Lisa J Thompson
In a world where security matters most, finding the optimal spot for your gun safe is a crucial decision. With this comprehensive article, we delve into the question on every firearm owner’s mind: Can You Put A Gun Safe On The Second Floor? We explore the advantages and considerations of this storage option, addressing concerns about weight, room placement, fire safety, and more. Whether you seek accessibility or enhanced security, join us as we navigate the intricacies of choosing the second floor as your gun safe’s home.
Now that you own a gun safe, your firearms and your home as a whole feels so much more secure. But where should the safe be in order for it to be within reach while out of thieving hands?
You might be tempted to position the safe on a higher floor so that it is closer to your bedroom in case of a break-in. But can you put a gun safe on the second floor? Will it pose any problem for your family and your gears? This article will have all the answers you need!
Can You Put A Gun Safe On The Second Floor?
If you are already wondering where your gun safe should be in your house, you are already in the correct mindset. Convenience is key when the time calls for your firearms, and if your home has its bedrooms on the second floor like most American homes, it seems to be your best bet.
The truth is, there is no very “optimal” spot for your safe to be in around the house. Yes, you can choose to have it on the second floor if you have your reasons since it is definitely up to you. Here is why, compared to other spots in the home, you might lean towards having your gun safe on the second floor:
Explanation
A under $1000 gun safe can be upstairs if you can bring it up there. Gun safes can be quite heavy, so transportation is not going to be easy, to say the least. Whether or not you have space to fit a gun safe on your second floor is totally up to the model of the safe you bought, and there are so many of those to choose from.
The placement of gun safes is dependent on its model most of the time.
Besides, your second floor is built to code in weight distribution and bearing, so having an additional heavy item on it poses no problems. Generally speaking, the weight of all the furniture in one room can amount to up to one tonne. You should look out for the number of beds and cupboards you already have in an existing room before you shove your best biometric gun safes in there.
Examples
Let us give you an example to show you what we mean. An average American room goes by the size of 3 meters x 3.6 meters. This means that the room’s total area amounts up to 20.8 square meters, and you can fit 2177.2 kilograms of objects in the room without breaking the frames below the floorboards.
Sure, the gun safe might be a whole lot of that mass – around 50 kilograms of mass per square meter, in fact – in one teeny tiny spot of that entire floor space. That amount of load can and will crash through your floor if you’re not careful with placement, so the best spot in a room to place a gun safe is the corners – where the vertical and horizontal frames of the house converge.
Gun safes usually rest on the corner of the room.
Think of it as a water bed since the mass over an area is quite similar. The way you store the waterbed should be how you consider the placement for your gun safe as well.
What Are The Advantages and Disadvantages of Storing A Gun Safe On the Second Floor?
Keeping your gun safe on the second floor of your home comes with a few advantages. For instance, you get to keep your firearms away from children’s reach or curious and judging eyes. You will never have to worry about being called a “gun nut” by visitors ever again when your safe is tucked away in a room upstairs.
Additionally, you can also be more afraid of your gears being stolen when they’re on the second floor. No thief or burglar would be daring enough to try carrying a gun safe that can break their back, let alone taking it off your premises.
But second-floor gun safes can also cause some problems. You’ll have to run up the stairs to reach it when a threat is at your door, so it’s good for some emergencies but not in all cases, especially if you live in an apartment.
What To Consider Before Putting a Gun Safe On The Second Floor?
Before you can make a phone call to hire some professional and move your safe to the second floor, there is quite a lot to think about. Here are the factors you should put into consideration:
The Weight of Your Gun Safe
Gun safes come in a variety of sizes and weights, with some amounting up to being a ton of heavy-duty metal. But your home is much sturdier and can take much more mass than you like to give it credit for, so you will not have to worry much about the weight of your gun safe, but rather where and how to place it on the floor.
Whether or not to hire a team of transporters is also a matter of gun safe weight. If the safe weighs more than half a ton, you should not risk breaking your back and carry it upstairs on your own. Even the most experienced of us won’t know how to handle the uneven weight of a chunk of metal of that size.
If your gun safe is big, consider hiring a safe-moving team.
If you’ve already made the investment of buying a big biometric-locked gun safe for your growing collection of firearms, you can afford to get a team to handle it properly.
The Room Underneath
The room below your gun room should be a “cool room” – a room that does not catch fire or spread it easily. This includes kitchens, dining rooms, laundry rooms, hardwood floor rooms, and rooms with fireplaces. In a fire emergency, if the room below weakens the ceiling and, in turn, the floor of your gun room, the safe will crash down and cause a whole lot of damage.
Do not be overconfident and go, “there’s no way my home will catch on fire”. Accidents happen to the best of us, and because of that, we have to think ahead and be prepared.
Its Placement in the Room
The strength of the second floor is key to supporting your gun safe placement. Centers of rooms are less prone to be able to support a ton of metal on top of it, plus a safe in the middle of a room will inconvenience your moving about so much, so you might want to rule out that possibility.
Be aware of the other heavy furniture in the room too. You do not want to hoard all the heftiest cupboards AND your gun safe in one corner: that will only cause your floor to age faster and become easier for termites and other pests to destroy. Try to spread the weight out evenly, and you will have a more secured setup.
What To Prepare Before Putting a Gun Safe On The Second Floor?
After considering everything we’ve mentioned above, you may have mapped out a spot for your gun safe to be in already. Let’s get to making some preparations for the area to handle your guns and its safety cupboard.
Get a gun safe specialist to move it
Hiring safe professionals and their team should be better than trying to get super strength yourself and carry the thing onto the second floor. You can also check with your insurance policies to see if they can help you with the moving company’s payment.
A gun safe of this size will break your back for sure.
Decide where to install the safe
Sketch out the spot you need the gun safe in with some tape to be entirely sure. When the moving team arrives, they can follow your sketch, so you don’t have to push it to your desired spot when they leave the premises.
Install support beams
Even if you are completely sure that the floor can handle your safe weight, you can still take extra steps to feel completely safe about your decision. Unless you are in an apartment, additional support beams are your best bet at doing this.
Promote fire safety
Aside from having fire prevention devices and precautions in the gun room, you will have to do the same for the room below it as well. If there are children in the house, make sure they don’t have the means to set the room below your gun room on fire. Actually, you can use this opportunity to make sure that your children cannot set anything on fire, too.
Aside from direct fires, you can also watch out for electric wires.
Place the gun safe in a room free from the reach of the fire.
What Are The Alternatives For The Second Floor?
Aside from the second floor, there are a few spots in the house you can consider shoving your gun safe into.
First floor
A safe spot on the first floor will eliminate the worries of the room below being burnt down, but it will birth the concern that children and curious hands would tamper with the safe. But if you want, you can always shut the safe off to a hidden room or have other preventive methods to keep your gun safe out of sight.
Basement
The basement is probably the safest choice out of the three you have right now, as it keeps people away, and it cannot crash down any further. But you cannot reach it right from your bedroom, so if someone breaks in through your upper floor windows, you will not be able to reach your firearms in time.
Garage
The last choice for the gun safe to be in (and possibly the least safe choice) is your garage. Unless your guns are strictly for hunting, this is not the place you want to keep your firearms since the space is very easy to reach or break into.
Final Thoughts
In the end, can you put a gun safe on the second floor? Yes, you definitely can. After you’ve considered every outcome, the second floor has the factors you might want out of a gun safe storage spot: convenience, concealment, fire safety, and security.
All you have to do now is apply everything you’ve read in this article, and apply it to your home. But if you need further guidance, contact the local gun safe provider or us for more information!
