I’m moving gun safes to a new house.
They will sit on a carpeted concrete basement floor.
Should the safes just sit on the carpeted floor, or should there be something between the safe bottom and carpet.

I put mine on plexiglass sheets from Lowes.

In my long experience with such things, if you have a basement, you will eventually have water in the basement, if not actually flooded at least on the floor. For those folks who have never had water in the basement, good for you. "Yet" is the keyword here.

If you simply must put your gun container in the basement, at least try to get it raised up off the floor a few inches. Good insurance.

I have mine up on 2x4s

I bought some 1x6 pvc boards, cut to the depth of the safe. Put 1 on each side of the safe to keep it off the basement tile. I’ve had water intrusion before that I think is fixed, but I don’t want my safe sitting in it after coming home from a long weekend if it were to ever happen again.

Yes, 2x4 or 2x6 on edge under the safe.

And a LOUD water alarm!

I had quite the go-round with my Safe manufacturer-a very well known and respected one. I had three or maybe four of their safes before they finally got it right. The last one I got, has legs. So it sits up off the floor. I would not want my safe sitting right on the floor.

I had a similar situation at one time.. Solved it with four lengths of 4X4 redwood along the perimeters - with gaps at each corner... It really allowed air to circulate and kept things dry.

Mines on a pallet

Mine to. How it came.

If it isn't bolted to something very solid, you run the risk of loosing your vault along with everything that's in it. An unsecured vault is like a transport container.

Bingo. Secure it, forget the wood.

It’s well over 1000 pounds. And has to come up a 10’ flight of stairs.
Not saying it can’t happen.
I think a good metal saw is my biggest risk.

yes, mine is 800 lb empty, plus several hundred pounds of lead ingots in the bottom.

There is much more risk of some one grabbing the Sawzall or disc grinder stored in the same room and just cutting the side out of the safe, than there is of them carting it out intact. And mine does not involve a flight of stairs.

There is really no stopping a determined thief with time on his side. My safe stops semi honest crooks and unauthorized children.

2x4 platform and placed it on top...Golden rod inside and a dehumidifier plumbed to a drain...zero rust issues in a bunch of years.

I bought the dricore type basement floor panels from lowes/home depot. Let's you have the perfect size and extremely strong.

If your house is built right there should be NO water in the basement...depends on how it is built though, so put the safes on the floor. Raising them only helps a thief get rollers under it and it makes it a pain to clean under it. Mine all sit on the floor (carpeted). The smallest is only 1300 - 1400 pounds, which makes it easy enough to move, so they are bolted too. . If you have carpeted floor and get flooded, it's all coming out anyway. The only thing under mine are shims to make them perfectly plumb so the door stays where I leave it when it is open....an out of plumb safe allows the door to swing open or closed on it's own, which isn't a big deal unless you have a pretty gun sitting in the opening. If the steps you are talking about are outside steps, that's really no big deal for a couple of planks and an electric winch. If you put the safe on a platform, a thief could easily put pipe under it, roll it to a door and winch it up the steps to a truck, all dependent on the lay out of course. I would put them on the floor and bolt them down and don't look back.

This but my basement is bare concrete so I added the sheet of plexiglass and drilled right through it.

Concrete riser.

Yup, when things are great no water in basement.
Coworker had a bunch of Superposed.

A few inches of water, safe not on riser ....and every buttstock was ruined.

Definitely raise it above the carpet. Even if you don’t have a wet floor at some point the carpet holds moisture and will cause rust. I know this by experience even in AZ. Wood holds moisture also so don’t use it. Get a trex 2x4 and cut it to size for underneath.

That’s why I used PVC. Trex (at least some of the synthetic stuff) uses compressed sawdust. Better than wood, but all polymer is better yet. In my mind at least.

A gun safe will stop a smash and grab. A monitored alarm system will limit intruder's time inside.

Not only that, but the [bleep] that would need moved to move the safe...
And my neighbors would have a gun under the nose of
anyone, (not me) trying to load my safe in a truck.

Just one more time people miss how easy a good safe is to
open. Guaranteed an angle grinder would open most safes,
quicker, easier, and safer than trying yo move it.

All you need is to cut a triangle and a hole,
insert a pry bar and peel the bitch like an onion.

Safes are to keep the honest folks honest & the uninitiated theif at bay

Competent criminals are bringing their own tools instead of looking around to see if you have what they need.


There’s an old saw about not keeping all your eggs in one basket, seems appropriate here.

I knew one guy that had 5 of the smaller type rifle safes with bold lettering on each, “2 of these safes have what you’re looking for, guns & cash, 3 of them are wired w explosives, the other safes are there to protect the contents from the blast, good luck”

I cracked up when he showed them to me, but on the way home I was thinking hmmm.