A gun safe is a heavy metal item that imposes a great weight on the spot you place it on. Therefore, the spot for a gun safe must be solid, durable, and accessible.
So what to put under gun safe on carpet? You can opt for supportive products to put under a gun safe, both to ensure its steady placement. Here, we will suggest some practical and effective supportive stuff.
What To Put Under Gun Safe On Carpet?
If you install the gun safe by yourself, you will understand the importance of the bolt-anchoring process. Deciding which item to put under a gun safe is no less crucial. With an additional layer between the safe and the carpet, you can save it from water damage in case of a flood. What’s more, moisture won’t have a chance to arise, so you can also prevent rust.
What a typical gun safe looks like
Finding the right item to put between the safe and the carpet will reduce the possibility of it tipping or shifting, in addition to increasing the safe’s longevity. Furthermore, the safe weight will be evenly spread across the carpet.
#1 Wood Pallets
Wood pallets are the most cost-effective option for putting under the gun safe and above the carpet. This common gun safe base is effortless for you to bolt it down. Besides, the ability to distribute the gun safe weight is another great feature of wood pallets.
Wood pallets are readily available at some convenient stores or wood workshops. You can also make your pallets from unprocessed pieces of wood.
Wood pallets
#2 Rubber Mats
Rubber mats are an excellent option as well. Rubber mats can stick to slippery floors like granite or wood regardless of a carpet, and they are so soft that they don’t scratch the surface beneath them.
When opting for rubber mats, you will have a wide range of patterns and designs to pick from, depending on your preference. You don’t have to pay for a whole mat since you can ask for small parts of unused rubber mats from your friends or relatives to cover the gun safe’s feet.
Rubber mats can come in various styles
#3 Bricks
Bricks are also a useful base between the carpet and the gun safe to provide adequate airflow. Like wood pallets, bricks are available almost everywhere at reasonable prices or even free of charge.
You will have two options of brick placements:
- The first one is to let them cover the whole bottom of the gun safe.
- The other method is to carry the gun safe’s feet only.
Some bricks may be a good choice.
Keep in mind that putting your safe on a base may put your security in danger. When not directly contacting the carpet, there will be a spare space between the safe and the base.
Thieves can see this as beneficial for their bad purposes. They can easily tip the gun safe by putting a jack on its bottom. Then, thieves will face no hindrance to prise the door.
Can You Place The Gun Safe Barely On A Carpeted Floor?
The answer is YES. You can put a gun safe on a carpet without an additional base. The benefits of the layer between the gun safe and the carpet are to boost the steady position of the safe and distribute its weight. By that, we mean an extra-base is not a compulsory item.
Carpeted floors are efficient to withstand a gun safe. However, before deciding to put a gun safe on the second floor of your place, you have to ask for consultancy from an experienced contractor, no matter what material the floor is made of. Since a gun safe is large and heavy, you should eliminate the risk of it destroying the floor and dropping beneath the floor.
It is advisable to look for an appropriate spot on the carpet to stay level under the gun safe. Plus, the gun safe’s weight should be distributed. By doing this, you can avoid the safe from damaging the carpeted floors or uncontrollably shifting around.
Is Anchoring The Gun Safe To The Carpeted Floor Crucial?
You must anchor it to its carpeted base regardless of any type of safe you have. Why should you do this? Here are some reasons:
- An unanchored safe is a temptation to any thief. The reason is that he can effortlessly tip the safe. Once the safe’s back faces towards the thief, he can prise the safe easier than usual.
- A team of burglars can take your gun safe away if you don’t steady it on the floor.
- More dangerously, an unanchored gun safe can cause injury to you and your family because it may fall anytime you open the safe. The chance of falling is greater when you place heavy stuff on the safe’s top.
- An infrequent natural phenomenon such as an earthquake can turn the unsteady safe into a fatal item in your house. The gun safe can roll over around the room during an earthquake and destroy everything nearby with its heavyweight.
- The least serious consequence of not anchoring a gun safe to the carpet is that the safe can shift and scratch the carpet.
How To Anchor A Gun Safe To A Carpeted Floor?
Briefly speaking, bolting is the most effective and time-saving method to anchor a gun safe to a carpeted floor. There are some notices you should focus on when bolting the gun safe on a carpet.
Notices For Bolting A Gun Safe
- Get to know your safe’s dimensions exactly.
- Determine the targeting spots of the bolts.
- Removing parts of the carpet if you like to.
- Anchoring the safe to the wall with bolts.
Detailed Steps
Firstly, you have to find out the specifications of the gun safe. By doing this, you can decide the suitable bolt size and amount of bolts for your safe. Then, have a look at the safe’s base to set the location of the bolts.
Commonly, people will insert four bolts at the four bottom corners of a gun safe to properly distribute the safe’s weight.
If you don’t want the bolts to puncture the carpets, you can remove the carpet’s parts that contact the safe’s bottom. This task is also useful when you want the bolts to go directly through the ground for a more stable stance of the safe.
On the other hand, a method that increases the gun safe’s steadiness and not deforms the carpet is bolting the safe to the wall.
Can I Not Bolt A Gun Safe Onto A Carpet?
YES, of course. There is still an alternative if:
- You are not ready to let the bolts penetrate the floor.
- Your floor is made from tile.
- Your carpet is from an expensive high-end brand.
- Your landlord doesn’t allow you to carry out any change to the house.
- You change your place quite often.
- The floor you are going to bolt the safe on is a post-tensioned concrete one.
The solution to all of these problems is bolting the gun safe to the wall studs. Since almost every gun safe has the drilled holes on the bottom, you have to rely on the wall studs to attach its back to the wall.
Besides the studs, you also have to bolt the safe to the sheetrock for the optimal result. If you can’t locate the wall studs, a stud finder will help you.
Before deciding to bolt the safe to the wall, you need to prepare a heavy-duty drill. Only this tool is powerful enough to create holes on the safe’s back.
Bottom Lines
Securing a gun safe is always the top concern of many owners. Especially when the room you use to place the safe on has a carpeted floor, the need for finding what to put under gun safe on carpet is even greater. The options we suggest in this article can be helpful if you can properly set them up with the safe and carpet.
