The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hello

I will be moving house some time soon-and therefore my cabinets. Unfortunately my request for a whole gun room was denied!
So I will be taking part of one spare room upstairs in a 15 year old house, I would like to add another safe as I am running out of room, but here lies my problem…..

I need to fit the safes inside a wardrobe (100x58cm). This will be two rifle safes and one ammo safe weighing in at 270 lbs, add rifles and ammo/reloading components the weight could be nearer 450lbs. The safes will sit on a plinth to spread the weight over a slightly larger area, will be sitting on at least two joists running perpendicular to the exterior wall.

Has any one here got a similar set up, experienced any problems etc? Max floor loading I have seen quoted as 31 lbs/sq ft but this at any point across the joist and doesn't take into account the fixings for the safe taking some of the weight.

Don't want to be causing any issues, locating the safe downstairs on the concrete subfloor isn't really possible with the plans we currently have.

Cheers
JM

Are you suggesting that two large blokes would have to stand a safe distance apart to safeguard your floor loading?
Fred

I keep my safe upstairs which weighs 90kg (~200lb) empty. It is home to 7 firearms and around 1,000 loaded bullets. Directly next to my safe I keep my metallic loading gear (bullets, brass, dies) which is all in a 2ft x 6ft area on the flooring. I have no issues with supporting strength of my flooring.

One question though, why do you have a requirement for storing these inside a cupboard?

Have you compared the loading per unit area to that produced by something like a double bed with small feet and two people in it?

I would expect once it is bolted in that the wall fixings will be taking the great majority of the load?

FredB wrote:Are you suggesting that two large blokes would have to stand a safe distance apart to safeguard your floor loading?
Fred

Strangely I have not yet considered the option of storing two large blokes in my wardrobe in the same place for the next 20 odd years!

I thought we are all aware that temporary and permenant placements of load are two different things! Thanks though

WelshShooter wrote:I keep my safe upstairs which weighs 90kg (~200lb) empty. It is home to 7 firearms and around 1,000 loaded bullets. Directly next to my safe I keep my metallic loading gear (bullets, brass, dies) which is all in a 2ft x 6ft area on the flooring. I have no issues with supporting strength of my flooring.

One question though, why do you have a requirement for storing these inside a cupboard?

Thats good to hear, my current set up is downstairs and its weight has never concerned me that much. From what I am led to believe my FEO and certainly my partner would like the safes covered/hidden, nice and tidy install to keep everyone happy.

Will the cabinets not be attached to the wall and therefore some of the load will be taken off the floor? When i fitted my cabinet (albeit a light 2-3mm steel job), the majority of its weight went onto the fixings as its a Barratt house and there isn't a right angle in the place

Blackstuff wrote:Will the cabinets not be attached to the wall and therefore some of the load will be taken off the floor? When i fitted my cabinet (albeit a light 2-3mm steel job), the majority of its weight went onto the fixings as its a Barratt house and there isn't a right angle in the place

Yeah it will take some load-don't know how much though, don't want to be causing any damage/distortion to the floor and downstairs ceiling after a prolonged period!

If it's a masonry wall I wouldn't worry, properly fitted wall bolts should provide all you need. Shear strength on the bolts would be immense in comparison to the dead load.

Blackstuff wrote:Will the cabinets not be attached to the wall and therefore some of the load will be taken off the floor? When i fitted my cabinet (albeit a light 2-3mm steel job), the majority of its weight went onto the fixings as its a Barratt house and there isn't a right angle in the place

That's a good point; when I installed my safe the flooring was laminate and I didn't want to damage it. So I cut up an old doormat (the rubber underside with fabric top part) to size and placed under the safe before fitting. This means no doubt that the wall will take a large majority of the weight as the mat becomes compressed.