Mounting a fire safe to the wall

[Orville mogul]

I just bought this fire safe and want to bolt it so that it cannot be carried away by any would-be burglars.

The safe came with a pre-drilled hole in the base and a bolt for attaching it to the floor. The problem is that I have floor heating and I think it is too risky to drill into the floor and possibly go through one of the heating tubes. The guy at the DIY store where I bought the safe told me that I could instead bolt it to a load bearing wall, all I would have to do is to drill a new hole in the back of the safe. Apparently the external sheath of the safe is steel and the inside is filled with some form of concrete.

Is this wise or even possible? I will be bringing in a handyman with professional tools for the job. Has anyone ever done anything like this?

Mods, I wasn't sure if this thread is appropriate for The Barn House, since it is not strictly a rehab job. Feel free to move it if necessary.

[Sparky812]

IMHO, the easiest solution would be take the safe back and buy one that is designed to be anchored to a wall. Drilling a hole in the safe is not a viable option. I mean, it's a safe, it's designed so thieves can't do things like ...errr....drill holes in it!
Do you have a detailed plan of your house showing where the heating pipes are located and their spacing? Depending on your system and climate these could be fron 6" to 12" apart. If you can loacote the pipes it should be simple to find a closet or corner that is clear.

[Leaffan]

It doesn't list the weight.

Some quick math tells me you would be drilling through about 7 cm of steel and concrete.

Why do you even need to mount it to anything if it's just a fire safe?

[Sparky812]

Originally Posted by Leaffan

Why do you even need to mount it to anything if it's just a fire safe?

From the OP...

I just bought this fire safe and want to bolt it so that it cannot be carried away by any would-be burglars.

LOL, it's still a safe to store your valuables, it's just fireproof.

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by Sparky812

From the OP...



LOL, it's still a safe to store your valuables, it's just fireproof.

[Orville mogul]

I spoke to a friend over the weekend and he suggests welding a couple of L brackets to the sides of the safe and attaching those to the wall. Actually that makes a lot of sense and would not involve risking the floor heating or compromising the fire integrity of the safe.

[Sparky812]

Originally Posted by Endemic

I spoke to a friend over the weekend and he suggests welding a couple of L brackets to the sides of the safe and attaching those to the wall. Actually that makes a lot of sense and would not involve risking the floor heating or compromising the fire integrity of the safe.

That thought came to me as well but the mounting bolt is inside the safe for a good reason, to protect it from thieves.
After bolting your brackets to the wall you could always weld the bolts in place to ensure that thieves couldn't just unscrew them but that wouldn't stop a thief from using an angle grinder and just cutting off the brackets and taking the safe.

[Sparky812]

Hey, could you lay the safe on it's back and mount the bottom of it to the wall instead?

[Orville mogul]

Originally Posted by Sparky812

Hey, could you lay the safe on it's back and mount the bottom of it to the wall instead?

Would you believe that you are actually the third person to suggest that solution? The friend that I mentioned suggested that, and so did the junior architect who designed the apartment. I wonder if there is something to that idea

[johnpost]

take a piece of wood (glue together plywood until 3/4 inch thickness) the size of the base of the safe. drill a hole through the wood in the correct location for the bolt, drill a larger hole the diameter of a washer for the bolt from the bottom of the board for half the wood's depth). place a washer and bolt through the board from the bottom. glue the board to the floor with construction adhesive. after it has cured bolt the safe down.

[Sparky812]

Originally Posted by johnpost

take a piece of wood (glue together plywood until 3/4 inch thickness) the size of the base of the safe. drill a hole through the wood in the correct location for the bolt, drill a larger hole the diameter of a washer for the bolt from the bottom of the board for half the wood's depth). place a washer and bolt through the board from the bottom. glue the board to the floor with construction adhesive. after it has cured bolt the safe down.

The weak link in this plan is, of course, the plywood, which will burn and/or delaminate when it gets old or wet.
You may be onto something though, you could use epoxy or construction adhesive to mount a steel plate with the bolt facing upwards or even the whole safe itself right to the floor.