How do I know how heavy of a safe I can put in my apartment?

[JesseM]

So right now I rent and I live on floor 4 of a 7 story apartment building; (I live in Seattle... I know what you think but it's not bad honestly.) I have a small shitty gun locker thing that is adequate for keeping wandering fingers out but it's tiny and I am looking to upgrade to something that actually fits a Tavor and guns with optics. My current locker doesn't have enough depth.

I'm looking at 2 safes currently; one is 240 lb and the other is 400 lb. I'm leaning towards the heavier one because it's larger and only $50 more. However I don't want to wreck the place. I know fridges are like 250-300 lb so I think the smaller one would be ok but I'm leaning towards the larger one.

I looked up the live load and this doc says that my floor as a 40 psf value which I don't know enough about to know if I should worry
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cs/groups/tp ... 631236.pdf

Do I have anything to worry about? I asked the maintenance guy in my apartment because we're friendly and he's a gun guy and he told me I should put a piece of 3/4" plywood down where I'm putting it to distribute the weight.

What say you all?

[dreadi]

So right now I rent and I live on floor 4 of a 7 story apartment building; (I live in Seattle... I know what you think but it's not bad honestly.) I have a small shitty gun locker thing that is adequate for keeping wandering fingers out but it's tiny and I am looking to upgrade to something that actually fits a Tavor and guns with optics. My current locker doesn't have enough depth.

I'm looking at 2 safes currently; one is 240 lb and the other is 400 lb. I'm leaning towards the heavier one because it's larger and only $50 more. However I don't want to wreck the place. I know fridges are like 250-300 lb so I think the smaller one would be ok but I'm leaning towards the larger one.

I looked up the live load and this doc says that my floor as a 40 psf value which I don't know enough about to know if I should worry
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cs/groups/tp ... 631236.pdf

Do I have anything to worry about? I asked the maintenance guy in my apartment because we're friendly and he's a gun guy and he told me I should put a piece of 3/4" plywood down where I'm putting it to distribute the weight.

What say you all?

That's good advice.

Do you think a 400 pound person would break through the floor? Nah.

[Benja455]

A fridge plus a person (or 2) moving it in is easily in excess of what you're looking at.

I would get the bigger safe and buy a bunch of guns to make it even heavier.

[sportsdad60]

Move that thing in during the dark of night, unless you want unexpected visitors that saw you bring a gun safe into your apartment.

Better yet, dress it up in a refrigerator box.

[Sinus211]

The big one will be fine

[leadcounsel]

A few years back I asked an old engineer friend to run some numbers on a common home construction with typical joists and such.

He said a 10x10 room could hold about 15,000 pounds spaced evenly out. Out of curiosity I went and found the email and attachment and it's 15,000 lbs. That's 151 pounds per square feet. Makes sense. I can stand on 1 foot and I'm over 200 pounds, and I don't go crashing through the floor. Of course, it depends on where load bearing walls are, the design of the room, etc. But that's a basic assessment.

If you're really worried set it on something that provides a larger footprint, like a sheet of plywood.

But a floor won't even notice a few thousand pounds. They hold water beds, large people in beds (easily 1000 pounds right there, factor two 300 pound people in a large bed), refrigerators, other appliances, etc.

Put things smartly in the room too. Put the safe against exterior or load bearing walls for instance.

Last edited by leadcounsel on Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[JesseM]

That's good advice.

Do you think a 400 pound person would break through the floor? Nah.

While true I think there is a difference between a one time load and a sustained load.

I'm wondering if the plywood is a good idea or if it even matters.

Also I looked up pianos and a small upright is 400 lbs and larger uprights can get in the 800 lbs range.

Move that thing in during the dark of night, unless you want unexpected visitors that saw you bring a gun safe into your apartment.

Better yet, dress it up in a refrigerator box.

Not really an option. I have to move it during normal working hours for the store of course. Plus I'm not really that concerned. You need an RFID or to be buzzed in to get in the building. You need a code to use the elevator and each floor has a different code. Plus no one that watched from the street would know what floor I got out on much less which apartment I live in on that floor. There's about 100 units in the building. My plan is to move it in with a rented furniture hand truck designed to hold 1000 lbs early morning sunday when everyone is still sleeping from their hangovers.

[Guntrader]

Invite some BBW's on Craigslist over for a party and do a load test.

Oprah Winfrey went to her doctors office, he told her to undress and get on all fours.
Had her go over by the window, then over by the corner, to the next wall by the door, and back to the window.
She said "Doctor, what's wrong with me?"
He said "Oh nothing. I just ordered a new leather sofa and wasn't sure where I was going to put it."

[L_O_G]

A fridge plus a person (or 2) moving it in is easily in excess of what you're looking at.

I would get the bigger safe and buy a bunch of guns to make it even heavier.

This, plus I would remove me last name from my profile.

Just my .02

[pdrake]

The answer to your question came 21 years ago, thanks to Calvin's father.

To avoid complaints about copyright, please follow the link:

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/11/26

[Sinus211]

You're over thinking this

[JesseM]

I over think everything. It's my curse.

[OhShoot!]

Buy renter's insurance and get the 1500# safe.

[Ops]

put a large board underneath to spread out the weight.

[MadPick]

You need an RFID or to be buzzed in to get in the building. You need a code to use the elevator and each floor has a different code.

First, let me say that I'm all for security, and I applaud you for buying a proper safe.

That said . . . a few years back, I lived in a pretty secure apartment building (but not as secure as yours, it sounds!) and I felt pretty safe. My biggest concern was keeping visitors from prying, etc. I just used the security cabinets like you have; I just kept adding as needed, and ultimately had four of them, lol.

Once I moved to a regular house, my security fears amplified about ten-fold, and of course that wasn't good enough anymore. But in that particular apartment complex, I felt good with the security cabinets.