Practical experience with heavy TL safe on concrete slab

[Rhoads-V]

I'm considering something along the lines of the TL-15 Amvault CE5524 to convert to a gun safe. It would be going in a residential walk-out basement. My concern would be the long term weight of the safe on the concrete slab.

I have Google searched and read about load limits for concrete with all kinds of formulas, if you know what you actually have. I know the true answer is it depends on the quality and thickness of the concrete, any reinforcement, and whats underneath the concrete.

What I'm looking for is reassurance from anyone with practical experience with a heavy safe on a residential basement slab, over the long term. The home has a footer, with approx. 1/2" of the first block visible above the floor. Everything else in the home appears to be constructed pretty well. The home was built in 1957, so I assume the slab has cured and settled as much as it is going to on its own. The CE5524 weighs approx. 2400 lbs with a 31x30 footprint. The safe would likely be placed onto 2 4x4 blocks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[guggep]

Depending on how well organized your city building department is, you may be able to have them locate the plans to your house and see what PSF your slab is rated for.

Unfortunately for me the plans to my house were in such bad shape we could not read the PSF rating. More bad news - the architect died last year, his firm lost the original plans, the engineering company who actually designed the slab is gone with the wind, and the homebuilder re-organized & threw out all old plans to ensure plausable deniability to any past issues.

Thus, I placed my RF6528 on a diagnal where 2 footers meet. One option I seriously considered is using a 3' x 5' piece of 1/2' steel under it to spread the weight

 

[a1abdj]

Do you have a garage that you park in? The concrete there is likely to be similar in construction to that in your basement, and a car would be placing more concentrated weight than the safe.

Odds are you'll be beyond fine, but if your garage floor is falling apart, you may want to reconsider.

 

[Teachu2]

Use lots of blocks to increase the contact area. That distributes the weight over more square inches.

 

[heeler]

I have lived in many homes with slab foundations over the years and all of them have been pretty solid.
All of these homes had the older rebar reinforced slabs not the current cable lock slabs.
I personally would not give much thought or worry of placing a 3000 pound safe on my current slab.

 

[CB900F]

Rhoads;

Basically, what they said. Particularly with the comment about using a larger number of blocks. Can you locate a couple of long-term homeowners in the near vicinity? If so, I'd ask them if they've noted any concrete, footing, or basement problems over the years.

900F