How to Secure an 'Elevated' Safe

[MMH]

I just got a 'legitimate' safe. I moved it into the house and now want to secure it. I also want to elevate it a couple of inches so that if the basement floods, the safe & it's contents will be OK. I could fabricate some small steel bases to put the safe on which will elevate it, but if I do this it will be easy to cut the bolts that secure it to the concrete floor. I also though about doing all of this and then building a form around the safe and pumping some concrete. This would probably work (and inhibit access to the bolts thus making it difficult to cut them), but be somewhat involved.

With all of the above in mind, what is the simplest way to elevate & secure a safe?

 

[diverdon]

I would get a few bags of quickcrete and poor a slab. That would give you elevation and something to bolt too.

 

[MMH]

I would get a few bags of quickcrete and poor a slab. That would give you elevation and something to bolt too.

The safe is in place but moving it forward would not be too difficult. How tall of a slab would you pour? I know that the answer is how bad you expect the 'flooding to be. I'm thinking 1-1/2" should cover it, but it would not be that difficult to go higher.

 

[diverdon]

I think I would go at least twice that thick. Perhaps I would ask myself how high I could go without adversely affecting the use of the safe then back off just a tad. I assume you already have a sump pump with a backup power source.

 

[Jig Stick]

I'd use 2x4s for the form. So it would be 3 1/2 inches thick. Make the pad a little bigger than the footprint of the safe.

 

[diverdon]

Remember to give some thought too where your toes need to go when you are in the back of the safe, and put a little recess in the pad there, Unless you want to make the pad large enough so you stand on it when you are in the safe.

 

[MMH]

I'd use 2x4s for the form. So it would be 3 1/2 inches thick. Make the pad a little bigger than the footprint of the safe.

This makes sense. Why not just make the pad the same size (i.e. flush) w/ the safe. Also, sense it is just a pad, I will plan on putting a bunch of anchors into the existing slab and then poor around them to secure the pad to the existing slab.

 

[diverdon]

This makes sense. Why not just make the pad the same size (i.e. flush) w/ the safe. Also, sense it is just a pad, I will plan on putting a bunch of anchors into the existing slab and then poor around them to secure the pad to the existing slab.

I like it.

 

[Hammertime]

What would be nice is to be able to set your anchor bolts into the existing floor and then pour your concrete around them. The green concrete of the new slab may not hold your anchors well. You can make a plywood template the size of the safe, mark the holes and then transfer them to the existing floor and drill.the hard part will be getting the safe up and onto the protruding bolts. You could place wood runners that are a little higher than the bolts, set the safe over them and slide one out at a time. Bolt placement has to be perfect, doable though.

 

[mark5pt56]

What would be nice is to be able to set your anchor bolts into the existing floor and then pour your concrete around them. The green concrete of the new slab may not hold your anchors well. You can make a plywood template the size of the safe, mark the holes and then transfer them to the existing floor and drill.the hard part will be getting the safe up and onto the protruding bolts. You could place wood runners that are a little higher than the bolts, set the safe over them and slide one out at a time. Bolt placement has to be perfect, doable though.

What would make this easier is instead of protruding bolts, use couplings onto studs for the anchors. Make them flush and then screw the bolts from inside the safe into the coupling.

 

[CNJarvis]

I used these to anchor mine: TITEN HD® - Anchor Systems ~ Simpson Strong-Tie you should be able to get them at Home Depot or Lowe's. They're also sold under the "Redhead" brand.
Just drill the hole and run the bolts down tight. I used 1/2" x 5" bolts on mine. Using these, I was able to put the safe where I wanted it and drill my holes without having to measure anything. The nice thing is that if/when you have to move, they're easy to remove. You'll want to make sure that the bolts are long enough to anchor into the existing slab 1.5 - 2".

 

[redhooker]

What would be nice is to be able to set your anchor bolts into the existing floor and then pour your concrete around them. The green concrete of the new slab may not hold your anchors well. You can make a plywood template the size of the safe, mark the holes and then transfer them to the existing floor and drill.the hard part will be getting the safe up and onto the protruding bolts. You could place wood runners that are a little higher than the bolts, set the safe over them and slide one out at a time. Bolt placement has to be perfect, doable though.

You are on the right track. I would sink allthread rods into existing slab by drilling oversized holes and setting in epoxy (the epoxy will be watertight in case the basement slab has a membrane). Have the allthread rods extend about 1" higher than your slab thickness added to the safe floor thickness. Wrap threads above pour line with masking tape. Pour slab and then set safe over allthread and secure with washers and nuts. You can trim the allthread if needed but wait until the nuts are on to save trouble with burrs causing cross thread issues.

An advanced technique is to drill a second hole in the initial hole at an angle, it makes the epoxy extremely resistant to pull out. Not needed here but maybe for piece of mind. I have hung 1-ton pieces of precast ornamental concrete as well as carved stone on building exteriors with this method. This will hold better than any sleeve anchor system out there.