My wife is concerned that the weight of my new gun safe (550 lbs. only) will damage the hardwood floor over time. Any special precaution(s) to prevent this possibility?

Welcome to the forum.

I was told that safes should be in the basement, because if there's a fire it'll end up there anyway.

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"I also cook."

The #/sq ft for your safe is less than for your refrigerator IMHO....the small wheels (usually 3) have far less bearing surface than the flat footprint of the safe. Hard surface over a floor joist shouldn't be a problem with that light of a safe.

I had a commercial carpet installed a few years ago with foam padding over a concrete floor. Over the first long week end, returning to office found the legs of the empty chairs (under 20#) had caused permanent indents in the carpet.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I wouldnt want to put it on a hardwood floor. Safe 550 #s, whats the weight of the guns and stuff in it? I bet the contents of mine outweigh the safe! Got a basement or garage? You might have to reinforce the floor. If you arent on a slab, can you get under the floor?
I never had the problem as I always had houses on slabs with no basement, (or class).

No basements here in south Texas unfortunately. It would be on the first floor. The hardwood flooring is over concrete slab.

Mine weighs 1350lbs empty. It sits on a hardwood floor. Reinforced joists underneath. No problems so far. Like was mentioned above, it spreads the foot print out over a much larger area than your refrigerator.

My safe sets on a tile floor in the wash room. No problems
so far. I will guess it weighs 5 or 6 hundred pounds empty.
Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

Don't worry about the weight. It is over a large egough area. If you are worried about scratching the floor don't use a piece of carpet. The bad guys can just slide it right out of your house. You might think about at least bolting it to the studs in the wall or something if you can't bolt it to the floor. The easiest way for the BG's to open it is to get it on it's side. I have mine bolted to my concrete slab.

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AL
Pax Per Potens

For a hardwood floor on a slab, I'd just get a carpet scrap slightly larger than the safe and place it upside down (pile to the wood) under the safe. That should keep it from scratching or denting the wood.

How's she going to feel about the holes you drill to bolt it to the slab?

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Insert short witty words here

She is 100% against that. She does understand and appreciate my firearms but in the end its her house;-)! Heck she got me a new pistol for my 40th birthday this past weekend. Still better than my current safe (my closet). Other option is a much smaller safe in a small storage space under the stairs.

Which looks worse:

A safe bolted to the floor, after which you plug the holes and refinish the floor.

A safe chained and yanked through the house siding.

Hmmm... tough one.

What difference will it make? She isn't going to pick it up to clean under it anyway.

Be sure she approves the color, however.

For a safe sitting on a hardwood floor over concrete on grade, I doubt you will see any damage to the hardwood, besides, are you ever going to take it out and move it around? If not then who is gonna see if there is any damage ?

You might consider the smaller safe under the stairs, however, simply from a concealment point of view. If they can't find it, they can't steal it. Making a thief spend his time looking for the safe's location means that much less time spent trying to get into it or spent trying to steal everything else in the house.

YMMV

Dan R

+1000!

IMHO it's an absolute must to securely lag bolt the vault in place no matter where it is located. Mine's in a corner and lagged to the wall studs as well as the floor. It's not coming loose without a considerable part of the house still attached

It could be a safety issue as well. The door is usually the heaviest part of most vaults and some safes will tip if there's not enough weight in it and you swing the door open.

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IYWTPTG, YBKTR. Dr

it should be fine, just dont mess up the floor getting it in there

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WILL WORK FOR AMMO!

We have started using the little sliders from Lowe's on hardwood floors. It is almost a must to bolt it down. Put the safe in an exterior corner for the best fire protection. And use 1/2 inch concrete anchors. The sliders will elevate the safe just under a 1/4 inch to help aid in drying underneath after a spill or moping. The sliders will help you get it into place without messing up the floor as well.

Hope this helps.

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SC Army National Guard

I have mine in the basement. Not wanting to drill holes in the concrete floor I went a different route, after the safe was moved in I built my gun room around it. There is exactly 1/8" clearance when the safe (lincoln 50) is moved throught the doorway. sideways. I reinforced the door jams and put double studs to mount the door to. Also i built a pedestal that overhangs/underhangs (?) the bottom of the safe by 1" on each side then filled the pedestal with firebrick. After it was assembled I bolted the bottom of the safe to the pedestal. There is no way anyone could drag that out of this room, the weight of the safe and firearms coupled with the oversized pedestal just isn't going to make it out of the doorway. Before I filled it I had a few friends over to try, and it won't make it. Set up like that the footprint of the safe will spread out the weight of the whole even more. Also with your hardwood floors it could then be placed on a piece of carpet with no danger of it being drug out.
Think of this: most house thieves are after a quick haul, the TV, DVD, what they can find in a hurry and sell for a crack rock. They don't have the time or expertise to haul something like that out. More advanced thieves who know what you have, given time will get into or steal whatever they need to. The best you can do is slow those folks down. The crackheads may beat on the door for awhile, maybe turn it over (!) hopefully on themselves.
The last class of thief, if he want's it bad enough, and knows what you have in it and has determined he will have it, will get it.
What is to keep that individual from monitoring your comings and goings? Nothing. So having figured out what time you walk out the door to go to work, they could simply be waiting to put a gun to your head and force you to open it.
Granted, that is the extreme, but as an example it shows that anything a determined thief wants, he/she will get.
Thankfully most house burglaries are not of that order, you can protect against those.
RD

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Got a Phd from Hard Knocks U

Put your safe in a corner with the side of the door (locking bolt side) away from the hinges against an exterior wall. That way, a thief who knows how to pry open a safe (yes it can be done in short order with a big crowbar), can't get any leverage against the door, and the safe door frame can't be bent or pried out, since the wall is against an outside wall. Make sure it is bolted down! They will pull it over to gain better leverage to the door frame. They don't care what condition the guns will come out in.

There is a video on the net that shows two guys from a safe company breaking into a safe in only a few minutes. But.... They tip it over so they have better leverage, and room to work their crowbars. Against an exteior wall and bolted down will stop 99.99% of theives. As has already been mentioned, theives are looking for a quick take.

Aloha,

As far as I know, no safe has successfully been broken into here in Hawaii.
One that I know of was taken out of the house, dragged down the road to the crook's home where the local police came and arrested them. Their story was that they "lost" the combination.

They were trying to open it in their Front Yard!!!!

The Wife has hers and I have mine. Both are bolted down to the concrete slab, inside a closet.

Before we moved, the safe was Not bolted down, but, it did have a minimum of 8 bags of lead shot holding the floor down :-)

Not that this has to do with placement, it does have to do with safes. This was related to me so I cannot verify the accuracy, but know the person who told this to me to be an honest person. I was told that an electrician had wired his safe to 220 Volts using a remote hidden switch, and had installed on the safe a small indicator light so he would know if the electricity was on before touching his safe. Needless to say, someone would be in for a shock (pun intended) if they tried to take this guy's guns. Not being an electrician myself, I couldn't say how this was done, but if someone could tell me, I'd like to try it myself.

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Shoot the CPU, not the monitor

I have a Zanotti safe because I live on the side of a steep hill and could not get a conventional safe delivered. They can be assembled inside a closet, since they are pinned together. The problem I see for you is that you really need to fasten the safe to the floor (lag bolt) to prevent the thieves from laying it over and prying the door open. Gun Safes for your home or business | Zanotti Armor®

Don't know how it works in Montana but if you did that here in California and you actually zapped a thief you'd be screwed. He (or his next of kin) would sue and win and take you for everything you've got plus you'd likely end up in prison as well.

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~ S&WCA No.2159 ~

Same here in Texas. A really big no-no.

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Rick

Yep....when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old the neighborhood thugs kept climbing my Gramps fence to raid/trash his prized vegetable gardens. He attached some carpet tack strips on top of the fence where they were climbing over.

Needless to say, the first kid who cut his hands up showed up at the door with his "parents"

Fortunately for my Gramp he was able to defuse the situation and not end up arrested and in jail for his boobytrap.

His gardens were NEVER messed with again though

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IYWTPTG, YBKTR. Dr

You should be careful about putting a safe in a basement. I knew a fellow that had his in the basement and his guns developed some serious rusting.
You can purchase a small heater for safes for about $35.00. They are a rod that uses electricity that maintains a small amount of heat inside the safe.

Golden Rod. Cheap insurance for sure. The other thing about the basement is in the event of a fire the fire dept water ends up in the basement. I have seen more damage from water than fire. I have replaced a couple after a fire and most of the contents were damaged by the water not the fire. Both were in basements. I have never replaced one that was just burned so can't say much about that.

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SC Army National Guard

You allow women to own houses in America. Isn't that taking this female emancipation thing a bit too far?

We say that if your wife comes into the lounge complaining, it's because you have made the chain too long (it doesn't keep her in the kitchen).

And someone sold a gun to her. They'll want driving licences and votes for women next!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't tell me ....

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Kill it, cook it, eat it.

I've got mine in the dining room, on hardwood floors over concrete slab. No basement or crawl space, just slab.
I put a piece of scrap carpet under the safe, upside down, as to not scratch the floors.
Not worried about the floors now, but if/when resale of the home becomes an option, I'd like to keep them looking as good as possible.

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If the weight of a loaded safe damages the hardwood floor beneath it , you have a lot more to worry about in the quality of yoour home than just the hardwood floors.

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Lost in Penn's Woods