SOLUTION - Securing a safe in a basement or apartment without drilling walls or floor

[wahya451]

I apologize in advance if this has been discovered before.

I was having a problem with bolting a new safe to my cement floor or the walls in my basement. This would be the same issue for someone that maybe had their safe in an apartment and couldn't do modification to the floor or wall.

Here is the solution that I found, and I am sure it wont work for everyone.

Some have said to leave the safe on the pallet it comes in. There are 2 known problems with that. 1 is someone with a floor jack can come along and take it away if the pallet isn't bolted down. 2 is that the wood (if exposed to a lot of moisture for whatever reason unless specially treated) can rot after awhile.

I the solution that works for me is this.

My safe is approximately 27" deep. Narrow enough to fit through a standard 30x80 doorway. As most safes come with a pallet that fit it exactly, it can go through said doorway sideways without a problem.

Solution is to buy a Plastic Pallet sold many places online that is wider than the doorway. You can put it through the doorway on its side. Set it up where you want. Transfer your safe from the wooden pallet to the plastic one (after unbolting it first). Re-bolt it to the plastic pallet with whatever washers are neccessary to get it done. In my case i just placed the safe on it. Drilled the holes down through the safe and reached up under the pallet to hold the nut in place while i rebolted it.

This solves several situations.

1. The safe is off the floor on plastic that has circulation around it to prevent rust on the bottom forming.

2. It is water resistant. So if you get a leak in your basement (pipe burst, ground water leakage, etc), it is good unless you get several inches enough to get above the platform, then into the cracks on the safe door.

3. It is wider than the doorway, so regardless of pallet jack, forklift or whatever, it isn't getting out of the room because it is now wider than the doorway.

4. You can cap off the mounting holes in the back of the safe to increase moisture barrier/heat barrier if it is a fire safe.

5. If you have a light safe, then they still aren't going to carry it out if it is too wide. They aren't going to turn the safe on its side unless you have a safe that is shorter than say 25 inches tall.

6. The likely hood of them being able to unbolt the safe from the oversized pallet without actually getting into the safe is HIGHLY unlikely, and way too time consuming, if even possible.

7. Lastly you have now room between the safe and the wall for more air circulation on the outside of the safe.

I hope this helps some people out.

Let me know if anyone has further questions.

Gary J

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[redbeardsong]

Nice idea. But what if they just cut down the plastic pallet with a sawzall or a sledge hammer.

[wahya451]

That is of course an option. However, the average home invasion/target of opportunity thieves don't carry those. Most thieves aren't going to want to take that kind of time, when they dont know what is in a safe. Plus there is the fact that they will have to take the time on site to do that, which increases risk of getting caught. In an apartment, those kind of noises would be noticed. In my place, I have people watching my house basically 24/7 whether I am home or not. This situation is also more helpful if you have an alarm system also.

[mprp]

That's a good idea. maybe even secure some cable in and around the pallet so cutting it off would be even that much harder to do. Anything that delays a thief is a good thing. Thanks for posting.

[wahya451]

I like that idea. I will have to see what I can do with that.

[Guns and more]

But what if they just cut down the plastic pallet with a sawzall or a sledge hammer.

If they brought those tools with them, they will just open the safe.
The enemy of the burglar is time. He'll take the TV and leave the safe.
Gun safes are protection from drug addled bums who want to steal anything to avoid actually working.
A professional will open any safe. So then, I'd say, why would a professional target me? He wouldn't. I'm poor. Hit the mansions.
If a professional hits your house, you've been showing off.


I think the plastic pallet is a great idea. Especially on concrete

[AZJD1968]

I agree. Good idea and thank you.

[xXMens ReaXx]

Not a bad idea. I have mine bolted to my dresser and the drawer itself so they would probably have to take the dresser itself.
Best idea I could think of given my circumstances.

[trainercb]

great idea. Good thinking, op

[Guest1]

If you can reach the bolts,they can reach the bolts.

[wahya451]

True if you bolt the item down with the nuts on the outside, or with bolts that have heads on them that can be gripped with channel locks. If however you placed the bolt from under the item into the safe, with rounded heads and the nut on the inside of the safe, then there is nothing to grab onto from the outside. You know the bolts with rounded heads that have a square on the under side above the threads that recesses into a hole. It takes extra effort to dremel or fix the item you are bolting it to, but in the end, unless you are on the nut side to loosed it far enough to get some channel locks to engage, you are out of luck. They would have to resort to the aforementioned sawzall or something like that, that takes time and makes noise.

[Gforty]

If you can reach the bolts,they can reach the bolts.

How about using Carriage bolts (same as described by OP in post #11) inserted from the bottom of the pallet?
Should work if there's room inside; the threaded portion might have to be shortened for clearance.

Trying to grasp a carriage bolt head from underneath would not be easy.