Drilling into concrete floor

[a1abdj]

I bolt down gun safes on a pretty regular basis. Some of the above advice is good, and some is a little overkill.

First thing I do is set the safe onto something that keeps it off the floor. If you're putting a safe on carpet in af inished room, that's probably good enough. On bare concrete, I use either 3/4" plywood or rubber stall mat (found at farm stores). This prevents moisture from building up beneath the safe.

After I have the safe sitting where I want it, I shim it to level. Once the safe is level, I check the door swing to make sure it's not hitting anything.

Now it's ready for bolting. I get inside the safe with my trusty Dewalt hammer drill. It's not a big hammer drill, but it's plenty to run 3/8" or 1/2" holes for gun safes. I predrill the wood or rubber with a regular bit in drill mode, then go for the concrete in hammer mode. I can drill a 4" deep 3/8" hole in around 10 seconds with this little drill.

Once the holes are in place, I drive down the sleeve anchors (someone posted a photo of one above), and snug up the bolts. The 3/8" anchors I use have over 1,000 pounds of pull force rating. Four of these bolts in a gun safe give you over 2 tons of pry resistance.

Safe is now installed. I double check how the door is swinging (it shouldn't swing open or closed on its own if level). If it's not, I adjust tension on the bolts to bring it back to level.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Just putting in my vote for the hammer drill. After hours of EXTREME frustration trying to drill anchor holes for a patio fence I learned I could rent a hammer drill for $20/day. What a God send!! Took all of 15 minutes for 16 holes.

 

[TX1911fan]

Someone in another post recommended putting the safe on a pallet and anchoring the bolts through the pallet to give a few inches of flood clearance. Sounded like a good idea to me.

 

[Kestrel]

a1abdj,

Are those anchors stronger than just lag bolts and lead anchors? How strong are those?

Thanks.

 

[a1abdj]

Someone in another post recommended putting the safe on a pallet and anchoring the bolts through the pallet to give a few inches of flood clearance. Sounded like a good idea to me.

That can be done, and you can get extra long anchors which will allow you to do it easily. The only problem, is that you now have room to get underneath the safe to lift it or pry on it. It will still slow somebody down, but not as much as it being flat on the floor.

If you're going to put your safe up on a platform, make sure it's closed on all sides to make it harder to get under. I think CB900F mentioned in a thread that he uses 2" steel tube risers. That's a good way to go about it.

Are those anchors stronger than just lag bolts and lead anchors? How strong are those?

I don't know if they are stronger, but I do know that they are a lot easier to use. The lead anchors are usually too big to fit through the holes in the bottom of the safe. This means you have to place the safe, mark the holes, move the safe, drill, then move the safe back. The sleeve anchors go in without moving the safe.

The anchors I use have the specs on the box. I'm sure this is true with any type of anchors. The 3/8" sleeve anchors show 1,025 pounds of lift force, and 800 pounds of sheer force per bolt. The 1/2" sleeve anchors show 1,700 pounds of lift force, and 1,500 pounds of sheer force.

 

[45crittergitter]

If you're using the non-removeable anchors like the pic, I would drill well below the working depth. Then, after you set the bolt there will be plenty of empty hole under it. That way when you decide to move the safe, the bolt can be hammered down into the hole and the hole patched, rather than sticking up to be ground off. Should make it a heckuva lot easier to get a heavy safe off the bolts too.

I always use stainless bolts for this.

If you're close to me (central MS) you can borrow my hammer drill.

Question: If it's on carpet, how do you drill through without snagging the bit in the carpet and making a big dang mess?

 

[CNYCacher]

Question: If it's on carpet, how do you drill through without snagging the bit in the carpet and making a big dang mess?

Couple different ways. Easiest is to mark the carpet with a felt tip marker sticking down the bolt hole. Then move the safe and cut a 1"x1" square hole out of the carpet with your utility knife around each mark.

I watched a guy drill through a cabinet base to mount it to a carpeted floor. All of a sudden a run apears in the carpet at the edge of the cabinet and shoots across the floor. I start yelling but by the time he got the drill stopped, the run was about 10 feet long. He pulls his drill out and about 20 feet of carpet yarn was wrapped around the bit This wouldn't have been such a tragedy except this was inside a $500,000 semi trailer that we were doing up as a rolling product showcase for a big company. The carpet needed to be replaced and a bunch of stuff had to be pulled out of the trailer first.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Another easy way to prevent the above mentioned carpet snag is to use a set of gasket hole punches. A set isn't vastly expensive & sure is handy for this type of thing. I bought my set many years ago & don't have a good feel for what one would cost now.

The set consists of a striker, about 4 to 6 inches long. There is a ball retainer on one end & you hit the other end with a hammer. Variously sized hole punches fit on the retainer end. All they are is a circle with a sharp edge. Put one on, one size bigger than your bolt, place it on the carpet & smack it smartly with the hammer. Voily-Oily, like they say in that-there frog-talkin' country, you have a clean hole.

900F

 

[Rovi]

Voily-Oily, like they say in that-there frog-talkin' country, you have a clean hole.

Must... stay... on... High... Road.



Must... stay... on... High... Road.



<sounds of excess pressure being generated>



KABOOM!
<head explodes>

 

[45crittergitter]

Thanks, Cacher and CB900. Moving the safe just isn't the way for me to go, for several reasons. Also, I have a piece of plywood between the safe and the carpet, so I couldn't mark the carpet anyway. I will have to drill through the wood, then deal with the carpet. Great idea on the punches, though - I'll probably do that. Thanks again.

 

[eastwood44mag]

Diamond tipped masonry bit + hammer drill + stream of cool water.

Press very little on the drill, keep water flowing. Your bit will do the cutting, just take your time and let it work.