Locations for the gun safe

[billytheghillie]

21 minutes ago, Scully said:

Whats a 'golden rod'? 

if you bend over, he will show you.

[WalkedUp]

🤣🤣🤣

[The Heron]

Loft gable end every time.

[quentyn]

i would stick it under the stairs if there is cupboard there 

 

also thermalite isnt a hassle just get some rigfix m10's and be done with it 

 

[Scully]

30 minutes ago, billytheghillie said:

if you bend over, he will show you.

I was waiting for a comment like that. 🙂

[hwr]

I would suggest that a Pita loft safe would either put you off going out shooting or discourage you from replacing gun quickly, so the cupboard would be best.( not understairs one)

[NoBodyImportant]

4 hours ago, Scully said:

Whats a 'golden rod'? 

It’s a dehumidifier Rod.  https://www.amazon.com/GoldenRod-Dehumidifier-Installation-Operation-Prevention/dp/B07W8JFN2F

[JohnfromUK]

Your loft is currently insulated at (loft) floor level.  The area above the insulation will not only get cold in winter - but very hot in summer.  Daily temperature swings will be very high.

London Best's is (presumably) insulated under the sloping part of the roof, so will have a much more stable temperature.

Whilst appropriate location to satisfy the FLO (who is concerned with security) is obviously essential, suitable location to keep the contents in good condition is also an important consideration.  Wide and frequent temperature variations are not good.

[WalkedUp]

Good advice.

[bruno22rf]

As previously said - gluing polystyrene tiles to the inside of your cabinet will prevent 90% of any condensation caused by temperature swing - a sachet of VP90 hanging inside will do the rest for around 2 years.If access to the loft is going to be a problem then I think best way forward is to lay the cabinet on the floor in the cupboard - hinge toward the front to make prying the cabinet open more difficult - police are very keen on Alarms so consider fitting one as well - you can get a battery operated wireless system with 2 or 3 PIR's for around the £50 mark.

[London Best]

When I converted my loft access was through a tiny hatch in the bathroom. That was obviously no good for carrying guns/cartridge slabs through, so I did away with the bathroom hatch and built a big hatch about 4’x3’ in the bedroom, with a fitted ladder. The size of the door, which is lockable, makes it useable. I insulated under the loft floor and also fixed 1 1/2 inch polystyrene to the ceiling. Temperature does vary wildly but I have never seen condensation in the cabinets nor ever had any rusting on a gun ever. You have to consider where you are going to keep all your other shooting kit/junk that you will inevitably accumulate over the years. All my shooting stuff, except suits, lives in “the gun room”. Yes, I have sometimes woken my wife when returning from a lamping session, but she never seemed to mind, (much).

[Scully]

7 hours ago, NoBodyImportant said:

It’s a dehumidifier Rod.  https://www.amazon.com/GoldenRod-Dehumidifier-Installation-Operation-Prevention/dp/B07W8JFN2F

Grand. Everyday's a school day.👍

[WalkedUp]

7 hours ago, NoBodyImportant said:

It’s a dehumidifier Rod.  https://www.amazon.com/GoldenRod-Dehumidifier-Installation-Operation-Prevention/dp/B07W8JFN2F

I looked at the reviews, seem very highly rated and long lasting. Do you know how much wattage it draws? Rust hasn’t been an issue for me but you can’t be too careful. Stupidly I didn’t wire power sockets into my gun room so something to note for the next house. 

[London Best]

I just keep a sheet of VPI paper in the cabinet, always have done.

[JohnfromUK]

5 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

I looked at the reviews, seem very highly rated and long lasting. Do you know how much wattage it draws? Rust hasn’t been an issue for me but you can’t be too careful. Stupidly I didn’t wire power sockets into my gun room so something to note for the next house. 

These figures are for USA versions;

12" protects up to 100 cu ft - and draws 8W

18" protects up to 200 cu ft - and draws 18W

24" protects up to 300 cu ft - and draws 25W

36" protects up to 500 cu ft - and draws 38W

My cabinet is 5' tall, 2' wide and 1.5' deep, so approx 15 cu ft .......... so based on the above 12" would be more than very adequate.

8 Watts is 1 KWhr unit of electricity every 5 days (roughly) so about 70 KWhrs per year, or about £10 a year at UK normal electricity prices of about 14p per KWhr - and that is if you have it switched on all year.

 

[Houseplant]

Ideally, I would have put my gun safe in the garage (no problem here legally, gun storage rules are ridiculously lax), but too hot in summer and too cool in winter, plus big diurnal temperature changes. In the end, it went in a spare bedroom wardrobe. Boring/conventional, but sensible.    

[WalkedUp]

1 hour ago, JohnfromUK said:

These figures are for USA versions;

12" protects up to 100 cu ft - and draws 8W

18" protects up to 200 cu ft - and draws 18W

24" protects up to 300 cu ft - and draws 25W

36" protects up to 500 cu ft - and draws 38W

My cabinet is 5' tall, 2' wide and 1.5' deep, so approx 15 cu ft .......... so based on the above 12" would be more than very adequate.

8 Watts is 1 KWhr unit of electricity every 5 days (roughly) so about 70 KWhrs per year, or about £10 a year at UK normal electricity prices of about 14p per KWhr - and that is if you have it switched on all year.

 

Thanks John 

[Vince Green]

You really need to get your FEO in and ask his /her advice otherwise the chances are they will have a different view. I'm told (anecdotally) that some new builds are virtually unlicencable

[udderlyoffroad]

1 hour ago, Vince Green said:

I'm told (anecdotally) that some new builds are virtually unlicencable

Interesting, any idea why?

Surely through use of the correct fixings shown above, you're anchored into the fabric of the building, job is as they say a good'un?

If it's softwood timber construction, some sturdy 'lag bolts' (aka Coach Screws) into the studs would work?

Not trying to be difficult, just surprised it's a problem that can't be solved. 👍

[Vince Green]

20 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Interesting, any idea why?

Surely through use of the correct fixings shown above, you're anchored into the fabric of the building, job is as they say a good'un?

If it's softwood timber construction, some sturdy 'lag bolts' (aka Coach Screws) into the studs would work?

Not trying to be difficult, just surprised it's a problem that can't be solved. 👍

Well, I think its very much dependent on how the FEO sees and interprets the guidelines. Somebody would have to pull out the guidelines and see what they actually say. I can't at the moment.

[NoBodyImportant]

9 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

I looked at the reviews, seem very highly rated and long lasting. Do you know how much wattage it draws? Rust hasn’t been an issue for me but you can’t be too careful. Stupidly I didn’t wire power sockets into my gun room so something to note for the next house. 

The plug end comes off.  So you drill a 1/4 hole and feed the wire out the back and the put the plug on. No idea on the wattage. 

8 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

These figures are for USA versions;

12" protects up to 100 cu ft - and draws 8W

18" protects up to 200 cu ft - and draws 18W

24" protects up to 300 cu ft - and draws 25W

36" protects up to 500 cu ft - and draws 38W

My cabinet is 5' tall, 2' wide and 1.5' deep, so approx 15 cu ft .......... so based on the above 12" would be more than very adequate.

8 Watts is 1 KWhr unit of electricity every 5 days (roughly) so about 70 KWhrs per year, or about £10 a year at UK normal electricity prices of about 14p per KWhr - and that is if you have it switched on all year.

 

You can’t over do it.  If your safe is 24in wide I’d go with a 24in wide rod. 

[WalkedUp]

6 minutes ago, NoBodyImportant said:

9 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

 

The plug end comes off.  So you drill a 1/4 hole and feed the wire out the back and the put the plug on. No idea on the wattage. 

Yes, I would always just cut the cable and put a new plug on. My safe is in a gun room with plastered walls, there is no power supply for small electrical appliances to that room. I would have to piggy back off a socket in the next room (by an approved Part P / NIC electrician) and come in through the wall. Too much destructive work at this stage but great to know for future planning. 
 

Thanks for the help all the same 👍

Edited May 1, 2020 by WalkedUp

[NoBodyImportant]

8 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Ideally, I would have put my gun safe in the garage (no problem here legally, gun storage rules are ridiculously lax), but too hot in summer and too cool in winter, plus big diurnal temperature changes. In the end, it went in a spare bedroom wardrobe. Boring/conventional, but sensible.    

I would love to have mine inside but the safe is over 5000lbs empty.   I’m on a crawl space and I would have to add columns under the floor.  It a precious metal holding vault I bought out of a Wells Fargo Bank.  

[NoBodyImportant]

1 minute ago, WalkedUp said:

Yes, I would always just cut the cable and put a new plug on. My safe is in a gun room with plastered walls, there is no power supply for small electrical appliances to that room. I would have to piggy back off a socket in the next room (by an approved Part P / NIC electrician) and come in through the wall. Too much destructive work at this stage but great to know for future planning. 
 

Thanks for the help all the same 👍

That’s kinda cool.  So you can have a locked room instead of a cabinet?  At an old job I had to tear out a cigarette storage room in a store.  Some guy in the 70s took rebar and put in in the wood and plastered walls.  Then here put metal pipe around the rebar.  So when a saw hit the pipe it would spin the pipe around the rebar instead of cutting through.  Then to add to the nightmare he fillled the void with old bailing wire twisted up that would in-tangle our saws.    We quoted 3 hours of labor to demo the 6x8ft room and it took us 16 hours.