Raising a safe off the garage floor

Equipment and accessories for shooting. Safes, firearm storage, bipods, carry cases, slings etc.

Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 03 Jul 2018, 1:25 pm

Looking to install a rifle safe, and the most suitable place seems to be inside the garage.

However, once a year when the rain gets very heavy, the drainage system does not cope and the garage partially floods with a few mm of water. This may cause a rust/moisture problem with the safe.

I was thinking of raising the safe slightly by either using cement blocks or pavers or wood or something, and then drilling through them and bolting through them into the slab underneath. Water absorption of the platform may cause rust issues with the base of the safe, so I was thinking of putting a thin layer of rubber in between.

Would anyone have any experience or input?
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by Stix » 04 Jul 2018, 8:35 pm

Id check the firearm securtiy regs in your area, but my guess is they only say something in the order of "attached to the building" so you should be fine having it elevated...& if thats the case, id do it for sure--better than everything rusting away...! :thumbsup:

For any moisture barrier, id use DPC/Forticon--its the same black stippled/embossed plastic used in brick walls.

Dont use waterproofing membrane (paint on) unless you know what you're doing as most membranes are only effective for positive or negative pressure (meaning they only work one way & so may decouple/peel off what you paint them on).

Or just have it elevated...just keep in mind that it will be easier to pry the safe off the wall if not against the floor, so it might be worthwhile putting extra fixings in the wall. :thumbsup:

If you only need it raised 40mm or so, personally id just sit the safe on top of a concrete paver with a layer (or 2) of DPC between the paver & safe, & not drill through to the floor at all--as it will only encourage moisture to travel up into your safe eventually.
Id run the dpc up the back of the safe 100mm or so, or run a bead of nuetral cure silicone along the abutment of the paver/wall & pres the DPC into it while still wet--this will stop moisture rising up the wall behind the safe.

If you do this, you will want to make sure the fixings in the wall allow for no upward movement of the safe (do this anyway)--ie, the screws or bolts are hard against the steel of the safe to the bottom of the hole.

I dont know what construction your wall is (timber, steel or masonry), but there are ways of ensuring the safe has no upward movement with either screws into timber wall of dynabolts into masonry wall--basically try to angle them down slightly ensuring they are hard against the steel of the safe.

Best of luck, let us know how you go... :drinks:
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by SCJ429 » 04 Jul 2018, 9:49 pm

Could you weld some feet to the bottom of the safe and have your bolts run through them?
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 04 Jul 2018, 10:05 pm

SCJ429 wrote:Could you weld some feet to the bottom of the safe and have your bolts run through them?


I know how to do basic welding, but I don't think my skill is enough to do this without potentially ruining the safe finish
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 04 Jul 2018, 10:11 pm

Stix wrote:Id check the firearm securtiy regs in your area, but my guess is they only say something in the order of "attached to the building" so you should be fine having it elevated...& if thats the case, id do it for sure--better than everything rusting away...! :thumbsup:

For any moisture barrier, id use DPC/Forticon--its the same black stippled/embossed plastic used in brick walls.

Dont use waterproofing membrane (paint on) unless you know what you're doing as most membranes are only effective for positive or negative pressure (meaning they only work one way & so may decouple/peel off what you paint them on).

Or just have it elevated...just keep in mind that it will be easier to pry the safe off the wall if not against the floor, so it might be worthwhile putting extra fixings in the wall. :thumbsup:

If you only need it raised 40mm or so, personally id just sit the safe on top of a concrete paver with a layer (or 2) of DPC between the paver & safe, & not drill through to the floor at all--as it will only encourage moisture to travel up into your safe eventually.
Id run the dpc up the back of the safe 100mm or so, or run a bead of nuetral cure silicone along the abutment of the paver/wall & pres the DPC into it while still wet--this will stop moisture rising up the wall behind the safe.

If you do this, you will want to make sure the fixings in the wall allow for no upward movement of the safe (do this anyway)--ie, the screws or bolts are hard against the steel of the safe to the bottom of the hole.

I dont know what construction your wall is (timber, steel or masonry), but there are ways of ensuring the safe has no upward movement with either screws into timber wall of dynabolts into masonry wall--basically try to angle them down slightly ensuring they are hard against the steel of the safe.

Best of luck, let us know how you go... :drinks:


As far as I know, NSW's rules are for it to be secured to the premises.

I did some googling, and it seems as if in the USA a number of people have problems with flooding basements so raise their safes. One solution given is to use hockey pucks and drill through them. Reason being is that it allows a layer of air in between the safe and floor, which allows a bit of air circulation to dry the area if it gets wet. Also, plastic does not conduct the coldness of the cement floor, which would help with rust, since cold cement=cold safe=cold air inside safe=condensation=rust.

I had a look in Bunnings just now and they have some of those rubber floor squares. I was thinking of cutting them up into smaller squares and placing them in small piles about 5cm high, then putting the safe on top and drilling through the rubber squares. After compacting, it should end up being about 4cm high.

One thing the Americans raised is that if you raise a safe, it's easier for a thief to use a breaker bar or something to pull the safe off the bolts, or for the bolts to be accessed and grinded off. IMO, if someone is that determined to get my safe, let them have it and let insurance deal with it.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by Member-Deleted » 04 Jul 2018, 10:14 pm

Have a metal frame made up angle iron on the top and bottom RHS or angle uprights, get the frame made the same size as the safe and as high as you need it, dynabolt the bottom of the frame to the floor and bole the bottom of the safe to the frame, if you buy some hammer tone, or normal paint the same colour as the safe, it should look quiet neat.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 05 Jul 2018, 12:58 pm

Member-Deleted wrote:Have a metal frame made up angle iron on the top and bottom RHS or angle uprights, get the frame made the same size as the safe and as high as you need it, dynabolt the bottom of the frame to the floor and bole the bottom of the safe to the frame, if you buy some hammer tone, or normal paint the same colour as the safe, it should look quiet neat.


I thought of something like that as well, but I'm concerned the moisture may cause rusting of the frame, which would transmit to the safe.. That and due to the hardness of iron, I would need to source a way to fabricate the frame

I was thinking another way would be just to hit up bunnings for lengths of extruded square/rectangular alunimium. Aluminium would be much easier to cut myself and would act as an anode, reducing the chance of rust. Because of the softness of aluminium, I could drill straight through it
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by Wombat » 06 Jul 2018, 6:13 pm

You could just get some short sections of square steel tube and use them as legs.Just bolt down through the middle, no need to drill at all.
However I think its folly to put a safe where you know its is going to be flooded, humidity is going to be an issue and I think you will end up with rusty guns.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 06 Jul 2018, 11:19 pm

Wombat wrote:You could just get some short sections of square steel tube and use them as legs.Just bolt down through the middle, no need to drill at all.
However I think its folly to put a safe where you know its is going to be flooded, humidity is going to be an issue and I think you will end up with rusty guns.


I see where you are coming from, however it floods once a year at most and only for a few hours of a couple of mm of water.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by axio » 08 Jul 2018, 9:12 pm

I have the same issue so just put some blocks of wood in the safe to raise everything up a few cm.
The longterm solution is knock down rebuild the whole lot but this’ll do for now.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 08 Jul 2018, 11:00 pm

axio wrote:I have the same issue so just put some blocks of wood in the safe to raise everything up a few cm.
The longterm solution is knock down rebuild the whole lot but this’ll do for now.


For me, its fixable by doing a complete re landscape and re plumbing some of the downpipes onto a new stormwater line to the drain.

After the last time the garage flooded, we got plumbers out to have a look at the pipes. All the downpipes drain to a central point under the house and then there are multiple 90 degree bends, which restricts the water flow heavily.

My current train of thought is to mount it to the floor normally, and then silicon some aluminium square tubing to the floor to act as a water barrier.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by cflake » 10 Jul 2018, 8:28 am

My Spika SCH1 comes with feet, so it might be as easy as safe selection - providing you haven't bought one already.
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Re: Raising a safe off the garage floor

Post by PCHammond » 10 Jul 2018, 11:39 am

cflake wrote:My Spika SCH1 comes with feet, so it might be as easy as safe selection - providing you haven't bought one already.


Thanks. Good tip

Haven't bought it yet and that will be something I look for
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