Safe Question - Too heavy?

[jmorris]

And some of the specifics matter. It the safe bottom is perfectly flat, you have 1107 square inches supporting 940#. That's 1.17psi. But if not perfectly flat, then things change, obviously.

Makes me think, you'd know if the floor was good to go before you had it in place, unless you slide it there flat on its bottom.

Most methods I have used to move them into position have its weight supported by a smaller surface area.

 

[WestKentucky]

Can anybody cite where any safe, anywhere, has ever broken thru a floor just sitting on it

Without a fire or other outside influence affecting it.

Before I built my hardened walk in closet, I had three large safes, no issues with even a sag of the flooring

Actually yes, but the house was “let go” and the floor rotted out. Not exactly a safe, but a cabinet being used as one. The floor joist broke and the whole room was tilted down to that corner. I’m not sure I would count the cabinet as being the culprit here, but it was certainly a big part of the floor failure happening where it did. This was around 1998 in meridian mississippi. The lady who owned the house was older than Moses and was living there by herself 40 years after her husband passed. It was a summer mission trip for a bunch of high school students and we basically got under her house and re-leveled it then braced it with a bunch of pressure treated 2x6 joists with pressure treated 4x4s going down to concrete pedestals. Laser level, bottle jack, framing nailer. Chop saw outside cutting the boards. It took 3 days to get the house right and then another crew came and cleaned, painted, and did yard work. Getting over in the area under that collapsed floor is one of the most nerve wrecking things I have ever done. Snakes, spiders, and a falling house were trying to kill me all at the same time.

Best part of that trip was that the homeowner owned 1 car I her whole life and it was in the carport. A 57 Chevy that her husband bought new when they got married. She still drove it to the grocery store once a month. Had no telling how many miles on it. She said he hated the car, but he didn’t have to fool with it for long because he died while it was still new.

 

[JFrank]

The guys that moved my safe in used a power dolly that climbed porch steps and iirc 1”x2”x 3 ft strips of Teflon bar stock to slide the safe on top of the carpet.
It was very clever way to move it.
Typical you won’t break through a new or in good shape sub floor with the extra weight but you can crack tile flooring, or leave permanent tracks in linoleum, crack the staircase going upstairs and crack drywall in a ceiling below from joist bowing under the extra load. You really need to pick a good location and preferably downstairs where a point load ( extra support) can be installed to a concrete pad in the crawl space or better yet put on a concrete slab a bolt it down.
I posted a reference to building codes earlier but it may have been disregarded, IDK but I may also be the only member that held a building inspector certification for over ten years before I moved to strictly building homes.
Building codes are ‘minimum’ requirements not maximum, in other word it can always be built stronger.
Hope this helps someone..
Jim

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I always keep 2-3 boards under may safes to spread the load over another joist or so (they are wider than the safe). Also, that keeps it off the carpet to keep it from possibly rusting on the bottom and lets me get to the hole for electric which is usually on the bottom of the safe. Bit of insurance so long as the boards won't be in the way around the safe.

 

[CapnMac]

I may also be the only member that held a building inspector certification for over ten years before I moved to strictly building homes.

There are a few of us "in the trades" here, THR being a wonderfully wide and varied place. For instance, along with being a practicing architect, I'm part of ICC and actively debating and writing Code. More IBC than IRC, though. I've been a certified Plans Examiner, and TX CBI, along with a TAS examiner.

 

[JFrank]

There are a few of us "in the trades" here, THR being a wonderfully wide and varied place. For instance, along with being a practicing architect, I'm part of ICC and actively debating and writing Code. More IBC than IRC, though. I've been a certified Plans Examiner, and TX CBI, along with a TAS examiner.

Nice to see few fellow members.
Are you currently a lobbyist for the ICC or what position do you represent ?
Also I’m not familiar with the initials TAS, if I did know I’ve forgotten.
Thx
Jim

 

[CapnMac]

Are you currently a lobbyist for the ICC or what position do you represent ?
Also I’m not familiar with the initials TAS, if I did know I’ve forgotten.

Adjunct Member of the Occupancy Standards Committee, and also on the Building Safety Team. TAS = Texas Accessibility Standards the State-specific implementation for ADA Accessibility. That allowed for plans examination along with assessing built compliance.

 

[74man]

I live in Nor Cal and I put my safe in my garage cause it doesn't get that cold. I make a wooden box for the outside and marked it "PANTRY". It has been there for 20 years and people just say, "That is a great idea to have a PANTRY in the garage" They never question what the box is really. Garage floor is a slab of concrete and I anchored it down.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Perhaps OP could find a good, solid pallet to put under the safe to help distribute the weight?

 

[CapnMac]

Perhaps OP could find a good, solid pallet to put under the safe to help distribute the weight?

It's a good notion, as long as appearance is not a major consideration. Crush strength of the 2x3 used in a typical wooden pallet is around 4000#/lin.ft. And they are pretty good at turning point loads into area loads.