The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Herknav on September 28, 2014, 10:08:02 PM
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In the 9/24/14, Michael lists the ways in which he loves his fireproof safe. It made me wonder why he made the decision to keep a safe vice having a walk-in vault installed in the NEW secret hidden bunker. As someone who hopes to build someday, I was curious what folks chose and why.
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cost
if you think that $5000 safe is expensive, you could drop $20000 on building a small vault very easily. I mean no options. just a walk in closet sized vault. As a long time general contractor, having built several over the years.... I would not build one for myself. this is coming from some one that has 3 huge safes
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If I were going to build, (and we've considered this), I would take one room and make it a safe room. Make the walls and ceiling out of concrete, and install a good safe door. The builder might have to pour the slab a bit thicker, but it wouldn't be a big deal.
I would also set the safe door deeper allowing for a regular interior door to block the view. So from the outside it would appear to be a normal bedroom to anyone who would visit. Vault doors attract unwanted attention. I think it's a better solution than moving and placing a bunch of safes that are NEVER big enough, and shout out, "I've got a lot of GUNS!", to everyone who walks through your home.
Just like in politics, perception is everything. Remember, people actually thought Obama was smart.
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Bill, remember ventilation, a room isn't safe if the O2 runs out ! ;D
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It wouldn't be that costly to add a couple of vents and electrical outlets. They would just have to be rough cored out before pouring the concrete. Especially if they were added to the roof.
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It wouldn't be that costly to add a couple of vents and electrical outlets. They would just have to be rough cored out before pouring the concrete. Especially if they were added to the roof.
its lot more work then you think. Materials alone are 10k++++ Its not as simple as a thicker slab. Believe it or not most bank vualts . Come in panels and are glued toegther. (No joke) there are also a whole slew of firecodes for them, none of which are cheap.
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If I were going to build, (and we've considered this), I would take one room and make it a safe room. Make the walls and ceiling out of concrete, and install a good safe door. The builder might have to pour the slab a bit thicker, but it wouldn't be a big dea
Or even a good fire door, and then put the safe in there.
A vault might make the house harder to re-sell, but a good safe room would increase the resale value, especially if your home is anywhere near Tornado Alley.
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Frank is a regular over on sigforum.com on their forums, and he does excellent work. I would refer you to someone like him regarding this topic. I'm sure he answers these question often. Here is is business http://www.zykansafe.com/ (http://www.zykansafe.com/)
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Safes can be moved, a 'gun room' can be changed around or even changed to a different room.
A vault room can't.
None of my safes are visble to anyone that just comes into my house w/o me letting them past a locked bedroom door. Otherwise, it's just another closed interior door.
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its lot more work then you think. Materials alone are 10k++++ Its not as simple as a thicker slab. Believe it or not most bank vualts . Come in panels and are glued toegther. (No joke) there are also a whole slew of firecodes for them, none of which are cheap.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Oh.
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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.
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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.