Gun Safe In Garage?

[meddin]

I have an opportuniy to acquire a safe that was used in a now closed retail store. The price is great (free provided I pay to have it moved). This thing is quite large, and very, very heavy. It is around 5.5 feet tall, and weighs well over 1000 pounds (I think over 2k actually - my brother and I could not even begin to budge the thing, and we are not small people).

Here is the thing...I dont think I can get this in the house (and frankly I worry about the floor being able to support the thing). That leaves the garage as my option. Is that a bad option? It is a detatched and unheated garage, so I assume climate may be a problem.

I am looking for feedback. Thoughts?

[JustPlainT]

If you put in a dehumidifier of some kind within the safe, and take adequate measures to prevent outside observers from seeing a safe is inside, then you should be OK. Guns don't mind being cold or hot - there's no way that the inside of that safe is going to get too hot or too cold during the year such as to cause damage to the guns.


I'd be much more worried about observation followed by theft than I would the weather.

[CJB]

You'll definitely want a dehumidifier. A few desi-packs isn't going to do the trick. Invest in a quality plug-in electric one.

Leave a little extra oil on your guns as well.

Also, part of me thinks that heating the garage in the winter might actually be a bad idea, as this will increase the humidity.

[Seismic Sam]

Well, with an unheated garage, any gun you take out between November and late April will fog up with moisture inside your house, so that will be a REAL problem. If it's a real 1 ton safe, it sounds like no punks can break into it, and certainly it will take a trailer to move it, which is good. Does the house have a basement?? If so, check the size of the floor joists, and at worst you can put a steel support post in the basement under where the safe is. If nothing else, call Kat Keys (right next to the EFFEN Gopher), give them the type and serial number of the safe, and they can give you the weight and and estimate on how much to move it. They do have safe dollys and trailers just for this purpose.

[meddin]

Well, with an unheated garage, any gun you take out between November and late April will fog up with moisture inside your house, so that will be a REAL problem.

Good point...didn't think about that.

Does the house have a basement?? If so, check the size of the floor joists, and at worst you can put a steel support post in the basement under where the safe is.

It does indeed have a basement. I will check this out too!

[river_boater]

If this isn't specifically designed to be a gun safe, it may not have a hole to run the power cord for a dehumidifier rod.

Good safes are very expensive. You could always resell it and buy a smaller purpose-built gun safe.

[MNGunGuy]

Also, part of me thinks that heating the garage in the winter might actually be a bad idea, as this will increase the humidity.

Heating cold air actually drops relative humidity as warm air can hold more moister than cold.

[FJ540]

You'd be better served with it somewhere you can keep it above the dewpoint.

Sure, a lightbulb (if you can still buy one that makes heat ) or goldenrod (basically just a heater in a tube) will help, but think about the rise and fall of temps in the summer too. Your iron holds its temp, then if the air temp rises and the guns are now colder, condensation can occur. You don't want that!

It's bad enough that happens with hunting guns in the fall when it's cold out and we bring them inside, but you don't want to do that to your whole collection every day.

[Scott Notaeh]

I know of a safe in an unheated garage and the goldenrod type dehumidifier seems to work fine.

[Bitter Bastard]

While not ideal, for a free safe, go for it. Put a vapor barrier down between the safe and garage floor. Run a golden rod and also a large (or two) can of desiccant in there and you should be fine. In my safes, I have both and dry out the desiccant the first of every month just to be safe.

Really, it's a free kick-ass sounding safe. Go for it. If it will physically fit down your stairs, put it in your basement but the garage will do in a pinch.

As to upstairs, I had a couple safes in an upstairs bedroom in an old 1920's house. I shored up the joists from below with a simple floor jack steel post and a 4x4 to run between the joists. Against code (apparently), I never bolted the jack to the floor, it just stayed up with the tension I cranked into it. When I moved, I had to remove it and the joists hadn't sagged a bit and there was no sign of stress in the bedroom walls or floor either.

Good luck!

Bitter Bastard

[xd ED]

Another point to consider, along with the condensation issues SSam mentioned- because cars are often coated with salt/ ice melting chemicals, and they fall off the vehicle and ends up on the floor, and as airborne dust- you could have a corrosive environment for gun metal...

[XDM45]

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=34679 <-- my gun safe. I wonder what to use to keep it dry in there? It sits in my basement (new house) carpeted floor, ammo on the bottom drawer, guns on top. Silica gell packs maybe? and where is a good place to get them?

Suggestions?

Also check out this thread: http://www.mnguntalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=35598

and this too: A good educational video on safes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltK-bDbADa8

[darnzen]

http://www.mnguntalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=34679 <-- my gun safe. I wonder what to use to keep it dry in there? It sits in my basement (new house) carpeted floor, ammo on the bottom drawer, guns on top. Silica gell packs maybe? and where is a good place to get them?

Suggestions?

Also check out this thread: http://www.mnguntalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=35598

and this too: A good educational video on safes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltK-bDbADa8

We sell Silica gel packs at Arnzen Arms. I think we have 3 sizes of them available. PM me if you want more info.

[solidgun]

http://www.mnguntalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=34679 <-- my gun safe. I wonder what to use to keep it dry in there? It sits in my basement (new house) carpeted floor, ammo on the bottom drawer, guns on top. Silica gell packs maybe? and where is a good place to get them?

Suggestions?

It is always better to get the dehumidifier if the storage is taking place in high humidity/low air flow locations. You can use desiccant or place a large porous bag of rice and replace that from time to time, but this is recommended more for mild humidity locations to remove occasional moisture build up.

[jenas89]

Safes in NYC are beneficial to keep home valuables safely. You can also know about online details to purchase gun safes.



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