Help bolting down a gun safe

[JimmyG]

I am attaching a safe to the floor with the two 'bolts' supplied by the safe manufacturer. They're basically huge 'wood' screws with hex heads.

My problem is twofold:

1) The safe sits on new carpet in a corner with baseboards and SWMBO insists that the carpet will not be lifted, and therefore...

2) The carpet that I can see through the two half-inch diameter holes in the floor of the safe wants to wrap around my drill bit and I don't want to unravel the carpet.

Solutions:

1) Should I melt/burn the carpet through those holes and hope to 'cauterize' the 'wound' so that it won't unravel, much like melting together the frayed end of a nylon rope?

2) Ask you guys...

Thanks in advance,

JimmyG

 

[Snake Eyes]

If they're actually screws, as opposed to bolts, just get the appropriate hex socket for your drill and screw them in right through the carpet.

Don't worry--SWMBO won't be able to see the carpet damage under the safe, and you'll probably do less damage than drilling first.

 

[rcmodel]

The question is, How many times are you going to ask this question?
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=3781744#post3781744


rcmodel

 

[Claude Clay]

be real sure you have located the floor joists. find a caliber that matches the shank of the screw. mark location with tape. turn music REAL loud. fire round(s) through tape. align safe & hex them screws in. g o o d luck. why do i have a mental image of whillie e cayote looking over your shoulder.........

 

[Charles Foxtrot]

Old dingbatter's trick: Take a short piece of small diameter copper tube (about 1/8") and pound it through the carpet. It cuts the carpet threads so they will not get caught in the drill bit. Works like a charm.

 

[jamz]

I was going to suggest using a blade to cut small squares out of the carpet where the screws will be, but the above suggestion is much cooler.

 

[bulgron]

The last time I did this, I waited until my wife (at the time, my girlfriend) wasn't home. Then I cut small squares out of the carpeting, drilled into the concrete (we're on a slab), bolted the safe down, and she never knew what I did to her carpeting.

That was 12 years ago.

I'm about to move that safe, which would mean my wife finding out what I did to her carpeting, and so I'd be worried except that we're replacing the carpeting in that room anyway. Sooo .... survey says, what the wife doesn't know won't hurt you.

 

[chipperi]

Why drill at all? they are lag bolts they bore themselves in start it a little with a hammer than using the appropriate size socket crank em in....Done