We get this question pretty frequently and the answer is yes, you should absolutely bolt your safe down assuming there are no limiting factors that prevent you from doing so like heated floors or post-tension slabs. There are two main reasons you should bolt or anchor your safe to the floor, Safety and Security. Below we will give a better explanation of what bolting your safe down means for safety and security and why it is so important.
Safety:
Customers are often unsure or skeptical about whether they should anchor their safe to the ground. When we get a safe moved to its final resting place in the home, we exhibit the importance of anchoring a safe by opening the door and showing just how little pressure is needed and sometimes no pressure at all for the safe to start leaning forward. Having your safe anchored to the ground provides the safety and reassurance you need to ensure that the safe doesn’t tip over. The Liberty Fat Boy Jr. or any of the other 48 gun safes they sell are even more prone to instability because of their width to depth ratios. Browning Pro Steel has similar models called the Hell’s Canyon or El Dorado that are very wide yet very shallow in depth. They’re all great safes, but they should definitely be anchored to the ground. It’s an ugly truth, but a 1,000lb safe tipping over can cause serious injury or even death to a loved one. Safety is the single most important variable and why we strongly advocate for bolting your safe down.
Security:
“There is no way someone is going to run off with that safe, I saw the fancy equipment you had to use to move it in here”. The reality is that, yes that can and does happen. In some cases safes are completely stolen and taken from homes. Anchoring your safe prevents that from happening, but that’s not all it does. It’s very challenging to pry on the door of a safe that is in the upright position. Anchoring your safe to the ground prevents the would-be thieves from being able to slam the safe down on its back where they would have better leverage to try and pry the door open. It is for that reason that we recommend choosing a location in your home with a concrete subfloor.
We always strongly advocate for bolting your safe down, but if you’re still not convinced you can do a little research and you’ll find that the consensus across the industry is unanimous. Every manufacturer will echo similar messages about the importance of anchoring your safe and we’re happy to perform that service for you during installation.
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