of building, if the safe can't be flipped on its back it stands a better chance not being pryes open.

2. Do not keep tools which could be used to open said safe in same area. No torch sets, grinders, pry bars, drill. ( make the miserable son of a gun work his tallywhacker into the dirt to get your stuff)

Rust is the last thing I would think about, g r t a NY of the dehumidifier designed for a gun safe and run it.

Othere than that get the guns out and clean the more frequently.

I think it'd be just fine in the house without any extra support.

I have done it in areas with high humidity and cold winters (sandhills of NC) and had no issues- I also put a nice coat of motor oil on all metal surfaces with a small paint brush.

I’d strongly suggest getting 3 or 4 Damp Rid containers. I’ve got 4 in my safe and I can’t believe how much water pull out of the air. Like a pint every month or two

I would look at reinforcing the floor in the house if possible.

Yes, I would put a Golden Rod in it to help with the humidity. Also, some sort of alarm you can set in the garage if possible. Both rust and security of it would worry me if I had to go that way.

JTHunter said:

'bro - if you have access to the crawl space, have you considered additional bracing for the floor? I'm not sure what you mean by "TJI joists" but, if you can, start by putting some 2 x ? crosswise between them to keep them from shifting horizontally. Then, using a 12 ton bottle jack, jack up the floor joists no more than 0.5"-1" just inside the outline of your safe. Put either a steel "lally post" or a pier of concrete blocks under that corner. Do this to all 4 corners to reinforce your floor. Unfortunately, this won't work if your crawl space floor is dirt or gravel as they will just sink and you will need to add a concrete footing. You can use either square or round "patio blocks" that are 2" thick (use 2 per support !!) if you are on soft ground. Or you can dig out a 12" square, 4" deep, and mix concrete in your crawl space for each of 4 footings.

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Yep. When I put my safe in it weighed about 900 if memory serves. I crawled underneath and and added a couples blocks.

That’s my vote for the best fix. Just add a little support to the floor, cheap and not really that hard to do.

If you put it in the garage make sure it’s bolted into the concrete. It’s not hard to wrap a chain around it and pull it clean out of the house with a truck. Extreme, I know, but it’s been done.

When I lived in Raleigh NC I had two Liberty safes in my garage. Each had a Golden Rod. Garage was also my work shop so I had AC/ heater window unit from Lowe’s. Never had a problem. Side note about the bolts used to bolt them to the floor. Those things are tough! When it came time to move I asked my neighbor, a handyman by trade, to cut them down flush to the floor for the new homeowners. He about wore out his grinder doing it

Frank Ettin said:

Whatever you do, be sure to bolt the safe to the floor. If two guys with a dolly delivered it, two guys with a dolly can take it away.

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I agree that bolting to the floor is a good idea. Do you then ruin or weld the bolt heads so they don’t just get unbolted?

I've kept firearms in a hot and humid environment near the Gulf Coast for years without issue. No A/C or dehumidifier. I use silicone spray to wipe them down prior to putting them away.

FL-NC said:

I have done it in areas with high humidity and cold winters (sandhills of NC) and had no issues- I also put a nice coat of motor oil on all metal surfaces with a small paint brush.

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A garage is generally not considered a good place for a safe. Garage doors are not usually very strong and allow easy access. Then you have the temperature swings.

If you have to place it there I would bolt it down and use some type of method for dealing with humidity. Try to place it where its not visible from the street. Maybe even cover it up with a box or tarp. And don't leave any tools in the garage that the thieves can use. Maybe even have a camera in the garage and consider an alarm.

I would much rather add some extra support under the floor and have it in the house.

TJI is a manufactured wooden "I beam," It has solid wood top & bottom "flanges" with a dado to receive a glue-lam "web" between the flanges.

They are an efficient (and "green") method for framing houses. They span long distances economically.

Unlike traditional solid lumber joists, they do want some planning before just scabbing in additional framing.

Now, for OP, TJI are typically sized to fit the span, so, they often are over-built (without the size, the spacing, and the span, that's hard to know). So, a "mere" 800# safe might not be an issue. Spotting the safe near exterior walls will improve the support, too.

Now, where crawling under the house might be to advantage, would be to double-up the subfloor. Fitting some 3/4" plywood glued & screwed to the bottom of the existing floor would give more "meat" to allow bolting the safe down.

Using the garage does invite some questions about climate, as noted above. Dehumidifying rods do not much help above 70-80° especially at high humidity levels. Those rods (which are very much like aquarium heaters) are not going to help much below 40° either. Garage "slabs" will want careful examining, too. A test hole drilled near the proposed safe location to determine the actual thickness of the slab is something I always recommend (6" expansion bolt is going to be middling useless in 3.5" of concrete).

Have had one in my shop for years close to the Gulf Coast with no issues and no rust. Above 100 in the Summer and sometimes cold in the winter. A proper size Golden Rod is all that is needed to keep the temp above dew point. Exactly why arms rooms and ammo bunkers burned light bulbs in them 24/7.

Use this on the pretty blue guns you don’t take out often:

https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...revention/rust-preventive-no-2--prod1124.aspx

Gun safes are flat bottomed , so they are good at spreading weight around evenly. 8 or 9 hundred lbs. spread over 5 to 8 square feet really isn't that much stress . Less than a lot of things that concentrate weight on a few square inches of feet they rest on . If it bothers you , you could get a couple of 2x6 studs from a lumber store and brace it up from underneath the floor. I would much rather keep it in the house than in the garage .

Also floors are strongest nearer to the edges . I used to move pianos , gun safes and other large furniture items , and we always made sure to put them along exterior walls unless they had cement slab floors , or at least strongly urge them to .

I would put it in the house after crawling under the floor and adding bolsters to stabilize the floor. Put them on a large base and make them tight so they can't sink. Then you won't have to worry about the extreme temperature or chances of thieves sneaking it out of your garage. More work but worth it to me.

I have had my safes in the garage for over 15 years with no issues. The temperature can change 70+ degrees throughout the year. But it is the shorter term temp changes that can cause the most condensation. Opening and closing the safe often can lead to more condensation according to an engineer I was talking to as that can lead to temp changes in the safe quickly. I use a golden rod along with canisters that I can recharge in a few hours. I have a hygrometer as well as a thermometer in my safe.