Converting a closet to a safe

[quiggly]

What I am doing for a safe is to convert one of the closets in my house. I am in the process of adding things to it. My main goal to begin with was to have a safe place to keep firearms, jewelry and other stuff from easy accessibility.

I didn't like a lot of the other safes because of Cost, weight and size so I thought I could use current square footage.

I put a digital/key lock on the door just like one that you would use on an outside entrance door on your home on a solid core door.

My next addition is going to be to add security to keep someone from breaking thru the drywall to get to it. I was thinking about lining it with steel sheets screwed to the studs or even thought possibly chainlink fence screwed to the studs from the inside.

After that I need to secure the door with a better lock. I thought about one of those magnetic locks like they use on computer rooms battery backed up of course.

After securing that I want to possibly replace the actual door with a Hidden door like a bookshelf. It would be an odd place to have one but may hide it well enough to keep someone from spending too much time in the heat of a breakin.

I am going to run power in it so I can have lighting and a dehumidifier stick. Also possibly a place to keep emergency equipment charged and ready for use.

Even thought about a fire extinguishing system that is self contained. This may save stuff in case the rest of the house burns down.

Looking for thoughts that others may have about a project like this.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but this seems like a good place to continue the home storage/safe options.

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by quiggly

What I am doing for a safe is to convert one of the closets in my house. I am in the process of adding things to it. My main goal to begin with was to have a safe place to keep firearms, jewelry and other stuff from easy accessibility.

This is a great idea. Never could get with the idea of having a safe and leaving it exposed, so that anyone who seen it would know you have something valuable enough to put in it.

Did I not hear correctly that some safe manufacturers actually use multiple layers of drywall for their fire protection?

[Rookie]

I would suggest hardibacker for the walls. 1/2 inch thick is some pretty tuff stuff, it's water and fire proof, and it would be cheaper and easier to work with than steel. You could then sheet rock over it and no one would know the difference...

[4sarge]

There is a 1 hour fireproof (1700*) drywall readily available and it is fairly inexpensive. Maybe doubling it would offer further fire protection. The most important thing is to keep your secret stash - secret

[Scutter01]

I copied a few posts from this thread

http://ingunowners.com/forums/genera...endations.html

To this one to continue this discussion.

The more I think about this the more I'd like to do this with one of my own closets. I figure I can get a much bigger enclosed area for much less money this way. It won't have the security of a true safe, but maybe I can make it safe "enough".

A couple of problems that I can see:

Security:

- Is a solid-core door enough? Perhaps a sheet of steel lining the inside for added strength (same goes for walls).
- Exterior hinges. My closet doors are all hinged on the outside of the door. What can be done about that? Are there hinges that can be installed that require the door to be open in order to remove? Can they be installed without performing major remodeling to the door frame and surrounding drywall?

Fire prevention:

- Is this a concern? If my house goes down, my gun storage is the least of my worries, but I'd still prefer some modicum of fire prevention. Is the previously-noted fireproof drywall sufficient? Floors and ceilings, too?

Climate control:

I'd like to have a dehumidifier inside, but is a dehumidifier stick sufficient? Where would the moisture be removed to with a larger system?


The closet I have in mind is on the second floor, and two of its walls are exterior, so for security I really only need to worry about one wall and the door area.

[mrw]

I've been wanting to do this to my closet too. Mine is fairly large, a couple hundred square feet, has a small window, power and AC/Heat. It already has a solid core exterior door on it. The problem is the same as Scutters. It opens 'out' instead of 'in' so the hinges are on the outside of the room. I'm curious if there is a way to secure the hinges or should I just put a dead bolt on all four corners of the door?

[Scutter01]

Good Lord! I don't think our first house was a couple hundred square feet!

Seriously, though, my closet (while not quote that big) is slightly walk-in sized, but not big enough to reverse the door so that it swings in. I'm also concerned that even if I reinforce the door and the surrounding wall that the jamb remains highly vulnerable to two minutes with a crow bar. I'm not expecting to have a completely secure room, but I want better than a few minutes' time to break in.

[Crystalship1]

Originally Posted by mrw

I've been wanting to do this to my closet too. Mine is fairly large, a couple hundred square feet, has a small window, power and AC/Heat. It already has a solid core exterior door on it. The problem is the same as Scutters. It opens 'out' instead of 'in' so the hinges are on the outside of the room. I'm curious if there is a way to secure the hinges or should I just put a dead bolt on all four corners of the door?

There are several styles of "Security Hinges" that would work in this situation:

http://www.statefarm.com/learning/be..._burg_hing.asp

[DRob]

The door itself is going to be a real weak point regardless of how many or what type of lock you put on it. A steel door is definitely in order. How about 2 steel doors mounted back-to-back. The outer door swinging out, the inner door swinging in, multiple deadbolts on each, hung on opposite sides of the door jamb. Using a closet with a window creates a handy point of entry for an intruder and adding bars to just that one window advertises your intent. While additional thicknesses of drywall may increase fire protection it will do little to deter a determined burglar.

I really like the idea of a walk-in vault and there are companies who make vault doors for just such uses but I think it would also require significant structural modifications to mount one. My understanding is they are intended to be mounted in poured concrete or, at least, concrete block walls.......... like a basement safe-room.

Let is know what you come up with.

[Scutter01]

DRob: Everything you said is true, but it would become cost prohibitive to make the modifications you suggest. Might just as well buy a safe at that point. The reality is that even a safe bolted to the floor is not going to stop a determined thief, which is why I did not say "safe" but rather "safe enough". Asking "How secure is it?" is the same as asking "How high is the sky?" The answer is that it's as high as it is. The question should be "Is it high enough?"