Lisa J Thompson
This comprehensive post promises to give you a comprehensive answer to the question “Can you put a gun safe in an unheated garage?”. We will provide a concise explanation of why you should avoid using the unheated garage as the place to keep firearms.
If the garage is the only suitable choice for you, we give you useful tips to set up the garage in the best conditions for safety and ideal temperature. Let’s check it!
Can You Put A Gun Safe In An Unheated Garage?
The answer to “Can a gun safe be kept in a garage” is still in debate. but in our point of view, you shouldn’t do that.
Why Shouldn’t You Put A Gun Safe In An Unheated Garage?
Normally, the free space in the garage often comes to our mind when thinking of gun safe storage. Yet such annoying issues like moisture, thief risk, and fire risk are potential threats to having a gun safe in a garage.
Thus, the unheated garage should be your last choice if you struggle to find a spot. The following sections will thoroughly explain why you should not put a gun safe in an unheated garage.
A Gun Safe
Moisture
Moisture is an important factor, which prevents us from storing a gun safe in an unheated garage. It is usually where less sunlight comes in and isn’t completely insulated.
Especially melting snow from car tires or running appliances in a cold garage without proper ventilation creates excess moisture. The seasonal changes also affect humidity levels.
Such a natural condition of the unheated garage makes it an unsuitable place for your firearm. High moisture buildup inside the gun cabinet will result in rust, a harmful factor to ruin all kinds of guns.
The Thief Risk
The thief risk is another concern, which is as important as high moisture. The garage is the place where family members often go in and out every day. As being frequently opened, it is the easiest place to catch the attention of outsiders.
In modern life, we rarely think about robbery risks. But the fact that the strangers’ curiosity about the giant stack of guns can go over what we usually think about.
Besides the ease of scouting the garage, robbers can break the emergency release to enter the garage. If putting a gun safe there, they can easily use the car or a tow strap to bring the firearm out. So, a high thief risk always exists if you choose the garage.
Fire Risk
Many of us usually store the household and vehicle accessories in the garage. If flammable items such as batteries or appliances are close to gasoline, oil, and paint thinner, it would cause a fire.
On the other hand, many people love to turn the garage into a home workshop. That is why the potentiality of overloading electricity by using many appliances and tools simultaneously is another fire risk.
Due to the major factors explained above, it is hard to answer “Yes” for the question “can you have a gun safe in the garage?”
What If A Garage Is The Only Place You Have?
Keeping the gun safe in the garage should be the last choice if you find it difficult to find another safe spot. You can still leave it there as long as the temperature and safety conditions are well controlled.
It is not bad to place the gun safe in the garage at a tight house. The most concerning factor is how to maintain the ideal temperature. The storage room’s temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 percent of relative humidity.
In most cases, we don’t have such an ideal room. So, to safely protect your valuables and weapons, it is necessary to set up a dehumidifier or pointing lights inside the safe.
Dehumidifier Is Essential For Maintaining Ideal Humidity
The garage in the back of the house has another advantage. Almost no strangers or visitors tend to pass by it. So it is a secure place to keep firearms. On the other hand, the concrete ground space of the garage is the most convenient condition to bolt your safe.
How To Store A Gun Safe In The Unheated Garage Safely?
In the case of using an unheated garage, it is necessary to do some further steps to provide the most suitable conditions. Here is the guideline for you to follow.
Cope With Humidity
The simple and practical method to control the moisture inside the gun safe is to install the light or a dehumidifier inside. You can also select the temperature-controlled gun safe to maintain the ideal temperature.
Some kinds of liquid like oil, cosmoline, or silica gel also help minimize the humidity level inside your safe and maintain a higher temperature than the outside.
Silica Gel
In the period of the seasonal changing like early summer, the safe is prone to sweat and encourages rust. Add thin plastic or wood squares at the safe’s corners to provide a little contact with the ground to deal with that condition.
Protect From The Fire
Like coping with humidity, protecting the gun safe and the garage from the fire is easy as long as you follow the regulations:
- Never put flammable things near the safe.
- Install the heat alarm to alert once the high rise in temperature inside.
- Plug one appliance into one outlet.
- Don’t use the extension cords to avoid overheating.
- Keep the garage clear to exit easily in an emergency.
Keep It Out Of The Sights
To decrease the curiosity of outsiders about the existence of a gun safe in the garage, let’s put it in a corner out of visible sight. Additionally, you can build a cabinet around it or cover it with a safe cloak. The fabric makes it look like a storage cabinet without stimulating any interest.
What Are The Best Places To Put A Gun Safe In-Home?
The bedroom and basement are two places we recommend if you are searching for the best places to keep the gun. If you have a small collection of guns, put them into a nightstand gun safe or inside the closet, then bolt it down to the floor.
The outweigh of the basement is the capacity of bolting the safe into the ground easily. Furthermore, the basement is usually out of the burglary’s interest. However, at the same time, you still need to install a dehumidifier to control the moisture inside the safe.
Bottom Line
Until these last lines, hopefully you can gain useful information about the topic – can you put a gun safe in an unheated garage? In short, our recommendation is putting it somewhere else.
However, if the garage is the only available room in your house, there are several factors to consider.
