Need Safe Bolted down.

RO73 · Post by **RO73** » Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:46:09

Anyone know who can bolt my safe down in a basement room? I called around and was getting some outrageous quotes. I could probably do it myself but since I have never done it before, I figured I would get someone who can do a clean job. I'm in Chantilly, VA.

Thanks.

Post by **OakRidgeStars** » Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:52:43

You can rent a hammer drill from your local tool rental place (check Yellow Pages), and the masonry bit can be purchased at your local home center. You can also find anchor bolts made for a concrete slab at the same hardware store or home center.

Use a Sharpee to mark the holes with the safe in place, then move it aside and mark the center of each with a center punch. Then slowly drill to the required depth for your anchor bolts. TIP: place masking tape on the bit to mark the depth.

One caution first; be sure you don't have radiant under-floor heating under the slab. This could be a very bad thing if you drill into one of the water tubes.

Use a hammer to drive the anchors into the slab until they are flush and tight. This is when it becomes evident why the drill bit diameter and anchor size should be the same. Measure twice - Drill once.

Then you can clean up the dust, bandage the survivors and move your safe back into place. If the bolts are tight you did it right.

RO73 · Post by **RO73** » Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:22:55

OakRidgeStars wrote:You can rent a hammer drill from your local tool rental place (check Yellow Pages), and the masonry bit can be purchased at your local home center. You can also find anchor bolts made for a concrete slab at the same hardware store or home center.

Use a Sharpee to mark the holes with the safe in place, then move it aside and mark the center of each with a center punch. Then slowly drill to the required depth for your anchor bolts. TIP: place masking tape on the bit to mark the depth.

One caution first; be sure you don't have radiant under-floor heating under the slab. This could be a very bad thing if you drill into one of the water tubes.

Use a hammer to drive the anchors into the slab until they are flush and tight. This is when it becomes evident why the drill bit diameter and anchor size should be the same. Measure twice - Drill once.

Then you can clean up the dust, bandage the survivors and move your safe back into place. If the bolts are tight you did it right.

Thank you so much for all the info. I have all the tools necessary as I work for a big industrial tool manufacturer. One thing I did not think of Is the piping. I'm going to have to check that as we just bought this house a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I will do some homework and attempted myself. Hopefully I won't screw things up

gunderwood · Post by **gunderwood** » Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:29:00

Should be as easy as getting a concrete drill bit and the right anchors.

http://www.confast.com/articles/how-to- ... crete.aspx

steelheart · Post by **steelheart** » Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:01:11

Actually you dont need to move your safe if its possible to remove the interior. After that simply drill thru the holes. Alot of the safe makers recommend u do it that way. No scratches to the paint to allow rust to start.

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Snakester · Post by **Snakester** » Thu, 22 Aug 2013 08:54:50

When I installed my Sentinel 48 gun safe I noticed that the 4 mounting hole were close to the corners making it impossible to drill in place. This model has a removable floor so once installed there are no visible mounting bolts. While the safe was still laying in the bed of my truck I drilled 2 holes ( more to the center ) that I used to secure the safe once in position.I just drilled through the new 1" holes , through the concrete floor and instead of the supplied bolts I made 2 - 4' long "Nails" out of 3/4" rebar with a 2 1/2" washer welded to the end. Before I secured the safe we tilted it over enough to apply a couple tubes of 400# construction adhesive and then set it back in place and drove the 4' nails down. It took 3 of us to complete the mounting less than an hour .

steelheart · Post by **steelheart** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 04:47:42

Interesting. The safes iv delt with have the holes usually 3 inches from the sides. But then again they were 800+ pound safes to start with. The safes were remington x2 and a "tactical" safe.

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RO73 · Post by **RO73** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 06:33:36

OakRidgeStars wrote:You can rent a hammer drill from your local tool rental place (check Yellow Pages), and the masonry bit can be purchased at your local home center. You can also find anchor bolts made for a concrete slab at the same hardware store or home center.

Use a Sharpee to mark the holes with the safe in place, then move it aside and mark the center of each with a center punch. Then slowly drill to the required depth for your anchor bolts. TIP: place masking tape on the bit to mark the depth.

One caution first; be sure you don't have radiant under-floor heating under the slab. This could be a very bad thing if you drill into one of the water tubes.

Use a hammer to drive the anchors into the slab until they are flush and tight. This is when it becomes evident why the drill bit diameter and anchor size should be the same. Measure twice - Drill once.

Then you can clean up the dust, bandage the survivors and move your safe back into place. If the bolts are tight you did it right.

Well thanks to OakRidgeStars, I averted a huge nightmare. Looks like there are some pipes running under where the safe is placed. Having said that, other than moving it...any other way to secure the safe? It's in a perfect spot right now as it is placed in a bedroom in the basement, that is being turned into my "gun room". I really would like to keep it where it is. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

jdonovan · Post by **jdonovan** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:08:08

RO73 wrote: Well thanks to OakRidgeStars, I averted a huge nightmare. Looks like there are some pipes running under where the safe is placed. Having said that, other than moving it...any other way to secure the safe?

Into the floor is the best choice, but option #2 is through the back into the wall framing.

RO73 · Post by **RO73** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 11:09:56

jdonovan wrote:
RO73 wrote: Well thanks to OakRidgeStars, I averted a huge nightmare. Looks like there are some pipes running under where the safe is placed. Having said that, other than moving it...any other way to secure the safe?
Into the floor is the best choice, but option #2 is through the back into the wall framing.

I don't have any predrilled holes in the back.

Snakester · Post by **Snakester** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:34:22

A Buddy of mine has his Safe in his Office in his Home ( Spare bedroom now that his kids are gone ). We mounted it through the wood floor with 1/2" x 6" SS Bolts. We drilled 4 holes in the back of the Safe with a 3/4" hole saw and used 1/2" x 8" SS Bolts. We removed the base board so the Safe would fit tight to the wall. On the back side of the wall it happened to be in a storage shed built on the rear of the house. In the shed the wall that is the rear wall of the house we covered with 3/4" CDX Plywood ( added security to the house ) and gave a good material to torque the bolts to. We drilled through the pre-drilled holes we drilled earlier and all the way through the New plywood. Installed SS Plates we fabricated like washers with 1/2" hole and used Lock Nuts and tightened. Matt found some Chrome Plugs to cover the bolt heads just to make it a finished product. We installed a New Steel door on the shed and covered all of the interior walls with 3/4" Plywood. He now feels that the Safe and the contents are Very Secure.

RO73 · Post by **RO73** » Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:35:11

Snakester wrote:A Buddy of mine has his Safe in his Office in his Home ( Spare bedroom now that his kids are gone ). We mounted it through the wood floor with 1/2" x 6" SS Bolts. We drilled 4 holes in the back of the Safe with a 3/4" hole saw and used 1/2" x 8" SS Bolts. We removed the base board so the Safe would fit tight to the wall. On the back side of the wall it happened to be in a storage shed built on the rear of the house. In the shed the wall that is the rear wall of the house we covered with 3/4" CDX Plywood ( added security to the house ) and gave a good material to torque the bolts to. We drilled through the pre-drilled holes we drilled earlier and all the way through the New plywood. Installed SS Plates we fabricated like washers with 1/2" hole and used Lock Nuts and tightened. Matt found some Chrome Plugs to cover the bolt heads just to make it a finished product. We installed a New Steel door on the shed and covered all of the interior walls with 3/4" Plywood. He now feels that the Safe and the contents are Very Secure.

Thanks Snakester. Looks like ill be drilling holes in the back of my safe as it is my only option at this point.

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