How To Bolt Gun Safe to the Floor

You’ve probably heard that anchoring our gun safe to the floor is an intelligent safety precaution, and you’re eager to get your hands on the bolts. But is it a straightforward process as it sounds? Let’s look at why anchoring is essential and how you should bolt your safe to the floor.

Do You Need to Bolt your Gun Safe?

Yes, always keep your safe anchored to the floor. It will minimize accidents to your loved ones and even damage to your property. Imagine if your gun safe tips over? It could cause severe injury or death to people around you.

Uneven leveling could result in carpet tearing, dents, crushed wood floor, and even scuffs. You should know your floor type to use appropriate tools, bolts, and bases when bolting.

Anchoring makes it hard for outsiders and thieves to access your safe and steal your guns and other contents. So proper bolting will keep you and your loved ones safe, crucial.

What To Consider Before Bolting your Safe To The Floor

Uneven leveling could result in carpet tearing, dents, crushed wood floor, and even scuffs. You should know your floor type to use appropriate tools, bolts, and bases when bolting.

Anchoring makes it hard for outsiders and thieves to access your safe and steal your guns and other contents. So proper bolting will keep you and your loved ones safe, crucial.

But before bolting, you need to consider a few things that include:

Floor type – Determine what type of your floor so you can use the correct bolts to secure your gun safe.

Subflooring – Different materials are used for subflooring. For instance, subfloors on the top floor are often plywood on joists beneath for support which will need wood anchoring. However, if you have a basement, you probably require concrete anchoring. This will prevent the use of wrong anchoring tools.

You may need to hire an expert to bolt your gun safe for the best results. As simple as it may sound, you may injure yourself or destroy your home and even the gun safe. This will lead to

more damage and extra repair costs, which you can avoid by contacting a professional technician for the installation.

However, if you’re up to the job, read how you can bolt your safe to the floor.

How to Anchor a Safe to Softer Floors

Softer floors include carpeting, linoleum, hardwood, vinyl, and lamination put on top of your wood subfloor. You will need to use a safe-anchoring kit for wooden subfloors to bolt your gun safe. Locate the pre-cut anchor holes of your safe to bolt it down firmly.

Full-sized safes include anchor holes that you can locate on the floor. To identify the pre-cut holes, lift the flooring panel of your safe, then remove the floor caps. Once you do this, follow the below steps:

Drill the proper hole in all four anchoring spots on your floor.
Put the washers right on the anchor bolts.
Secure the bolts inside the drilled holes with a socket tool.
Replace the flooring tops and flooring panels.

How to Anchor Safe to Harder Floors

Concrete floors are harder and more complicated than softer floors for bolting. So, you need to get suitable anchoring kits specifically for hard floors and a drilling harmer suited to drilling through concrete.

But ensure you’re not working on post-tension slab types before you begin drilling. Post-tension slabs have strong steel wires passing throughout the slabs, subjected to thousands of pounds of strain. If a cable is broken, it might rapidly rip out of the concrete, causing property damage or injuring people.

Check the stamp on your floor, which indicates whether the base is post-tension or not. If you’re uncertain, consult with your contractor who constructed your building. Then you can follow the below steps:

Remove the floor panel & flooring caps from the safe to view the pre-cut anchoring slots.
Using a hammer drill, start drilling a hole in the hard slab for each of the four anchoring spots.
Remove any debris from the holes.
Remove any debris from the holes.
Hammer the concrete bolts into the holes.
Install and tighten the bolts with a toolset.

Can You Bolt Through Tile or Stone?

If your home has tiles, or maybe it’s a stone floor, worry not as you can still bolt your safe. Stone flooring is strong, but it would be hard to cause cracking in your stone floor if you evenly distribute your safes weight.

For tiles, most can withstand the safes’ weight, but it would be best to follow the guidelines on Porcelain Enamel Institute. Doing so will help determine if your tile is good enough to withstand a safe furthermore, there is no harm in being sure before starting your bolting process.

But what do experts say? First, installation experts prefer anchoring your safe to other spaces on a wall rather than through stone and tile floors. This is because it’s challenging to secure a safe on these floors without shattering the tile squares.

What are the Benefits of Bolting Down your Gun Safe?

Taking an extra step in maximizing the security of your gun safe is a smart move. So, Purchasing a safe is a good decision. But, you may be wasting your effort and money unless you effectively secure it. Below are some of the ways you can benefit by bolting down your safe.

Safes are often taken from homes, regardless of the weight or size, once thieves get the time and opportunity. To prevent this, make it hard for them to take your gun safe.

Safes are a significant deterrence, but the first thing a thief will try to do when they come across one is relocate it. If the safe does not budge, the thief will give up. Most robbers will not attempt to open a safe, precisely one with a high level of security. So, securing your safety is an excellent way to add protection to your weapons.

It makes it better when filing for an insurance claim. For example, many insurance companies require that if you choose to use a safe to store valuables or money in your property, it should be properly installed on a wall or the floor.

When Should You Avoid Bolting Your Safe?

Some instances make it hard for you to bolt down your safe. For example, if you live in rented apartments, you may need your landlord’s approval to bolt down your safe, so you should not bolt your safe in such places.

Some floors are maybe weak to withstand the safes’ weight which may compromise the building’s structure. If this is the case, you may need to use other alternatives such as the wall to install the safe.

If you find yourself in these dilemmas, you may need to secure your safe without bolting it on the floor. You can do this by:

Hiding your gun safe under hardwood floors and sealing it with floorboards.
Add weight to your safe after placing it in a concealed location. This will make it hard for thieves to move it.
Hiding it behind fake walls, art paintings/pieces, or even in kitchen cabinets where intruders may not expect. A professional may do a clean job rather than a DIY technique.
Bolting to large wooden pallets that are challenging and time-consuming to move through the doorway. So what are the pros and cons of secured safes not fastening to the floor?

Pros

It’s a simple procedure that takes less time.
You don’t need safety gear as there’s less dust and risk of injury exposure.
You do not need special tools to get the job done

Cons

It provides minimal security for your firearms depending on the method you apply to locate your safe
Sometimes It can be costly compared to fastening your safe on the floor

Conclusion

Bolting your safe to the floor is something you should do to secure your firearms and minimize thieves from stealing them. You can do this on softer and hard floors by following the above steps.

If you are in tight situations that make it hard to bolt down your safe, apply other ways to secure your safe without fastening it to the floor. However, it would be best to hire an expert to do the job for you. This will minimize damages to your property, safety, and self-injuries.