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I've picked up a Stack On Gun Cabinet. The price was right and while it is not a true fireproof safe, it'll at least allow me to store them safely. I anchored it to the wall in my closet but had a question regarding the anchoring of the cabinet to the floor.

The cabinet is on the first floor, so I've got the concrete foundation under the carpet. Would y'all recommend anchoring it to the floor? I can hit it with a ramset to keep it in place (I'm not going to even try to screw it in).

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

pbwalker wrote:I've picked up a Stack On Gun Cabinet. The price was right and while it is not a true fireproof safe, it'll at least allow me to store them safely. I anchored it to the wall in my closet but had a question regarding the anchoring of the cabinet to the floor.

The cabinet is on the first floor, so I've got the concrete foundation under the carpet. Would y'all recommend anchoring it to the floor? I can hit it with a ramset to keep it in place (I'm not going to even try to screw it in).

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

As a general principle, more structural anchoring is better. Here are a couple of considerations:

1. If you anchor it to the floor, I would suggest doing it with bolts and expansion anchors even though it would take a little more effort. The reason is that if you ever decide to remove it in the future, it'll be a whole lot easier to do so without damaging the cabinet itself.

2. If you have it located in a corner (best location) and solidly bolted (e.g., 5/16 x 3 inch lag screws and washers spaced about 10 inches apart) into each available wall stud behind the back and one side of the cabinet without floor anchors, the tools it would take to remove it from the wall could be used to pry open the door with less effort than it would take to remove the cabinet itself. Adding floor anchors would make it harder still to remove, but wouldn't make the sheet metal door and locking mechanism any stronger, and would therefore be of questionable value. You may need to drill additional holes in the back and side of the cabinet to match the stud locations and provide enough anchor points.

For the reasons just pointed out above I chose to only anchor my cheapo safe to the wall and not the floor. I decided that anyone with sufficient time and equipment to remove it from the wall would opt to open it in place anyway. I'm hoping the alarm system would limit the time available to anyone who burglarized the property in my absence.

If some miscreants manage to defeat your wall attachments, a few, or even many, ramsets are not going to slow them down much, the cabinet itself would make a pretty good lever, go with bolts and expansion anchors.

Be careful when drilling into your slab. If you hit a post-tension reinforcement wire you will have a mess. Drill slow, clear out the hole and check with a flashlight often.

Do NOT drill into any cables or wires in the slab.

I would say not to worry about it if it's one of those thin sheet-metal cabinets. They will most likely just pop the door open and remove the contents if it's secured. Those are not difficult to bust into. I think by anchoring it to the wall you've made it slightly more difficult, and that will probably prompt them to just bust it open anyway. I wouldn't worry about drilling into the foundation for a cabinet like this. Just my $.02.

I just bolted mine to the wall also. I also changed the doorknob to a keyed one. If someone wants my stuff at least they will have to work for it.