How fireproof would you build your safe?

desperatehills

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I have put a vault door in a closet in my new home. I told the contractor I would finish the safe. I intended to cover the studs with fireproof coating, insulate with fire proof insulation, then double sheetrock it. The door is rated for 2300 degrees for 60 minutes.

Am I wasting my time and money? The home is in the desert and is not prone to brush fires. If the house did burn would any of this help? For the most part all my guns are replaceable and I have no emotional attachment to any of them. If the house burned to the ground the guns would be the last thing I would worry about.

How involved should I get with fireproofing and how would you do it?
 
I think I'd look into smaller fire boxes to put inside the safe to hold important or sentimental documents or pictures and then protect the actual safe area to a lesser extent, maybe Type-X Drywall.

If the structure collapses in a fire I'd think the fire box has a better chance of surviving the collapse and water damage than insulation or a coating would provide.
 
Maybe I am wrong, but it sounds like you are building a walk in safe. For something that large you must have quite a few items you were thinking of putting in there. If that’s the case you may want to find/talk to someone who has built something like that. Might as well have it able to protect all your guns etc. Because usually only a small amount of valuables are covered unless you get individual policies.
 
I have several FD friends that deal with house fires and damage on a routine basis every year, and assist on investigations. Basically, your door is overkill, especially if the rest of the sage is not constructed to vault standards of steel and concrete.

The average house fire is 1000-1200 degrees and as much as 1600 in the upper reaches of the home. Much more damage is incurred by water used to fight the fire. If a safe is located in a basement, you can almost guarantee it will be flooded.

His professional advice: Keep extremely valuable or irreplaceable items in a safety deposit box in a bank. Keep important stuff to you in a small fireproof safe on the TOP shelf of a regular gun safe. Chances of water being deeper than 5 feet are slim.
 
Yeah, going to be pretty tuff to build anything in a wood structure that will actually be fire proof. It would have to be its own steel or concrete structure. Adding fire proofing to one side of wood really does nothing. The structure around it will just collapse including what your door is hung on. Sounds like good for security but to get fire proof you’ll have to go deep
 
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If there are no heirlooms in your gun safe, no emotional attachments I’d still look seriously at just putting a equal valuable insurance rider on them…… if you can do that.
 
The closet is mostly triangle shaped. Looking straight through the door there is a 90 degree corner at the back. There is a 52" wall on the left that will hold 24 long guns, 12 across the bottom and 12 above, it has a 9' ceiling. The right side is shorter and squared to the door wall. I will build shelves for optics and other gear on the right side. I think I will put two layers of type X drywall and call it good for fire proofing. I am going to drill the studs and put rebar to help with cutting in. I know with the right tools thieves can get into anything, I hope to slow them down a little. I do keep extra insurance but not enough to replace all my guns. If I lost them all I would only rebuy about 6 of them.
 
Sounds like you answered your own question, I’m assuming you have insurance, there are no sentimental guns, and everything is easily replaceable. I would continue doing what you’re doing but I might add a decent size fire resistant gun safe inside your gun room for more expensive guns, documents, jewelry, money and such. Sounds like a fun project, good luck.
 
Can you use block to build the walls of your room ? If so you build the room with block. Add steel as they block up the walls use steel rebar vertical and horizontal. Then have a pump truck fill the block with concrete. After that sets and dry's . You can form the ceiling with wood and steel. Then pump the ceiling with concrete. I think this is the only way you will got what you are looking for. After that if you want to frame the interior you can use fire proof sheet rock for the walls. And also add another small fire proof box for important papers. Or any paper money you need to store inside.
 
For the expense you are going through you may just want to look at putting a fire suppression system in the home - they are not nearly as expensive as people think. If you are not on a water system capable of this it may be a bit more expensive. Contrary to misinformation sprinkler heads to not just go off with some smoke or on accident (extremely rare). This has the chance to save much more than your guns (family, pets, save the structure, etc.).
 
For the expense you are going through you may just want to look at putting a fire suppression system in the home - they are not nearly as expensive as people think. If you are not on a water system capable of this it may be a bit more expensive. Contrary to misinformation sprinkler heads to not just go off with some smoke or on accident (extremely rare). This has the chance to save much more than your guns (family, pets, save the structure, etc.).
I've wondered about these as well but always figured the water damage from a false alarm was far more likely than the protection from an actual fire. I'll have to look into it more. Thx
 
Wouldn't you have humidity issues? I don't know if a dehumidifier would be enough to take care of that. Just a thought
I think it depends on how well you waterproof your concrete and if you have water table issues in your area. Also, not having vents in your cold storage prevents humidity being drawn in from outside. Big mistake guys make when planning on converting to a vault…
 
I did this. Dehumidifier needs to be emptied about once a month keeps it at 25%.
I was going to this as well, but recommended firearm storage is around 45-50%, depending on where your getting your info. But I believe those numbers are close to what NRA recommends. Mine stays right around 48% without doing anything…
 
I've wondered about these as well but always figured the water damage from a false alarm was far more likely than the protection from an actual fire. I'll have to look into it more. Thx
After seeing a house fire at my sisters house I learned the real reason for fire fighting. The fire at my sisters house damaged maybe 10% of the house, the firefighters pumping thousands of gallons of water in finished it off. Never fully understood until I lived on the east coast and followed an insurance fraud trial. The guys burnt buildings and collected insurance. Long story short, water, smoke, or fire are all total losses; they put out the fire to preserve evidence not save possessions.
 
I was going to this as well, but recommended firearm storage is around 45-50%, depending on where your getting your info. But I believe those numbers are close to what NRA recommends. Mine stays right around 48% without doing anything…
Yeah, mine is low because of where I am. Too low can get dangerous also. Especially if you have ammo. I hit 40% in early spring then the ground dries out and it drops into the 20's again, usually.
 
Big John asked about concrete or block walls. The Idea to make the closet a vault came after the framing. The closet is a little small to install blocks now. If I planned ahead It would have been a great idea. I had the contractor install a outlet inside the safe. I told him it was for a dehumidifier, he laughed... the house is in Arizona. It also has a light with the switch on the outside so I do not have to open the safe to see if I turned it off. When I get time next month to work on it I will post up some pictures.
 
man cave 1.jpg
man cave 2.jpg


Here is the current stage of the project. I will post interior pictures of the safe in a few weeks.
 
Big John asked about concrete or block walls. The Idea to make the closet a vault came after the framing. The closet is a little small to install blocks now. If I planned ahead It would have been a great idea. I had the contractor install a outlet inside the safe. I told him it was for a dehumidifier, he laughed... the house is in Arizona. It also has a light with the switch on the outside so I do not have to open the safe to see if I turned it off. When I get time next month to work on it I will post up some pictures.
In that environment, you may need to put in a humidifier. ?
 
so......a thief with a touch of common sense wouldn't beat on the vault door, he'd just kick in the drywall to steal the guns??
 
so......a thief with a touch of common sense wouldn't beat on the vault door, he'd just kick in the drywall to steal the guns??
I am putting rebar between the studs so it will take a little more than just kicking through the drywall. Still a thief could get into it. He would not even need to bring tools, I have everything they need in my garage. I have a security system, cameras, and good insurance. On top of that, none of my guns are special
 
I am putting rebar between the studs so it will take a little more than just kicking through the drywall. Still a thief could get into it. He would not even need to bring tools, I have everything they need in my garage. I have a security system, cameras, and good insurance. On top of that, none of my guns are special
Burnt guns get waaayyy Better insurance coverage than stolen guns….
 

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