If you need movers to move gun safes, document, money safes or any mid-size safe we do the job.

If necessary our company will send a gun safe mover specialist to your place to check your safe.

Our representative will gather all information necessary to give you a fair price moving quote.

Our quoting process means that there will be no unexpected surcharges, hidden fees, or surprises on the gun safe move.

Our movers will take your gun safe to anywhere in Florida or simply move it inside of your home from one room to the other.

If your safe needs to be unloaded from, or loaded onto moving trucks at your location, call us.

Cities where we work mostly in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and other counties

In my opinion, one important fire protection for your gun safe is where you place it. Try to place it as far away as possible from fire sources in your house such as: kitchen, fireplaces, heaters (specially the gas or oil heaters), etc.

Try to place your gun safe or money safe underneath a fire sprinkler. If you do not have one, have it installed.

IP cameras, IP smoke detectors and other IP devices that can alert you on your computer, cell phone or tablet and can also be of great help (please, read our topic: "How to move, install, and bolt down your gun safe").

It is better than nothing to have a fire resistant rated safe, but have in mind what is discussed below:

Most gun safe companies use different organizations to test and rate their safes, so it seems to me that there are no specific standard to compare the safes.

Most of these testing obviously vary and they are based on how well paper documents endure heat during a fire.

Metals such as steel, aluminum an even gun plastic have specific heat bigger than paper. This means they will absorb heat way faster than paper inside of the safe.

Therefore, when the gun safe is in a house fire the inside part of the safe will start to get hot by contact with the walls of the safe.

The air inside of the safe will start to get extremely hot and circular air currents (convection currents) will form inside of the safe.

Plastic gun stock can melt with temperatures under 290°F. Scope parts, gun lights and countless other parts of guns and accessories will get easily damaged if the fire is not extinguished in a very short period of time.

It is also known that under this temperature or a little above many cartridges will detonate inside of the gun safe (please, read our topic: "How to organize your gun safe").

My opinion is that in a house fire, fireproofing as it is done and tested today, cannot do much to prevent safe contents other than paper to be damage or destroyed.

Find a reputable gun safe street store or a gun safe Online store to purchase your safe.

It is a good idea to go in person to a store to get the feel on gun safes and to gather some technical information.

Make sure you level your needs to the gun safe pricing. There are safes with prices starting from a few hundreds dollars to gun safes that can reach $9,000 or more.

Gun safes are no exception to the rule: you get what you pay for. You will not get a decent gun safe for long guns in the $300 or $400 price range.

Be aware that the amount and thickness of the steel used in a gun safe body and door accounts a lot for its safety and protection against brute force attacks.

A good buying parameter is the weight of the safe. If the safe is big and fairly light , means it does not have a lot of steel in the construction. Don't be impressed by thick doors, they can be built with just two thin blades of steel separated by plaster. Give preference to doors that don't look that thick but that you can see the steel gauge they were made of.

Some gun safes that are being sold can be opened with just one hammer blow to its door.

Other gun safes can be easily drilled and re-wired to a battery to make it open in a snap.

If the gun safe body is super weak the burglars will not bother opening the doors, they will just cut the gun safe body open.

Some gun safe companies will build the gun safe with APPARENTLY thick doors to impress the buyers. The greatest part of the door thickness is used to accommodate the locking and opening mechanism that add NO security to your gun safe. What is really important is the gauge of the steel that was used to build the gun safe door itself. If the gun safe door can be easily drilled or bent out you are in bad shape.

Gun safe burglars will drill a hole in the door near the lock, insert cameras with flexible lenses, find the wires that trigger the locking bolt solenoid, plug to an external battery and they are in; this process can take 5 to 10 minutes only.

The electronic locking mechanism, as everything else, will fail one day, sometimes during a weekend and hopefully it will not be in a day you are desperate to open it to save your life.

Some gun safe builders offer dual opening systems, which is very nice, but of course it comes at a price.

I am fan of the old school DIAL opening system with no batteries to die, no electronic circuits to fail.

Below two 900 pounds document safes being delivered from a store to our customer office

Be aware of some safes sold by wholesale clubs and big-box retailers. They are usually cheaper and look good. Some factories, make the safe doors look thicker, but in reality they are hollow. It is a false sense of security.

Scrolling this frame down you will find information on how to move, install and bolt down a gun safe.

MAIN TOPICS FOR MOVING A GUN SAFE:

How to move a gun safe without movers

Please have in mind that if you use any gun safe moving information you get from this site it will be AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If you are planning to move a small gun safe in the 250 - 350 pounds range you should be able to do it by yourself with the help of a couple of friends and a LOT of care.

To start, get an appliance dolly that you can rent or borrow from a friend's garage.

Make sure that there are no kids or pets near you at any given moment of the move. Adults that are not directly involved in the gun safe move should not be nearby as well.

Don't make your work harder, empty the gun safe completely, shoot a photo before starting, remove the shelving and the drywall boards (be gentle not to break them). Make sure you remove the dry wall board and flooring to reach the bolts if your safe is bolted.

If the gun safe is bolted to the floor, unscrew first the bolts that are closest to the door and then the remaining ones.

Have in mind that the weight of the door open will make it easier for the gun safe to tilt towards the door side. This can cause a hazardous situation: if you tilt the safe, the door bottom can touch the floor and may pop out from it's hinges, falling on someone or damaging something or itself.

Close and lock the safe door. Remove the spindles. They can be unscrewed and this will make easier to move the safe in tight spaces and avoid damages to the gun safe locking mechanism.

Next, tilt the safe just a little towards one side and put leveling shims under it (DO NOT PUT your hands under the gun safe, use a piece of wood, a broom or stick to do it). Leave room enough to insert the blade of the appliance dolly; then hook and lock its belt.

If the gun safe is in a tight spot and you cannot insert the appliance dolly under it, try to rock it out. If the flooring can get scratched you can cut wood broom sticks in pieces, put them under the safe and roll it out to a better position.

With the help of a friend, wheel the gun safe without tilting it much or a lot of weight will come to the handles, you can feel there is an optimum balance angle where your effort will be minimum.

 

When the gun safe reaches the thresholds a small push from a third friend might be necessary.

If you are using a pick-up, put a moving pad in the pick-up bed, covering and hanging down the tail-gate. This will make it easier to slide the gun safe in and out on its lay down position. Tie-down twice the gun safe to make sure it does not slide or shift during the trip and avoid hard cornering when you drive.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the tail-gate can support the weight of the gun safe + dolly + leverage of both being lifted on its edge.

Push the appliance dolly side against the tail-gate until it touches the tail-gate and have all three people lifting the bottom of the gun safe. It is generally recommended to bend your legs and keep your upper body as vertical as possible.

When unloading the gun safe make sure all hands and toes are cleared before landing it on the floor.

If you are using a truck to transport the gun safe, pull it and have one friend push it up the ramp, position the gun safe in the center of the fire wall (the wall near the cab) and have it tied down with at least 2 tie-down ratchets - Check the photo below.

To unload the gun safe make sure one of your friends is blocking the safe, keep the dolly centered in the ramp and have the third friend from a safe distance making sure the dolly wheels are inside the ramp at all times. Make sure the gun safe weight does not exceed the truck ramp maximum weight rating.

When the gun safe arrives at its destination choose the more adequate spot for it to be. Please check below our "Choosing a position for your gun safe" segment.

Before landing the gun safe on the floor have one of your friends on the opposite side blocking the gun safe from slamming on the floor. Again recommend him to make sure his toes are not in the way at all times.

Protecting the safe for transportation

Open a thick moving pad on the floor, roll the gun safe over it right in the center.

Use thick cardboard to make protection for both the dial and the lock-unlock system. We usually shrink wrap the cardboard around the gun safe to keep it in position. A thick Styrofoam block can also be used.

Next cover completely the gun safe with moving pads all around it and shrink wrap it from top to bottom.

If the gun safe is going to be transported through outside stairs or a rough path you can add a layer of cardboard with shrink wrap as shown in the image below.

Choosing a spot to place your gun safe

The spot to place your gun safe is a combination of several parameters such as good Wi-Fi reception or wired Internet access, safety, flood consideration, fire consideration, ease of access, and also decoration.

I always recommend to try to put the gun safe in a place with good Wi-Fi reception or where it is easy to run Internet cable. You can have installed an IP video camera that can sense movements, that will notify you via email, snap photos, video record any activity and even set off alarms. These cameras can be checked at any time in your cell phone, tablet or computer and are a small investment and very worthy to protect your gun safe and home as well. There are also flood and smoke sensors that can notify you via Internet for risks involving your gun safe.

Fire consideration:.Try to place your gun safe underneath a sprinkler point. If there is none we strongly suggest you to have one installed right above your safe. In case of fire you should have some more protection.

Fire and heat tends to go up. Therefore, technically, your safe would be better in the basement if your house have one. The problem is that in case of flooding associated with power outage (sump pumps not working) your basement can be under water, used waters etc. Many people use the gun safe to keep documents and jewelry as well.

Burglars will see a gun safe in the basement as an additional problem to carry your safe out of your home but, at the same time, it is easier for them to break into the safe once they are hidden from neighbors and people passing in the street.

If you place the safe on any floor above ground you make it easier for the burglars to drop the safe on the floor to steal it, but this could also call a lot of attention.

In severe fires the safe can end up on the basement of the house or on the ground floor if the floors collapse.

Usually corners are more structurally strong and more protective against side brute force attacks with pry bars. It is better if you can position your gun safe between 2 walls in a snug way. Make sure the gun safe is positioned a little back from the edge of the walls, but do not go too much back or the safe door will not open fully.

Avoid putting more than 800 pound safe upstairs to avoid structural issues. It is always prudent, specially in houses with wood flooring, to consult technical certified professional to tell the maximum loaded permitted.

Garages are nice places to install your gun safe in what concerns bolting to the floor, but your safe can be visible every time the door is opened. It is easy for thieves to break in using the outside unlock system and clickers, or take advantage of an open door. Also in a garage it is easier for thieves to put the gun safe in a pick-up or small truck and take off.

Below a Browning gun safe installed in a garage

Nowadays gun safes can be very decorative with high profile finishing. However, have in mind that the more hidden your gun safe is the more secure your guns and all the belongings inside of the safe will be. Avoid putting your safe in a place where it can be seen by everybody that enters your home. Most of the burglary that occur in homes are made by people who had the chance to check what you have inside of your place and plan for it.

If you hire gun safe movers to move your safe make sure they come using an unmarked truck and, more importantly, demand that the safe is completely wrapped in moving pads and shrink wrapped. You don't want to broadcast to all your neighborhood that you have a big gun safe inside of your home.

Bolting down your gun safe

Before bolting down your safe you need to know if the drilling area does not have passing water pipes, sewage pipes, HVAC ducts, wires any sort of electric conduits or any other building element that can be damaged or cause damage or hazardous situation. As always, a certified professional should be consulted to give you a precise information.

Gun safes can be bolted down in many ways. Your decision will be made depending on the type of flooring and walls available and the bolting system you are planning to use.

Garage flooring some times are made of good concrete but sometimes made of rubble and leftovers from construction with a thin coat of concrete spread over.

Expandable systems like red head bolts, drop-in anchors, wedge anchors and others will work fine on dense good concrete but they will not work so well if they are inserted in rubble material.

I am a fan of tapcons, a nice alternative to expansion anchors. These concrete screws tap thread into a pre-drilled hole in concrete, brick or block. To use them effectively tough, you need to have a thick and well laid concrete slab or they will not hold good. Check below Tapcon Bolts.

Below you see gun safe being bolted down.

A good point of the tapcons is that they will get a little rusted by the concrete humidity. This shouldn't impeach them from being unscrewed if you need to move the safe. The benefit of the rust is that they will swell and get super tight and VERY hard for someone to pry your safe out with the screws in place. Check below rusted Tapcon Bolts after 2 years installed in a safe through concrete slab.

Talking about concrete slab here is an IMPORTANT NOTE: Post Tensioned Concrete Slab CANNOT be drilled. If in the drilling process you damage or cut the steel cables inside of these slabs they can rip anything in their way, once they are under very high pressure. If your place has these slabs, a seal saying: “Post Tensioned Slab, Do Not Drill, Cut or Core” should be there. If you don't find it or if you are not sure, you should consult a certified professional specialist.

If your gun safe must be bolted to wood flooring, consult a certified technician or carpenter to advise you where to bolt and what type or screws or anchors should be used.

If you cannot bolt your safe to the floor, bolting to walls can be better than nothing. I am not fan of bolting gun safe to dry wall panels because they are too weak. If you can drill a metal stud is a little better but still not much secure. If on the other hand you have a good concrete block or brick wall and if you manage to bolt your gun safe to it in 4 or 6 points, then your gun safe will be much more secure. Have in mind that the idea is to discourage the thieves and make them lose as much time as possible.

Before tightening the bolts or nuts make sure your gun safe is leveled and that it will not be rocking. Gun safe doors can get damage or jammed as time goes by if your safe is not leveled. Avoid as much as possible gaps between the flooring and the safe because they can be a spot where a brute force attacker can insert a pry bar to unseat your gun safe.

A nice way to protect the flooring when you roll a hand truck with the gun safe is to pad the flooring and put wood boards on top of it as shown in the figure below

First things first: DO NOT put any ammunition inside of your gun safe.

Your gun safe was purchased I believe to PROTECT your beloved guns, right?

So any flammable such as manuals, cleaning solution, sprays and particularly any ammunition should NOT be put inside of your gun safe.

In case of fire, if the safe is exposed to the fire during more time than it is supposed to resist, the flammables will burn, ammunition will go off and if the guns are not damaged by the fire they will be damaged or totally destroyed by the explosions inside of the safe.

So you risk losing all your guns and the ammunition along with it.

What is really valuable for you are the guns, and other non-flammable or explosive items that you can put inside of it such as gold, jewelry, and etc.

If you want to lock and protect your ammunition, get a smaller safe or a metal cabinet with a lock. Remember: ammunition is way easier to replace than the guns.

Make a sketch with the layout you think is best for you and then adjust your shelving. Common sense will tell you that the guns you access more should be in the top shelves and in the front.

To install lighting is a excellent idea too. If your gun safe does not comes with a power input you can have one installed or use some battery operated ones available in the gun stores.

A dehumidifier is also a good idea to keep your guns without moisture.

Before hiring gun safe movers in South Florida, inform and protect yourself by checking our company and the other gun safe movers as well.

Fight moving scam visiting the links below before you hire any safe moving company!

Broward County Consumer Affairs Division

Florida Division of Consumer Services