Fire resistant room?

[mlr1m]

I'm trying to think of a better way to protect my firearms. Either with a safe or without. Either way I'd like to make a fire resistant room out of a closet. I would plan on later putting a safe in it.

Would gutting the closet and removing the door then putting in 1" sheet rock be the way to start it? The floor is concrete. I figure the ceiling and walls would be protected from heat for a while with the sheetrock. Any other ideas that I could incorporate into it?

My plans are to have a place that could stand some heat. Later on it would help to enhance the fireproffing of the safe? Maybe sheetrock and a material like nomex?

Michael

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[archer51]

If your going to gut the closet interior , put rockwool insulation (home improvement stores will know what your looking for) between the studs prior to putting up sheet rock. You might also want to caulk the seams of the sheetrock with a commercial fire stop caulk. For the door get the highest fire rated door you can afford.

[JustInCase]

YouTube - FIRE PROOF PAINT!!!

[Hopyard]

I'm trying to think of a better way to protect my firearms. Either with a safe or without. Either way I'd like to make a fire resistant room out of a closet. I would plan on later putting a safe in it.

Would gutting the closet and removing the door then putting in 1" sheet rock be the way to start it? The floor is concrete. I figure the ceiling and walls would be protected from heat for a while with the sheetrock. Any other ideas that I could incorporate into it?

My plans are to have a place that could stand some heat. Later on it would help to enhance the fireproffing of the safe? Maybe sheetrock and a material like nomex?Michael l

If by sheetrock you are talking of ordinary plaster wall board, the kind with paper on both sides, I don't think that will help.

There are products such as Hardiboard and cement board (really heavy) which would do better than wallboard.

You also need to change the ceiling boards. I would think that in a serious fire the beams holding these boards would start to go. You might want to look into somehow protecting the studs as well as changing the board.

I'm going to preach what I have not yet done. Every house needs a
safe room of sorts. Unless you start from scratch it is hard to retrofit and do a really good job of it, but it is certainly possible to slow things down for intruders and flames--but you also need some smoke protection for the latter and a means to protect from heat. I think fire protection would be quite a bit more involved than just building a fire retardent wall and hoping the smoke and heat don't get you.

[shooterX]

If your going to gut the closet interior , put rockwool insulation (home improvement stores will know what your looking for) between the studs prior to putting up sheet rock. You might also want to caulk the seams of the sheetrock with a commercial fire stop caulk. For the door get the highest fire rated door you can afford.

This is good advice. Fire rated assemblies aren't hard to do, just takes a little work. First if you aren't going to remove the non-closet side materila, then you will want to install 3 layers of 1/2-5/8" type X gypsum board, taping and mudding all seams, and stagering the seams. Caulk the joint at the corners, floor and ceiling, as archer said, the insulation will add some, but not much. You can probably get by with two layers on the ceiling. Then install a 60 minute door. You may want to price this, you might find buying a fire rated safe is close in price, not sure though.

[JohnK87]

If I was going to go to all the expense of trying to make a fireproof gun room, I'd go a little farther and make a safe room/vault/tornado shelter/gun room that could serve multiple uses. One of these, for instance.
StormCloset® - Tornado Safe Rooms by RemagenSafeRooms. Elegant, above ground in-residence protection from hurricanes, F5 tornados and shields your valuables from fire and burglars. Order by phone 888-397-7142.

[Superhouse 15]

Consider installing residential fire sprinklers. Not just for your closet, or safe room, but your entire house. Your insurance savings may cover a signficant part of the cost.

[darkvibe]

Double layer type X sheetrock with staggered seams, fire rated door, intumescent caulk (fire caulk) any penetrations. That would be a start. A sprinkler wouldn't be a bad idea.

[mlr1m]

I'm getting plenty of good ideas here. Some of which I had never thought of or knew about before. Many of thye guns I have could never be replaced even if insured. I figure fire is the #1 danger. Later on I would like to put a safe inside it.

Michael

[dukalmighty]

I wonder if an old oven would keep heat out just like it keeps it in

[Superhouse 15]

Some links. Sprinklers can save your family, not just your stuff.

#1. A side by side video. Totally unsurvivable in a minute and a half even with plenty of ventilation.
YouTube - Home Fire Sprinkler Demonstration

#2 Pay attention to what he says at 1:30. We do tons of water damage.
YouTube - Sprinkler Systems

#3, longer. The test starts at about 3:00 in. I'm not sure what the departments are like where you live. In my area 6 minutes is a good response time, but in other districts in my department it can be much longer and you might only get 2 on the first arriving truck. I think there's a sniper watching the video.
YouTube - The Residential Fire Sprinkler Test

[Tom357]

If you want to DIY, then NOAA and FEMA have plans on-line for retrofitting a natural disaster saferoom into your existing home. The plans could certainly be adapted.