Gun safe or vault for new house construction?

[TAB]

Really???

In our area the vaults are poured in place.  Nothing more than a thick slab, walls, and roof, all with extra re-bar.  Billt is on the right track.  If you have an existing structure you can retrofit through a combination of pouring floors, cement blocks and grout, and a concrete cap.

yep, super common, but its special stuff, fibers and steal in the mix.

[billt]

Billt is on the right track.  If you have an existing structure you can retrofit through a combination of pouring floors, cement blocks and grout, and a concrete cap.

You could make the exterior form out of cinder block. A lot of exterior walls on homes out here are anyway. How big of a deal to do the same on the inside? Fill the inside of the blocks with some rebar, then pour away. The roof, (cap), isn't that big of a deal. A lot of block retaining walls out here are done the exact same way. It's not that expensive. If it was you wouldn't see it so widespread.

I'll bet if you looked around you could easily find a pre cast concrete cap near the dimensions you would require. Or else they could make it to order. It's done all the time. That's how Trap houses are built. This would be just slightly larger.

[tombogan03884]

Bill, the biggest consideration would be weight . If you have wood floors your vault could wind up in the cellar.
If it's on a slab you might be OK.
TAB would know more about that than I do.

[billt]

Bill, the biggest consideration would be weight . If you have wood floors your vault could wind up in the cellar.
If it's on a slab you might be OK.
TAB would know more about that than I do.

Most all the homes out here are on a slab. None have basements or crawl spaces.

[tombogan03884]

Oh.

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

Most of our public parks, buildings without basements, and camp grounds have tornado shelters.  These buildings are nothing more than concrete block structures with the cores poured full with re-bar running up through them.  A poured ceiling is then added before the roof is put on.  These are commonly eight inch blocks. 

I have seen what the heat ratings are for filled block walls, but I can't remember what it is.  I know it is very high.  Many of our older homes have cisterns, which are nothing more than what I described.  Many of these have been cleaned out, had doors added, and they are now used for storage.  Following home fires most of the items in these rooms are undamaged.

TAB

The building of a bank vault is not rocket science.  Once you have the good door assembly it is nothing more than lots of steel and ready mix.  The additives and strength specs are nothing more than picking and choosing what you want.  However, for a home vault or safe room this is no more complex than building a trap house at the range ... A project we just completed.

[TAB]

even if all you're doing is building out of block and filling in, you would still have to need to cut out the foundation and reinforced that because you're talking adding tons of extra weigh.      Ime, the prefabs are cheaper then build block or forming up for a pore.  Just harder to retrofit, as you need equipment to move the sections.