Vault door?

[Jubjub]

I'm moving into a new house soon. One of the features that sold me on the place is a shelter room in the basement. Cast of reinforced concrete just like the basement walls is a small room in a corner of the basement. Above is the concrete of the front entryway. This looks to make a for very nice man cave, big enough for an ample reloading bench and with more than enough room for far more guns than I am ever likely to own.

It will of course double as its intended use, a tornado shelter, which is a nice thing to have in this part of the country.

The only thing lacking is a door.

I'm looking around online, and most of what I see when I Google "vault door" are what look to be enlarged versions of gun safe doors, complete with the shiny locking wheels and big logos stencilled on the front. I'm looking for something a bit more discreet, so that every guest who comes downstairs to watch a movie doesn't see something worthy of comment.

Any ideas for a security door that looks like just a door, or at least looks like a tornado shelter door, rather than a bank vault in a trailer park?

 

[trueblue1776]

An A60 fire door would do the trick, you may be able to get one used from a shipyard on the cheap. Looks like an industrial steel door.

 

[blackhawk2000]

You can always disguise the door with something.

 

[never_retreat]

Check this out from browning
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/safes/detail.asp?cat_id=160&type_id=39581&value=003F

 

[bass806]

The Browning door looks very cool!!!

 

[never_retreat]

I'm not sure of the quality or level of security behind this door, I don't have one myself. Mabey the resident safe tech will chime in? a1abdj?

 

[FXWG]

If you do install one of the safe doors, you could
build up the facade over it so that you could install
a regular closet door over the top of it.

 

[Technosavant]

Or just put in a nice front-door style door. Solid core, etc. Paint it to look "normal" (whatever that may be in your house... when I bought mine a couple months ago, that meant pink countertops... has since been rectified). Install a good deadbolt and hinges.

Of course, it depends on what your objective is. To protect against unauthorized access by kids, even a regular door with a basic locking knob will work. To protect against some burglars, the door I mention will work. To stop the determined thief, a vault door may be needed. To protect against fire, you'll need more than just a door.

 

[<SLV>]

I would go with a Sportsman if I was you:

http://www.sportsmansteelsafes.com/defender.htm

 

[Sunray]

If you're not concerned with fire proofing, go buy a steel door not a vault door. There are fire rated internal steel doors too. Try your Google search again but search for 'steel doors'. You may want to start here.
http://www.steeldoor.org/

 

[TallPine]

Instead of the reloading bench, you might want to put some food and water and blankets in the "vault" in case you need to use it as a safe room in the event of a tornado or other problems.

 

[wacki]

An A60 fire door would do the trick,

A60? Googling shows a few links but no real details. H60, A0, H120 whats the diff?

 

[trueblue1776]

I can't quite remember the numbers, A60 will seal airtight and hold off heat of 300ish deg for 60 min. They are truly fireproof and are built to IMO (international) standards, can endure many years of heavy use and generally are very difficult to drill. The only downside is having to use a standard style door lock, which will cost at least two bills for a decent heavy duty security set.

Shipyards don't throw out old ones so I'd look there, maybe you can get a yardie to haul one to your house for a hundred bucks. A new one will cost several times what these vault doors are going for.

 

[Jubjub]

Nice idea on the A60 door, but one would be hard pressed indeed to find anywhere in the United States that is any farther from a shipyard than my house.

One factor in the dual use concept of a gun room/storm shelter is that the door needs to open inward, in case a tornado has converted the entire upstairs into a heap of debris that has collapsed into the basement and blocked the door.

I looked at doors that are FEMA 320 tornado shelter rated, but they seem to cost about as much as vault doors.

Maybe I'll just hang a beaded curtain.

 

[a1abdj]

I looked at doors that are FEMA 320 tornado shelter rated, but they seem to cost about as much as vault doors.

You're on the right track here. We use FEMA tornado or hurricane doors with multi point locking systems on a lot of panic room/shelter installations.

They aren't cheap, but they don't scream "valuables" and are a heck of a lot easier to install in existing construction. They also perform very well for their intended purpose, and provide a pretty good level of security.

 

[<SLV>]

+1 to making sure whatever door it is, it must open INWARDS.