Safes are surely one of the best ways to protect valuables from theft, as they are hard to intrude on. However, a gun safe shouldn’t be placed on usual surfaces in your house and they should be hidden.
Yes! They are unbreakable, but don’t you think they could be carried away? Just imagine, your safe being taken away by the burglars.
Bolting the safe to the floor is a good option, but many landlords and neighbors won’t allow that to happen, especially when you live in the US. So, the best way is to know how to secure a safe without bolting it to the floor?
Can Safe Protect Guns and Other Valuable Items?
The answer is yes. A safe can be used to secure all the valuables including your gun. But if talking about gun safety specifically, then there is nothing more reliable than keeping the weapon inside the safe.
It is also seen that a rise in the ownership of a gun is not a new practice from the past few decades. With a visible increase in the terroristic activities in most of the neighborhoods, many innocent US citizens have been buying weapons to protect themselves and their families.
For example, Statista confirms that from 2018 to 2019, there have been almost 1,230,149 reported cases of burglary in the United States. This is one of the reasons why around 43% of US civilians and adults have guns in their houses.
However, assuming you as a gun owner, you must be looking for multiple reasons for buying a gun safe. So, the first and the most important one is for your own safety. You must understand that a gun has no eyes, and accidents can happen at any time. So keeping it in the safe is the best way to prevent your family, kids, and even yourself from life-threatening accidents.
Therefore, instead of keeping your firearms or other precious objects in the drawer, closet, or somewhere easily approachable, it is vital to keep your gun inside the safe. This will protect the things from being misused or forcefully taken away.
And the best part thing is that you can now secure your safe without fixing it to the floor through bolts.
Why Bolting the Safe to the Floor is Not an Option?
Most of the people don’t own their houses and live on rent, this is why they are restricted to make any amendments in the house’s structure by their landlords. In the same way, people living in apartments (rent or owned) are limited to bolt the floor as the neighbors or building’s management doesn’t allow them to do it.
So, if you have similar issues, then just carry on reading to know what exactly you need to do.
Top 3 Methods for Secure Your Safe without Fixing It to the Floor
Regardless of the purpose of using a safe, there are several ways to protect it without disturbing your neighbor and landlord. Nevertheless, the most authentic ones are below that will guard your safe 24/7. So make sure you understand each one of them before applying any method.
Don’t worry, the techniques are fast, simple, and safe. Also, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on implementing these methods. So let’s begin with the easiest one.
1. Adding Weights
One of the simplest and, certainly, the most cost-effective method to secure your safe without screw-fitting it to the floor is to add weights.
For example, if burglars’ only intention is to get into your house and grab your safe along with other appealing objects, and to leave the premises ASAP, then they might be looking for something easy to carry.
So, rather than picking something bulky and huge, they will target small and simple things, such as your safe, so that they may escape quickly.
Now just assume burglars are trying to get away with the things and they approach the safe that includes additional weights, so wouldn’t that be hard to carry? The only action they will take is to leave the safe as it is, even though they will try hard to take it along with them.
So here’s what you are required to do.
Step 1: Find the Desired Location
Place your safe in the location that you think is best. It is always wise to choose a concealed area so that the potential burglars and your day-to-day visitors cannot spot the safe easily.
Step 2: Add-On Weights
Once you have settled the safe, now it is time to grab all the weights and add them one by one at the bottom area of it. Do not place your valuables before keeping the weights, as you might need to shuffle places to make room for the weights. So by following this technique, the safe will become too heavy to be easily lifted by burglars.
2. The Steel Slab Method
This method is more like the previous technique, but it is a bit more technical. In this method, you are required to add a slab of steel on the base of your safe, and although the process is simple, it needs a little more of the extra work.
The question most arises that why adding steel to the base is recommended and why not any other materials?
Well, it all depends on what object is convenient for you to bring. You can use several other metals in this technique, but the most recommended one is the steel slab.
Bolting the safe to a piece of huge steel will make it heavy enough for the burglars to carry from one place to another. And doing applying this technique is quite simple and doesn’t need any professional skills.
But before going to know the steps, first, you must know about the things you need.
- A piece or slab of steel that should be at least 1/4 inches in thickness to make the safe becomes heavier. On the contrary, the width of the slab must be bigger than the doorframe of your room or where the safe is placed. It is because even if the burglars have somehow managed to pick the safe, they find it difficult to carry it outside the room. The difference between the widths won’t allow burglars to take the safe with them.
- The second thing you need is a drill machine with the right screw size. Cordless drills will work just fine.
Once you have all the necessary equipment, it is time for the preparation:
Step 1: Choose Safe’s Location
This is important. You have to find a fix location to place the safe. Once you have locked a location, then place the steel slab and mount your safe over it.
Step 2: Begin the Bolting Process
After placing the steel slab and safe, search for the bolt-down holes at the bottom of the safe. Now drill the holes on steel slab but make sure that both holes coincide (holes should be accurate). Any displacement can create difficulties in fixing the safe on the slab. So once the holes are created, now simply bolt the safe with the slab.
3. Stick the Safe to the Floor with Glue
When bolting a safe to the floor is no way, then this technique is the simplest as compared to the above-mentioned methods and it requires zero boltings. Although using glue for securing the safe is not a common way, it is effective in most instances.
The market is full of high-potential glues which that stick the safe to the floor with enormous strength. And you can always use a glue remover in case you plan to switch the place of the safe. No hard work required!
So here are the supplies you need:
- A polymer glue (high-strength)
- Tape for tracing
- Measuring tape
- A scrapper
These items can be easily found online or at a nearby store. So after getting the things, follow these steps:
Step 1: Tracing the Measure Safe to the Floor
After choosing an ideal place to keep your safe at, bring the safe to that area. Now with the help of a measuring tape, take exact measurements and trace or mark the floor using the tape.
Step 2: The Gluing
As you have marked safe’s dimensions on the floor, follow the outline you have made by using the tape and put the glue on the exact places. When applying the glue, you have to make small circles of it on the traced floor. Once you have completed this process, get a scrapper for spreading the glue in fairly.
Now simply place the safe on the tracing and leave it for a few hours. The glue will make a strong bond between the floor and a safe that will be hard to be moved even by a lot of force.
Note: Do not over-glue the floor, as even a little of it can do the magic.
Other Quick Methods
Despite the three methods are best to protect your safe without making holes in the floor, a few more methods can also be followed, such as:
Stash it Under within Your Floorboards
You can’t bolt the safe to the floor, but you can still use it for hiding the safe. However, this method can work magnificently if you have wooden floors or else you can’t apply this technique.
All you need to do is to lift up the floorboards and use the space below to keep safe. Once you are done, just reinstall the floorboards. Tada! No one will know that there is a safe beneath their feet.
Craft a Fake Wall
You must have probably seen this step in several movies, but believe it or not, it can be for real. Hire a professional to create a fake wall to conceal and protect your safe. You can also go for a fake kitchen cabinet and store your safe inside.
Use Art to Hide the Safe
Another way to conceal it is by hiding the safe behind any huge painting or a photograph. But, as this technique is now quite common (again thanks to Hollywood), you should use multiple photos or paintings to confuse the intruders.
Nevertheless, burglars don’t have much time to look behind the paintings to find the safe, but in case they do, make sure to confuse them as much as possible.
Whether you are using a safe for keeping your gun or any other items like expensive rifle scopes, rings, etc., using the floor to directly bolt the safe to it is not possible for everyone. There are so many bad guys out there trying to steal your precious things, safe is the main target of most of them, as they know it has everything they wish for.
But fortunately, there are many ways to protect your safe without bolting it directly to the floor. They are secure, quick, and easy to do.