Where Should You Put Your Gun Safe? 5 Tips To Help You Decide
If you are putting a gun safe in your home, you want to put it in the safest spot possible. Wondering where that is? Well, that answer differs depending on your home, and you have to keep in mind a range of threats from moisture to thieves. Here are five tips to help you find the perfect spot.
1. Avoid Humid or Moist Areas
Guns can be extremely sensitive to moisture. In particular, excess moisture causes guns to rust. Because of this, you don't want to keep the gun anywhere in your home that is prone to dampness. This includes your basement, but on top of that, you may want to keep your gun safe away from hot water heaters, humid laundry rooms, or bathrooms.
2. Stay Away From Excessively Dry Areas
On the other side of the equation, you don't want your gun safe to be anywhere that is too dry. This can cause the wood on the stocks to dry out and break. To that end, you want to keep your gun safe out of excessively dry areas. That may include your attic especially if heating ducts run through it.
Ideally, you want your gun in a climate controlled area of your home. If you live in an older home where temperatures are hotter or colder next to external walls, you should position your gun safe in an internal space away from those walls.
3. Consider Putting Your Gun Safe on an Upper Floor
If you live in an area that's prone to flooding, you may want to put the gun safe on an upper floor. Putting it on the ground floor means that it's more likely to get damaged by rising flood waters. Whether you live near the ocean or even just by a river, you may want to keep this tip in mind.
4. Anchor the Gun Safe
If thieves come into your home, they may not tinker with the lock of the gun safe. Instead, to make matters easier for themselves, they may just lift up the whole safe and take it all away. To avoid that risk, you need to anchor the gun safe.
You can anchor your safe to a concrete floor, but as those are usually only available in garages or basements, you may want to consider other options. In particular, you may want to anchor the gun safe to the frame of your home.
Simply find a stud, drill holes through the back of the safe and secure it with large bolts. You may want to repeat this for the base of the safe. If you take those precautions, no thief will be able to move it. As long as they can't break open the lock, your guns will be safe.
5. Consider a Hidden Gun Safe
For an extra level of security with a gun safe, you may want to opt for a hidden safe. You can hide your gun safe by putting it in a bedroom closet, or you can just invest in a gun safe that's designed to look like something else.
For example, there are gun safes that are disguised to appear like the box springs of a mattress. For handguns, you may want to go with the classic book safe—that's a gun safe that looks like a thick book. You can also recess a safe into the wall and cover it with art or bookshelves, or you can invest in a gun safe that's like a safe on the inside but looks like a regular old dresser on the outside.
There are lots of options, and you may want to contact a gun safe seller, such as Southern California Security Centers, to get more ideas.
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