Does a gun safe have to be bolted down? Let’s find the answer with this article. We also offer a variety of anchoring options for different types of flooring.
Aside from choosing the right gun, many people continue to debate whether or not it should be bolted down. So, does a gun safe have to be bolted down?
No rule requires you to bolt down the gun cabinet to the floor, but it’s best to do so. Experts highly recommend that screwing and fixing them will ensure the device does not wobble and prevent burglary.
The following article will specifically analyze why you should anchor your vault and offer an alternative solution. Now, let’s read on to discover!
Bolting down your gun safes to prevent burglary (link)
Does A Gun Safe Have To Be Bolted Down?
One of the most famous pieces of advice for people buying firearm safes is to anchor them. This action is a big step forward in improving the overall security of your firearm cabinets.
There are many reasons for anchoring your safes and vaults as below.
Bring Optimal Security
The first benefit of anchoring your gun vault to the floor is to enhance security dramatically.
The safe is a place to store and keep many essential items, from a collection of high-end weapons to precious jewelry. Therefore, preserving and preserving it should be a top priority.
If you don’t secure the vault to the ground, the thief can use the lever of your body weight to knock it out. The bolder ones can even smash the safe on its side to leverage it.
Quality safes are difficult to pry open, but nothing is impossible. Professional thieves have all the tools needed to break and open any safe.
You can watch the following video to learn how easy it is to pry open a safe when it is flipped.
Prevent Cabinets From Being Stolen
With lightweight safes, attackers can even carry them out of your home. As such, they will have an infinite time to open the safe where you cannot catch them.
Not everyone can afford to buy big and sturdy safes. Medium-sized gun vaults like standard family firearm cabinets or business deposit boxes are perfect prey for rogue subjects.
Thieves can break your vaults anytime
Keep Yourself Safe
Bolting down your shotgun safely, surprisingly, can even ensure your safety.
Safes that are light in weight 500 pounds or less often don’t have a good fixation. They are straightforward to wobble and even flip, especially when you leave the door open.
Safety doors are weighty and are often the most prominent part. Therefore, when designing the vault, the manufacturer must cut deep inside to create a balanced counterweight. This weight also makes a tendency for the safe to lean forward during the opening.
Imagine a gun cabinet weighing 600 pounds on top of you. The anchoring gun safes will help fix them, so they don’t wobble, even during natural disasters.
How To Bolt Down A Gun Cabinet On Different Floors
We already know that anchoring firearm cabinets to the floor are essential. But not all flooring is the same. Depending on the material and location, you will have different methods of fixing the device.
Concrete Slab
Concrete floors are the best material for safe gun fixing. If your home or garage has concrete floors, our only advice is “Let’s do it.”
Ground Floor With Raised Foundation
Lag bolts
The primary material of the floor, in this case, is plywood placed on 2 x 8-floor braces. With this type of material, we propose two options for screwing:
- One of the quickest and easiest methods is to fasten the four lag bolts to the plywood floor. This approach has a few pros and cons. They are only suitable for certain types of fixed safes but are not sturdy enough.
A strong enough thief can still kick the safe or use a pry bar to pry it open.
- The optimal option is to drill through the plywood floor from inside the safe and go up from underneath the house floor with a carriage bolt.
You can then tighten the washers and nuts from within the vault. However, you will need to negotiate with the security team because not everyone likes to crawl under the house.
Upstairs Location
The primary material of this type of floor is the same as the raised floor, which is plywood on the floor braces. Screwing under gun safes will take more time for thieves but not completely stop them.
Therefore, the best option for you is vaults that weigh over 450 pounds. These oversized devices will cause a lot of trouble for thieves who want to move them out of your home.
Frequently Asked Questions
To learn a few more facts about floor anchoring gun safes, keep reading.
What Are The Alternative Options Apart From Bolting Down Your Gun Safes?
Not everyone wants to bolt a safe under their floor. Sometimes the reason is simply because of the hobby. Sometimes they fall into some force majeure situations.
People who live in rental apartments won’t bolt down their vaults as it would damage the landlord’s property. Others want to move their devices frequently. There are even cases where gun safes do not have holes for fixing screws.
Solutions that we can recommend for you include:
- Choose high-quality safes. They are difficult to tip over and are therefore much safer.
- Use a wall safe and conceal it with a piece of art.
- Have the contractor build a raised concrete base to secure your gun cabinet.
- Anchor your device to any shelf in the house. Usually, this will apply to lightweight devices.
Firearm safes should be fireproof
Does A Gun Safe Need To Be Fireproof?
Yes, it does. Fireproofing is one of the crucial factors in determining the reliability of a gun safe.
These devices are often the place for you to store many important and valuable items. Therefore, they need to have the highest level of security. Equipping fireproof safes is an excellent way to increase security.
Although no safes or vaults are entirely fireproof, you should also ensure that the fire resistance level exceeds 1200 degrees. They will buy more time for you to solve problems and protect property in the event of a fire.
Final Thoughts
The safe is the line of defense to protect your valuables and weapons collection from theft or fire. To increase security, various measures have been introduced to make the device more stable.
Screwing is the simplest and most common of these options. Almost anyone can do it, and it even keeps yourself and your family safe. Except for a few specific cases, we think everyone should try anchoring the gun cabinet.
Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to share this article if you find it useful!
