Big safe in the back of the master closet, and I'd like it as close to the wall as possible because it has a large door swinging out. I have it in place on top of the carpet and pad, and it's leaning away from the wall a little. I think it's because the back edge is sitting on the carpet tack strip.

I'm going to bolt it to the concrete floor, and I'm thinking it will pull it down to a more level position. Perhaps I can tighten the back bolts more than the front. Of course they say to make sure it's level before you bolt it. Should I be concerned about this? It's not leaning so much that the door swings open quickly, and not so much that I'd have a problem with rifles standing up.

I hate to lose a couple of inches to pull it away from the wall. What say y'all?

Can you shim the front edge with a yardstick cut to fit the width of the safe? Tip it back, unloaded, and tap the yardstick under the safe.

Level it first.

I would use wooden shims to level the safe before you bolt it down. They’re cheap, they work, and can be tucked under the safe and not be visible between the carpet and safe bottom. I use a small magnetic level to get it perfectly level and bolt it down.

The shims I use can be bought from Home Depot for less than 10 bucks.

You can also use large washers between the safe and floor that the bolts go through. This would allow you to add as required to get proper level.

quote:

The shims I use can be bought from Home Depot for less than 10 bucks.

You must be using the fancy ones! The shims that carry in the truck are maybe $2 per pack and there are enough to shim several safes.

Do as the others have suggested and shim the front of the safe. Let it sit this way for several days before breaking them off and shoving them in to hide them. This way you can readjust to account for anything sinking into the carpet/pad.

You can use a level to get close, but ultimately you want to use the door. The doors are not always attached to the body perfectly, and the ultimate goal is to ensure the door isn't swinging open or closed.

When you get around to bolting it, don't overtighten the anchors. Just get them in snug. Cranking them down will cause leveling issues and may distort the bottom of the safe.

I’d cut the tack strip out behind the safe, and maybe the baseboard too if you want it really close to the wall. The safe will hold the carpet down so no worries there.

Be careful when you move. I had my 40" safe bolted to the floor inside a closet. I removed the bolts before the movers came. The biggest guy in the crew got in the closet & put his butt against the wall. It so happened a wall stud centered on his ass crack. I had to fix two perfect shaped ass holes in the wallboard. Yes, remove the carpet tack strip & use large washers.

Shims it is. I thought about shims immediately after posting the question, but I didn’t know if someone would confidently tell me it was unnecessary. Thanks for the quick replies!

A piece of laminate flooring would work well.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:
Be careful when you move. I had my 40" safe bolted to the floor inside a closet. I removed the bolts before the movers came. The biggest guy in the crew got in the closet & put his butt against the wall. It so happened a wall stud centered on his ass crack. I had to fix two perfect shaped ass holes in the wallboard. Yes, remove the carpet tack strip & use large washers.

Wow, the guy had TWO assholes....

quote:

Wow, the guy had TWO assholes....

Two ass holes, one hole on each side of the stud, not two assholes!

I'd put it on runners (hockey pucks), too have an air gap under the safe.

GOOGLE “DIVERSITECH”. This company makes leveling pads for heavy objects.

A friend of mine asked me and another neighbor to help him lift his safe off the basement floor.

His idea was to have the safe up off the basement floor with the very top of the safe directly under the floor rafters above. He had built a very stable and strong base to hold the safe off of the concrete floor. Anyone trying to remove the safe had their work cut out for them. It was also installed in a corner and bolted there as well.

Leave air space under the safe,don't bolt directly to floor unless you want moisture to migrate in your safe

I know a silly question but why? bolt a safe anyways. Yes, a small easily carried away safe I can see bolting. But when you get to the 500/800/1k pound safes, why bolt them? Especially if it is in your house, basement, etc. Yes, I know thieves could break in and spend several hours lifting/moving the safe to their waiting truck. But does a huge safe need to be bolted? I would be more concerned with how they pry the door to get into the safe. And, a safe guy told me an advantage to the crooks is if it IS bolted, they can pry and attack it easier and not have to worry about it falling on them.

Other than the 'piece of mind' philosophy, is there really an advantage to bolting a BIG safe down??

Inquiring minds are interested in opinions.

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
I know a silly question but why? bolt a safe anyways. Yes, a small easily carried away safe I can see bolting. But when you get to the 500/800/1k pound safes, why bolt them? Especially if it is in your house, basement, etc. Yes, I know thieves could break in and spend several hours lifting/moving the safe to their waiting truck. But does a huge safe need to be bolted? I would be more concerned with how they pry the door to get into the safe. And, a safe guy told me an advantage to the crooks is if it IS bolted, they can pry and attack it easier and not have to worry about it falling on them.

Other than the 'piece of mind' philosophy, is there really an advantage to bolting a BIG safe down??

Inquiring minds are interested in opinions.

500# is nothing with a dolly. If you can tip it, 1k# is nothing, unless you have to go up stairs.
Minutes, not hours - but overall, I agree with you, it's not that big of a risk to go un-bolted. My safe is still on the pallet it came with.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
Big safe in the back of the master closet, and I'd like it as close to the wall as possible because it has a large door swinging out. I have it in place on top of the carpet and pad, and it's leaning away from the wall a little. I think it's because the back edge is sitting on the carpet tack strip.

I'm going to bolt it to the concrete floor, and I'm thinking it will pull it down to a more level position. Perhaps I can tighten the back bolts more than the front. Of course they say to make sure it's level before you bolt it. Should I be concerned about this? It's not leaning so much that the door swings open quickly, and not so much that I'd have a problem with rifles standing up.

I hate to lose a couple of inches to pull it away from the wall. What say y'all?

When I installed my gun safe, it tended to tilt toward the front when it was empty and I opened the door. I put 2 anchors into the concrete floor, both at the back, bottom of the safe. Not a major job or problem.

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
I know a silly question but why? bolt a safe anyways. Yes, a small easily carried away safe I can see bolting. But when you get to the 500/800/1k pound safes, why bolt them? Especially if it is in your house, basement, etc. Yes, I know thieves could break in and spend several hours lifting/moving the safe to their waiting truck. But does a huge safe need to be bolted? I would be more concerned with how they pry the door to get into the safe. And, a safe guy told me an advantage to the crooks is if it IS bolted, they can pry and attack it easier and not have to worry about it falling on them.

Other than the 'piece of mind' philosophy, is there really an advantage to bolting a BIG safe down??

Inquiring minds are interested in opinions.

1) Safes are easy to move with dollies and a disregard to damage. A "big" safe can easily be tipped with a long enough pry bar. Once tipped a little bit, a dolly underneath makes quick work of moving the safe. Thieves don't care if they damage your safe, stairs, and walls.

2) To attack a safe door with a prying attack, the SOP is to tip the safe over onto its back or side and use a long prybar that you can either lift up on or jump onto. You really don't get much leverage pushing on a bar horizontally. If you've ever pushed a weighted sled, you realize that you don't get enough traction to move anything if you push on anything higher than about waist high. I'm sure there's some physics and mechanics involved, but common sense says that a man bouncing up and down on a lever applies a dynamic load in multiples of his body weight, whereas a man pushing on a lever horizontally is only applying a fraction of his body weight to begin with before applying whatever dynamic load he can get by getting a running start.

Bolting slows down a determined thief, and dissuades the casual one. At least, it used to.