Because of the predicted Biblical flooding of my home, I evacuated some guns and knives to the second floor of my Dad’s house. Unfortunately, soffit there was ripped away and wind driven rain saturated the insulation and drywall causing the ceiling to collapse on the guns and knives. They got wet which was exactly what I was trying to avoid, go figure.

I had thought about trying to duct tape the door of the gun safe, the lock and handle, and the hole in the back for the cord. You guys think this would be enough to keep water out for an hour or two? Is there a better way to way to go about making it water tight?

I don't think you can waterproof a gun safe.

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I don't think you can waterproof a gun safe.

This is the right answer.

Not to be captain obvious, but what about dry cases/boxes inside the safe?

Water tight also means air tight. Which opens up a whole host of problems.
Move the safe to higher ground.
I learned this the hard way on May 6, when our house flooded.
Only the handguns up top survived unscathed.

Do you have a Food Saver vacuum sealer? I'd vacuum seal each firearm individually with a desiccant pack and place that in the safe.

I don’t have a food saver, but was thinking of getting one. Would that work for rifles though? Now I’m wondering if someone makes rifle length dry bags. I have a Pedersoli 1874 Sharps that would require a really long bag.

You make your own bags from a roll. Seal one end, cut to length, insert firearm and desiccant, and vacuum seal other end.

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Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
Not to be captain obvious, but what about dry cases/boxes inside the safe?

Not enough room in the safe as it is.

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I don't think you can waterproof a gun safe.

Of course you can. With modern sealants just seal the door, the lockset where it penetrates the door and any other holes. Will be fine at flooding depths. Probably won't hold up 30ft underwater but that's not likely your problem. And cleanup will be a mess but you might not care.
Having said that if I was faced with this I would just put each firearm in a VCI bag (or heck actually any waterproof bag will be just fine) and let the water do what it does.
I have buried firearms to test long term storage and that's worse than what you have, a sealed bag will be just fine.

I agree with the vacuum sealer.
Also great for ammo and reloading supply storage.
For storage you really only need to seal the bag you don't have to vacuum seal the bags unless your looking for very long storage.

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Originally posted by hrcjon:

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I don't think you can waterproof a gun safe.

Of course you can. With modern sealants just seal the door, the lockset where it penetrates the door and any other holes. Will be fine at flooding depths. Probably won't hold up 30ft underwater but that's not likely your problem. And cleanup will be a mess but you might not care.
Having said that if I was faced with this I would just put each firearm in a VCI bag (or heck actually any waterproof bag will be just fine) and let the water do what it does.
I have buried firearms to test long term storage and that's worse than what you have, a sealed bag will be just fine.

Might get seepage through the factory drilled holes in the bottom. You’d want to strip everything out of the safe and seal up the inside first… holes in the bottom and I guess any welded seem is a potential leak point.

The vac bag is cool idea I haven’t heard before.

Using sealant on a safe, in every place and in sufficient quantity to actually seal it up would create its own headache when it came time to get back into it.

When New Orleans was flooded there were some older safes with very tight fitting doors that did indeed keep the water at bay, but then were rusted just enough to make opening them very difficult. Although there are always ways to mitigate one issue, you'll find that it's a trade off with others.

If I had to leave something in an area prone to getting wet, I'd take the advice of others who suggest vacuum sealing.

Don't waste your time trying to waterproof a safe . If you had placed the guns and knives in something like a Rubbermaid container they would not have gotten wet in this situation .

For rifle size gun bags, go to polygunbag.com. Made for rifles and pistols and magazines. I have bought quite a few. They are also VCI to prevent rust.

o5

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Originally posted by trapper189:

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Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
Not to be captain obvious, but what about dry cases/boxes inside the safe?

Not enough room in the safe as it is.

Go with Skullleader's suggestion.
Vacuum sealed bags with a small desiccant pack inside. make sure the weapon is lubed, light coat of oil over everything that can rust, toss it in a bag with a desiccant pack, seal it, chuck it in the safe, call it a day.

If it was for short term, like knowing the hurricane is coming, I would think a few tubes of silicone caulking would probably do the trick. Open the door, apply heavily, close the door and caulk all around it.
It may have a detrimental effect on the safe though. I could see it being really difficult to open again.
That said, if you have $50k in guns in a $2k safe, it may be worth it.

The firearms were my dads that he had given to me two weeks before the storm. Most of my firearms were high and dry in another location. I did what I thought was the best I could in the time that I had. Unfortunately, for the firearms, it worked out the exact opposite of what I had planned. My house didn’t flood, so the guns would have been fine had I left them in the gun safe here.

Based on the debris line on the front lawns of the neighbors across the street, the water was within a few feet of getting into my house, so my question is being asked as planning for the future. I like the vacuum bagging them or VCI bag ideas a lot. I could at least duct tape the portion of the door below the lock and seal up the cord hole. That would keep the first three feet of water out. The safe is composite filled with inner and outer steel shells, so I’m fairly sure the seams would be water tight.

I would think a couple layers of that aluminum tape HVAC contractors use on the ducts would work great. Tough and waterproof!!

I have mine up about an inch off the floor. Of course it won’t help with 2 feet of water.

I wouldn’t waste time taping cracks shut.