Safes have become popular in many households and industrial complexes, with installations aimed at protecting treasured valuables.
Safes are thus usually crafted with resilient materials guaranteeing that once the locking mechanism is engaged, your items would be out of sight and secure.
Nevertheless, it is highly recommended that you anchor your safe against a solid surface for increased security.
This is because surveys indicate that many individuals often just set their safes on flat surfaces without anchorage and assume this is enough.
This often ends up prompting unintended consequences given that without anchorage, other people can easily break into the safe or even carry it off from your property with all your valuables.
This article thus dives into how you can mount a safe to the wall of your house for increased security of your valuables.
Types of Safes You Can Easily Bolt to the Wall
Safes usually come in a variety of types and models, with each one boasting unique features and specifications.
As such, some safes, like most of those with fire ratings, often prove challenging to mount unless they are specially crafted for fitting to a wall.
The rest of the safe categories are usually easy to mount on a wall as their designs and included packaged materials easily facilitate the process.
For instance, an ordinary safe would come with extra holes for mounting, however, a hole in a fire-rated safe would affect their functionality by making them less fire-resistant unless they are specially designed for wall mounting.
The Crucial Do’s and Don’ts Before Bolting your Safe to the Wall
It is important to consider some factors to ensure that you have a smooth and effortless safe installation.
These tips will typically boost your preparedness and guarantee you to install the safe appropriately and securely. They include;
- Ensuring you have the appropriate type of safe suitable for DIY/professional wall installation.
- Inspecting and ensuring that the wall section is stable and suitable.
- Confirming and guaranteeing easy accessibility of the area and the safe after installation.
- Removal of any materials, such as skirting boards, in between the concrete wall and the safe.
- Checking and locating any submerged cables or pipes within the wall before drilling.
Tools and Materials You Will Need
Before you start your safe installation to a wall, you must acquire all the following tools and gather them in an accessible area near the installation region;
- Socket wrench set or a Screwdriver
- Impact drill
- Concrete drill
- Plastic hammer
- Fixing anchors
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Expansion/Anchor Bolts
- Saw
- Corded drill
Some of these, like the anchor bolts, may usually come already packaged with the acquired safe. You should therefore confirm with the providers to avoid unnecessary purchases and expenditures.
Easily Bolt your Safe to a Wall in the Following Steps
After gathering most, if not all of the required equipment and materials in an accessible area, you should keenly adhere to the following steps and guidelines to ensure your installation is proper and sufficiently secure. They include;
Prepare Your Safe
Generally, safes usually have one central mounting hole or two equally spaced. Most of these are usually on the bottom side, however, some also have holes on the backsides for wall mounting.
As such, make sure your safe has the necessary mounting holes before starting the installation.
Nevertheless, if by chance you have a fireproof safe with no holes, you can create your own mounting holes on the safe using metal drills.
You should however, note that this would devalue your safe by affecting its functionality, leaving it only capable of fulfilling ordinary safe functions or managing mild to average heat/fire complications like those that last for less than a minute.
The best thing to do is consult with your provider before purchase to guarantee that your safe is compatible and easy to mount on the walls.
Properly Position Your Safe
You must also find the most appropriate locale for situating your safe. The area must be bordered by concrete or brick wall capable of supporting the safe’s weight.
Subsequently, the area must also be easily accessible and free from any obstacle that would limit access by blocking the safe door from opening, among other challenges.
You should also remove any barriers preventing the safe from lying flat on the concrete/brick wall, such as skirting boards.
This is usually simple, you only need to position the safe at the intended installation zone, mark its edges by penciling around, and finally cut off the skirting board within the marked safe area.
Mark the Drill Points
Once your safe perfectly fits to your desired position, you should mark out the custom mounting holes pre-drilled or custom-made in the safe onto the wall using a pencil. This will indicate the exact positions to drill for anchorage.
Drill the Anchor Holes
You should first utilize small drilling bits, about 6mm in diameter, to drill the pilot anchor holes on the wall.
These small masonry drilling bits are usually less likely to slip against a concrete wall while also preventing over-estimation of the drilling hole diameter, which could be devastating if wrongly anticipated.
Next, you should measure the full length of your expansion anchor bolts to determine the drill depth needed and mark the extent on a larger masonry drill bit using tape.
The diameters of the drill bits used may vary on specifications by safe manufacturers or the size of available anchor bolts. For instance, you may opt for a 12mm drill bit.
Using the pilot drill holes as guidance, drill again to the tape mark level on the drill. Repeat this for all the previous pilot holes, remove and clean any dirt yielded, and confirm if the anchor bolts and the drill holes are compatible before progressing to the next step.
Insert Anchor Bolts and Tighten
Once your drill holes are ready, move the safe back to the preferred position and align the mounting holes directly to the drill holes.
Place your anchor bolt through the safe into the drill holes. Then, using a screwdriver or the hammer, further tighten the bolts to secure the safe firmly on the concrete wall.
Check Safe Sturdiness and Add Shelving
You can tap and try to move the safe by mildly applying pressure and pushing the safe. This is to ensure that the bolts firmly hold the safe in position.
Securely bolted safe should not move at all, however, some may move a little, requiring a further tightening of the bolts.
Afterward, you may add shelving to the safe, and it would be ready for use.
Final Thoughts
There are usually two options for bolting a safe to a wall, that is DIY or a professional installation.
As a DIY individual, I recommend you thoroughly go through this article and get to understand some of the critical requirements and steps involved in mounting a safe to a wall.
However, if unsure of your abilities, you should hire professionals to assist you in the process.
Related
