Securing a safe in a basement with cement floors - SOLUTION

[wahya451]

I apologize in advance if this has been discovered before.

I was having a problem with bolting a new safe to my cement floor or the walls in my basement. This would be the same issue for someone that maybe had their safe in an apartment and couldn't do modification to the floor or wall.

Here is the solution that I found, and I am sure it wont work for everyone.

Some have said to leave the safe on the pallet it comes in. There are 2 known problems with that. 1 is someone with a floor jack can come along and take it away if the pallet isn't bolted down. 2 is that the wood (if exposed to a lot of moisture for whatever reason unless specially treated) can rot after awhile.

I the solution that works for me is this.

My safe is approximately 27" deep. Narrow enough to fit through a standard 30x80 doorway. As most safes come with a pallet that fit it exactly, it can go through said doorway sideways without a problem.

Solution is to buy a Plastic Pallet sold many places online that is wider than the doorway. You can put it through the doorway on its side. Set it up where you want. Transfer your safe from the wooden pallet to the plastic one (after unbolting it first). Re-bolt it to the plastic pallet with whatever washers are neccessary to get it done. The pallet i am using looks like the one located in this post. In my case i just placed the safe on it. Drill the holes down through the safe and reached up under the pallet to hold the nut in place while i rebolted it.

This solves several situations.

1. The safe is off the floor on plastic that has circulation around it to prevent rust on the bottom forming.

2. It is water resistant. So if you get a leak in your basement (pipe burst, ground water leakage, etc), it is good unless you get several inches enough to get above the platform, then into the cracks on the safe door.

3. It is wider than the doorway, so regardless of pallet jack, forklift or whatever, it isn't getting out of the room because it is now wider than the doorway.

4. You can cap off the mounting holes in the back of the safe to increase moisture barrier/heat barrier if it is a fire safe.

5. If you have a light safe, then they still aren't going to carry it out if it is too wide. They aren't going to turn the safe on its side unless you have a safe that is shorter than say 25 inches tall.

6. The likely hood of them being able to unbolt the safe from the oversized pallet without actually getting into the safe is HIGHLY unlikely, and way too time consuming, if even possible.

7. Lastly you have now room between the safe and the wall for more air circulation on the outside of the safe.

I hope this helps some people out.

Let me know if anyone has further questions.

Gary J

 

[06]

Why not drill into the floor and use longer stainless bolts to secure everything to the floor. Slip a tube over the bolts where ever they are exposed to inhibit cutting with a hack saw. The stainless will slow torch cutting especially with a tube over them. You could do the same thing on the wall. The object is to slow the scum as much as possible. One or better two tubes over the bolts will seriously deter the average thief's attempts at running off with your safe.

 

[wahya451]

I like your ideas, but this is more for someone that can't drill into their walls or floor. Like someone living in an apartment. I have separate issues in my house that I am not getting into which is why i chose to not drill into the wall or ground.

I admit this isn't the way for everyone, just an alternative. Also with it not being attached to the ground it prevents another problem i have heard of.

Some people report if the safe is directly screwed into a wall that it can either be tore away from the wall (drywall or whatnot), or if the gauge of steel on the safe isn't thick enough, the bolt can be tore away from the safe with enough leverage. That way they can just take the whole safe and work on it somewhere else. Once again, this prevents it from that happening.

They either have to cut the bolts below the plastic pallet, cut the plastic pallet down to fit it through the door opening, or find a way to hold the plastic pallet down firmly while prying up on the safe to tear it from the bolts or whatnot.

 

[oneounceload]

another way to get it off the concrete, albeit not as high, is the use of a rubber horse stall mat available at a lot of feed stores or similar - up to 1" thick, they keep the steel off the concrete and cushion it somewhat

 

[wahya451]

I thought about that too, but it didn't fix the fact that someone could still get the safe out the door that way.

 

[oneounceload]

You would still secure it to the walls and floor

 

[Schutzen]

The problem of pulling the bolt through the safe metal can be solved by using an over-sized washer (fender washer) on the inside. It is not to difficult to pull a 9/16's inch bolt head through the safe wall, but a 2"-3" washer is much more difficult.

 

[wahya451]

I thought about the mat idea too. I have had water issues in the past in my basement, so that is what is driving the raised platform idea. My plan is to bolt it to the platform first. then figure out how to bolt it to the floor. I have some issues that I am dealing with my basement floor and walls though that are preventing that at the moment. On the other hand my place is so secure and protected, I could probably leave the safe sitting in my garage with the door open and wouldnt have to worry, not that i would do that, lol.

 

[otiac]

Or, get some angle iron longer than the width of the door, and secure it through the holes already there. You can use duct tape or epoxy to hold the bar in position for securing the bolts. Using some good line or steel cable, jury rig it so you can pull the bar up by going over the top with it.phew. otiac

 

[heeler]

wahay,actually after googling plastic pallets and reading a bit I think your idea is a very good one for those that live in apartments or perhaps have the type of concrete slab such as a post tension that no one wants to drill.
I just dont know how much weight that type of plastic can reliably hold.
While googling I came across the same pallet as the one you pictured and they have two weight ratings of Dynamic capacity:1200 pounds,and the other Static load capacity: 7000 pounds.
But I dont know exactly what those figures mean as far as the amount of weight the pallet can hold without collapsing along with your safe.
All in all though this still appears to be a good idea as that pallet had a preshipped price of $46.46.

 

[wahya451]

Yeah I got mine for around that. Granted I have done some more stuff to secure my safe, that I am not divulging here.You would also have to have a large closet to put a pallet in of these types. They do hold a whole lot of weight though. Unless you have a safe that is over 1000 pounds, then you are pretty safe (no pun intended). If you own a house and have more options in securing stuff, then there is always more secure means. Of course if you are in an apartment or have the cement floor like you mentioned, then you have to find ways to secure stuff by any means. In the end, it is just about slowing someone down, not making something theft proof. I don't know if there is any such thing, besides building a safe/panic room in your house. I for one don't have that kind of money.

 

[WardenWolf]

Good ideas. If I were to guess why you went this route, I'd guess your water table is high enough that punching a hole in the slab will result in excess water coming up. The goal is to avoid a flooded basement, and minimize or prevent damage to the safe in the event it does flood.

 

[wahya451]

That is part of it Wolf. Also I love your name. Wahya in Cherokee is wolf.