Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gun safe on crawl space floor

We are in the process of moving (I forgot what a pain moving is) and the new home has a crawl space. I have a safe that I would like to put inside but I don't know if the floor will be ok without additional support. The safe is a 22-24 gun and the weight is 462 lbs according to the manufacturer website. Am I good or do I need extra support?

462 pounds isn't much more than 2 full sized men. Go stand with someone heavy in the corner and see if it will hold you. If it doesn't, you may want a different house.

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More info about crawl space needed. Assuming this is attic crawl space? Any why locate in crawl space? Limited square footage?

Agree 462lbs isn't much.

462 is the weight of the empty safe if I am reading this right. Filled it would weigh considerably more.
More than a full refrigerator?

If the safe is going near an exterior wall or a bearing beam under the floor you will be ok. If it ends up mid-span in an area where the floor joists are barely meeting code... not ok.

Look at your floor framing under where you will be putting the safe and see what you have. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to shore that area if required.

My safe is on an outside wall, but I had to roll it across the middle of the house to get there. It's 1800lbs empty, and at least a ton full. No worries against the outside wall.

If you're going to place it in the middle of your house, a support is probably smart. You're probably looking at no more than 700lbs loaded to the gills.

If your house is of normal construction, meaning the floor doesn't have some kind of weak spots, then you'll be fine. I recently put a safe about that weight in my house and it's a crawl space. I moved it in myself on harbor freight furniture dollies, it was surprisingly easy to maneuver.

As Hitman said, 462 lbs is about the size of two decent sized men. Filled with all the guns it'll hold you'd be hard pressed to get over 600 lbs. and that's distributed over several sq. ft. of floor space, it isn't much floor loading at all. An 1800 lbs safe, yeah I'd shore up the floor, a 4-700 lb. one is nothing to worry about for a properly built floor.

The new house is a normal home with a crawl space under instead of a slab style construction. I understand the "two grown men argument" but two grown men will not be standing in the corner of my house for the next 20 or 30 years. Thanks​ for the info.

freezer full of food will weigh that much.

That is no problem

So is your question whether the ground underneath your house will support 700-800 lbs?

20 guns @ 8lb is 160 lb, plus the 460. About 650 max. That's not a whole lot for a well built house. If you put it in the center of an area that's not supported underneath, you might put in a simple support right under it just to make sure it doesn't sag over time. It's an easy prevention just in case.

see what size your floor joists are and on what spacing and span. check the specs on that construction for both a live and dead load. it will be given in pounds per square foot. you will be considering the dead load spec.

My concern is that the for in the house will sag over time given the weight of the safe.

If the crawlspace is a dirt floor, make sure you have a vapor barrier down to keep the safe from moisture damage.

An ounce of prevention...just make a simple support under the safe. A 2x6 on edge under 2 or 3 floor joists, held up by 2 2x4's supported by a couple bricks. Hold it together with some tie plates or hurricane ties.

We didn't think twice on our mobile home. Put blocks under the floor joists all the way down to a 16x16x4 base block on the ground... easy enough.

^^^^^ this, or a variation there of...depending on what the existing structure lends itself to the best.

Being able to access the under side of the floor joists could also allow you to run a couple of pieces of angle iron or other bracing under multiple joists to further secure the safe with long through bolts.

1800 pounds empty, how big a safe IS that?

so you're talking about a pier and beam house...

For extra under floor support in a crawl space, what I probably would look into first is one or maybe two simple adjustable screw floor jacks in the appropriate length for the height of the crawl space. They are relatively inexpensive, available in assorted adjustment heights, and can be found at just about any home supply store such as Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

Installed they would look something like this except with just one or two jacks: