Beefing up closet door where my gun safe is stored. Need suggestions

[DustyGmt]

So up until now my safe was in a really bad, inaccessible spot. It just sort of got buried in the closet and was hard to access, which meant guns didn't always find their way back into the safe and it drove me nuts. Now all my stuff is basically secure, inside a safe inside a closet with a door. What I'm looking for, is a nice lock or bracket that is able to be padlocks or otherwise key controlled, and relatively beefy. All the guns are secured but there is other stuff in the closet I'd like to prevent easy access to, I only have so much room in the safe so the closet is going to have to do for now.

I'm envisioning a bracket with a metal bar going across resting into the brackets and maybe rigging a way to lock the cross bar in place so it can't be lifted up out of place without a key. It's an outswing door, just looking for a way to secure the door and turn the closet into a "vault", or as much as it can be a vault. Just want any would be dirtbags to have a hard time getting in and prevent easy access should the day ever come somebody is nosing around where they shouldn't be.

Any suggestions, links, pictures or anything like that would be much appreciated. I'm looking online and not really seeing anything that's too exciting. I also want it to be somewhat accessible to me should I need to get in there in a hurry, don't want to have to unlock a sequence of 7 padlocks to get in, but 1 or 2 wouldn't be out of the question. I also don't want the locks to have exposed screws that could defeat the whole purpose of the lock in about 30 seconds with a screwdriver. Although I could always use threaded rod bolts in place of screws and have them fastened on the opposite side of the door if you follow.

 

[PWC]

Replace hollow core/rail and stile door with an exterior matal door with a deadbolt.

 

[George P]

Or something like a Browning safe door made for a closet opening like a vault door.

Do you really have that high of a crime rate in Vermont? Maybe a nice dog would work better

 

[Don_P]

Does the closet have sheetrock walls?

 

[DustyGmt]

Or something like a Browning safe door made for a closet opening like a vault door.

Do you really have that high of a crime rate in Vermont? Maybe a nice dog would work better

It's very low violent crime but break ins happen very regularly in town, I know quite a few thieves who wall the streets to this day and have been in trouble countless times for B&E and never seem to get hit with any real jail time. They will be gone for about a month or two and right back on the street. It's frustrating. I am quite paranoid about it because it happens regularly in my area.

 

[DustyGmt]

Also I should have mentioned in my OP I'm not looking to buy an expensive vault door or anything like that, just a lil added hassle to open the closet door. $100 and under would be my budget for this endeavor.

 

[DustyGmt]

That and unfortunately my sister was dating a real scumbag, he portrayed himself this upstanding hardworking guy, said he had struggled with substance abuse in the past but was sober for a "long" time. It didn't take long to find out a "long" time for him was about a few months give or take and he fell off the wagon and went around ripping people off left and right, robbing people at gunpoint, booting doors in and robbing/ransacking houses.

Most unfortunate is the fact that he got to know in passing from sis that I'm a lil bit of a gun "nut". I only spoke with him a couple times and didn't get a good vibe from him so we never had any range days or show and tells at my house, I actually got a bad enough vibe from him that when my sister came by with him for a visit one day I made it pretty awkward and didn't invite them in and stood awkwardly in the driveway because I had a hairy eyeball on him.

He knows where I live, knows there are valuables in the home and him and my sister are splitsville. I consider it a real possibility he could try to hit my house one day if he was desperate enough. He has no fear of police and jail because he never gets jail time, life is a game for this cockroach.

 

[P89DCSS]

Ring security cameras and exterior metal door replacing your closet door and exterior doors. Good dead bolts that can't be bumped.

 

[ejfalvo]

Our house, for some reason has 2 upstairs hall closets - one a walk in, the other a 'linen closet". I replaced the linen closet door with a matching exterior door and hardware as well as added a deadbolt. Unless you're really looking, it appears like any other door in the house.

 

[DeepSouth]

For $100 I don’t think you can even buy a metal exterior door.

So the best I’d think you could do with that small of a budget is a normal external metal door with three dead bolts. Similar to how a tornado door is set up. Still be over $100, but president not to terrible much.

A tornado door would be another option, cheaper than a safe door but still pricy.

 

[DustyGmt]

For $100 I don’t think you can even buy a metal exterior door.

So the best I’d think you could do with that small of a budget is a normal external metal door with three dead bolts. Similar to how a tornado door is set up. Still be over $100, but president not to terrible much.

A tornado door would be another option, cheaper than a safe door but still pricy.

Maybe my post wasn't as clear as it could have been. $100 or less is meant to be used for an external locking mechanism of some sort. Like some sort of bracket/bar or beefy lock that can't be pried off or unscrewed easily. I can picture it in my head but can't seem to find it or know what to call it in a search

 

[unclenunzie]

A long time ago before I could get a safe I secured a bedroom closed with a heavy hasp and padlock. You'd want to replace the hinges on your door to a type that does not have simple knock out pins. I know you're wanting something like a bar the door type solution but I got nothing for the average closet door like that. Maybe you could grind a piece of angle iron to fit.

 

[horsemen61]

Ttrl

 

[Don_P]

My point was, why beef up or install a steel security door, or deadbolts, or whatever when all you would have to do is kick a hole through the sheetrock and reach in.

Never mind, re-read where you are being more diligent about putting the guns inside the safe not just in the closet.

Most burglars want in and out as quickly as possible. If it's a decent safe you have the advantage.

 

[AK Hunter]

No closet will take the place of a safe or metal gun cabinet. Closets have hinges on the outside so you can just pop the pins out & the door is open. If the thief is not that smart & forces it open the closet doesn't have the heavy screws going into the wall studs like an entry door so it will be easy to open.
If you are going to use a closet for gun storage it would be best to make a cage inside the closet then put a 2nd door on it that has to be opened after opening the first door. Just remember that locks are only to keep the honest people, honest. A thief with enough time can get into anything.

 

[Bazoo]

Hasp is the thing that you add to a door to padlock it.

You could take some 1/2" plywood and attach it on the inside of the door so it can't be kicked in as easy.

Replace the hinges with ones that can't be disassembled.

Another thing you could do, would be screw the door to the frame with a 3" screw in the corners on the knob side. Course that might not be convenient for you. If you pre drilled the holes and and countersunk them, they would be less noticeable.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Make sure to beef up the walls around it accordingly. Sheetrock is pretty easy to breach.

 

[DustyGmt]

I'm considering a few metal L brackets and a piece of unistrap across and padlocks. It's actually not sheetrock either, it's some kind of ply wood, heavy particle board type stuff. I would reinforce the other side with a couple sections of thin steel plate and run threaded rods through so it can't just be ripped off the wall.

 

[DustyGmt]

Just basically want one more level of complication should somebody try to get in there. Thinking about putting a eye bolt into the floor and running cable through all of my ammo can handles as well. Just to complicqte things for a would be theif. It might be a lil ramshackle but it's just temporary til I engineer a better solution.

 

[CapnMac]

Well, $100 is a lean budget.
Assuming you have a solid door (not merely solid core, but a solid door--which are not cheap right now) easy answer is a long-throw deadbolt (or two). Now, those are like to be $75-80 each.
That also presumes you get some long screws and set the frame of the existing door solidly to the wall (#6 x 3.5" wood screws at 15-18" on center, and one each per hinge plate*).

Now, you go to the Farm & Ranch store and they (ought to have) barn brackets designed to take a crossbar of some sort. They may even have a matching crossbar., which will have a hasp for a lock. You are looking at $100-200, though. And, more importantly, it will scream "Break In Here!"

The commercial door people do make an external long-bolt that can be applied to a door. But, those are spendy--$100 to 200, and you have to find a way to have a reinforced socket top & bottom for the bolts to engage in. Upside being that all anyone would see would be the knob on the outside.

_______________________
*Typical closet door is framed with only a jack and a king stud, so, there's probably only 3" of lumber at either jamb to sink screws into, the door frame will be perhaps 7/16" with a 1/4" shim space, so a 3 1/2" screw ought not punch through the king stud. For the strike plate, you may have to use a skinnier shank, a #8 or #10 to fit through the screwholes to reach into the jamb.

 

[PWC]

Safety hinges have the center screw replaced with a screw in pin about a 1/2" long that requites removing the hinge opposing screw and a 1/2" hole. When the door is closed the door can not be removed with the hinge pins out.

 

[DeepSouth]

Maybe my post wasn't as clear as it could have been. $100 or less is meant to be used for an external locking mechanism of some sort. Like some sort of bracket/bar or beefy lock that can't be pried off or unscrewed easily. I can picture it in my head but can't seem to find it or know what to call it in a search

My bad, reread what said and that makes total sense now. I frequently read faster than I process, And I read fairly slow.

 

[CapnMac]

Safety hinges

Which are an excellent suggestion.
What is entirely likely is that a closet door is only a 1 3/8" door, and the frame will have stops to accommodate that dimension.
And I completely zoned over that door thickness issue in recommending a solid door, which is likely going to have to be a 1 3/4" door to be solid (and the minimum the safety hinges typically mount to). I did have enough coffee in me to not put having to re-rabbet the hinge insets on his doors on him as well.

But, given the cost of a door, your suggestion for the safety hinges is an excellent one, even for having to rehang the door. All of this is going to blow OP's c-note budget, though. Couple hundred for a new door and a bill and a half for hardware, and the day or so rebuilding the door frame--spendy stuff.

 

[P89DCSS]

Steel security exterior doors from Lowes start at $90. I have an older house, it'll take lots of time and effort to kick through my interior walls. And by then I'm seeing everything on my Ring security camera. Cops are on the way from my 911 call.

 

[Steve762us]

Safety hinges have the center screw replaced with a screw in pin about a 1/2" long that requites removing the hinge opposing screw and a 1/2" hole. When the door is closed the door can not be removed with the hinge pins out.

A cheap analog can be done with scaffold nails, on the existing closet hinges.
Actually, long regular nails would work too, but scaffold nails make it easier,
with the "second head".

Replace wimpy short hinge screws with 2 1/2" or 3", but leave one out on frame
side, and drive a scaffold nail in that hole. Cut head off nail leaving shank protruding.
On door side hinge leaf, leave screw out of hole that's opposite the scaffold nail shank.

You can add a few additional scaffold nails up and down the frame, and drill corresponding
holes in edge of door.

Additional options:
Replace door knob with a deadbolt. Change strike plate in frame, and use 2 1/2" or
3" screws to reach wall studs.

Drive 2 1/2" or 3" screws thru the door stop (crs if that's the real name or not--the thin
strip of wood that prevents an outswing door from being pushed inward) to resist
kick-in. Go all the way around (both sides, top) anchoring stop to frame and frame
to wall studs.

Add ~1/2" plywood on inside of door. Use stud finder to locate the solid
wood frame members on door, and drive full-length screws into door framing.

If concerned about kick-through of drywall between studs, build a plywood shelf
along wall inside the closet and screw it to wall studs.