I'm going to buy a safe but I'm having to decide between two types of safes; The first is one you can assemble yourself after it ships to you: Zanotti Armor. The second, I can have delivered from a local dealer fully assembled and I assume cannot be disassembled. If you need a size, let's say about 31" wide, 25" deep, 7' tall. I think the one I took a fancy to was a Champion Safe and it came with automatic lights that come on when the door is open.

The contrast for me is that the Zanotti can be disassembled and the fully assembled one cannot. The one that can be dissembled sounds great if you ever have to move. On the other hand, I really don't expect to move to another house unless it's an Alzheimers Unit or the funeral house. I think the problem is the same with either safe but with the Zanetti, getting rid of it sounds easier than trying to get rid of the fully assemble safe.

Is it hard to get rid of a safe? Would it be a plus to someone buying a house if it came with a safe? Has anyone made any instructions for what they want to happen to their safes after they die or become incompetent and need care taking?

Also, I have wooden floors and I plan to just go to the crawl space and support the joists with a pressure treated piece of lumber under them and with two joist jacks on either end. That should be over-engineered enough. But I don't know a good way to secure lumber between the joists; the purpose for these second set of lumber is for the screws from the safe can attach to. And, no, I don't know much about how houses are constructed.

I don’t think you need to worry about disposing of the safe. You can always leave it if you sell the house. But there is a good market for used safes, and it would be easy to sell. It’s no different than the rest of your furniture or other belongings when you move. You either take them with you, sell them, or give them away.

Unless there is some unusual circumstance with your safe or your house, there shouldn’t be any need to reinforce your floor. How much does the safe weigh?

I have two safes, a Zanotti and one labeled Browning, made by whoever. Both have S&G dial locks.

The Zanotti is nice, once assembled not east to tell is can be disassembled, from the inside.

The Zanotti is made in the USA, will also cost more than a conventional safe. The USA part is nice.

Yeah, unless a move is planned in the future, I wouldn’t worry to much about portability. Two men & a truck could move a safe, 500 lbs, empty.

You won't have any trouble selling a decent, name brand safe.

My gunshow buddy sold a 30 year old Browning ProSteel on Craigs List for a fair price, cash only. That sold on the first day of the ad. He said a guy showed up that afternoon with cash in hand and he and two buddies had it out of the house and loaded on a trailer in 15 minutes.

Champion makes a nice safe.

I personally wanted fire rated one and ended up with a 1800 lb Fort Knox, but I am on a slab floor also. My old safe is for non essential stuff now..

Sold my last home with the safe, because I had to take the door casing apart to get it into the room under the stairs and I didn’t want to do that again.

Selling one shouldn’t be too difficult-advertise at your local gun club.

I know nothing about the kind you build so I won’t weigh in.

I’d take the Zanotti given your 2 choices. If it’s inside on a house with crawl space I like your idea of supporting the floor. If a relatively secure garage slab is not available.

When I escaped CA, I gave my safe to my parents (they’re 80 and my mom wanted the guns to locked up etc) but I also had buddies willing to buy it from me if my folks passed on the offer.

Same safe company that sold it and installed it for me, moved it from my garage to my parents garage about 30 miles and another county away. All done before noon in one day. Install guys Bolted it into their garage floor as well. All for a few hundred dollars. Sadly my dad pissed and moaned about paying $300 for a free $2500 AMSEC safe…

I have a Zanotti and an AMSEC. Both are nice. I have moved twice in that time. The Zanotti was obviously way easier to move. My buddy bought one too after seeing mine.

The first time building took awhile and my other buddy nearly lost a fingertip while we were placing the door on its hinges. My technique has gotten better, now I can do it fast and easy with no threat of digit loss.

I would buy a Zanotti again.

One feature about them that can't be overstated is that you can put it together inside a closet which is nice and an added layer of security.

My AMSEC BF is made in USA and its light comes on when door opens. I considered a Zanotti and decided on the AMSEC for 3 primary reasons:

Better fire protection in AMSEC BF series than the Zanotti.

Delivery time - When I bought my last AMSEC BF, it was same week delivery but Zanotti was many, many months

Cost - You're paying a lot for the disassembly feature in the Zanotti. It's been a few years, but I bought an AMSEC BF30 for same price plus the added bonus of quicker delivery with much more fire protection.

Champion makes 120 minute safes too, but their minimum width is 36". In comparison to the AMSEC BF line, you'd have to get less fire protection to buy their 30" wide version.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

You can buy the lights that come on when the door is opened from several different sites and install them in any make/model of safe.

I have one I bought at a gun show years ago. Open the door and it's like high noon in the safe.

I have a SnapSafe which is is assembled, like the Zanotti. I went that route because it was easier to handle the individual sections in the basement, working around stuff.

Weight and floor are bigger questions to me.

quote:

Originally posted by SigJacket:

Weight and floor are bigger questions to me.

Look at it this way.

Do you feel safe having 7 people stand together in one area where the safe is going to be?

If so, you have no worries about the weight and the floor.