If you own a gun then it is very important to ensure that it is safely stored when you are not carrying it around as it can be a dangerous weapon while in the wrong hands. There have been so many cases of massive shootings in many parts of the world and some of the shooters got their hands on a gun that was poorly stored. In order to ensure that your gun is safe when you are in your house, you should invest in a gun safe to hold it safely and in a secure manner. However, having a gun safe would not be all as it can still be at risk of other factors such as fire. This could lead to accidents and injuries in case the house was to catch fire. It is therefore important to take the necessary safety precautions by ensuring that your gun safe is fireproof. You can easily fireproof a gun safe by following the steps below carefully:
Step 1 – Protection from Fire
Before you even get to the details of installing your gun safe, it would be important to ensure that you first of all consider the materials that were used during the construction of your house. This would help you determine the best way to follow as you attempt to fireproof a gun safe. If your home is built out of materials that are highly flammable then you would have to invest in a great quality gun safe. This is the only way that you will be assured of the safety of your guns. There are other various considerations that you should also consider before you start the whole process of fire proofing your safe. You have to consider the size of your house, your location and the distance it is located from the nearest fire department.
When it comes to choosing your fireproof gun safes, you should go for those that are rated from half to around three hours of total burn time. The rate ought to be determined by the approximate time that experts deem it would take for your house to completely burn down. On a normal scale, most homes take around 30 minutes to burn before the fire department is able to get there and put off the fire. Ensure that the fireproof safe you get will be able to exceed 30 minutes.
Step 2 – Determining the Location of the Gun Safe
When making the decision on the best place to locate your gun safe, you should consider the most secure area in your house. You can opt to have a secure room inside the house to store your gun(s). The most ideal areas in the house to locate your safe would be in the basement or next to a wall that bears a load in order to gain an extra support. You should not make your safes inside the house in areas such as the stairs, tiles, hallway and wall if there is enough reason to doubt their security. All these facts are important to consider as they will mark your route as you move the gun inside your house. Click here to read my post on how to move a gunsafe downstairs.
Step 3 – Installing a Carpet Lay or Soft Mat
It is important to ensure that the safe does not come into contact with any moisture as you fix it. In order to eradicate this issue, it is important to ensure that you lay some carpet material or a soft mat on the part where it will sit. This will prevent the occurrence of damage that may emanate from corrosion on the bottom side of the safe. The mat or carpet also protects the safe from other factors or contaminants that may cause the outer covers of the box to react.
Step 4 – Removing Inflammable Materials
If you find any materials that are easily inflammable inside the gun safe then it would be proper to remove them and find an alternative place to store them. These materials would include paper documents and media devices like CDs and DVDs. These items are highly inflammable and could easily accelerate a fire and fuel it more. You should also make sure that you purchase a gun safe that has a UL rating of above 125 as this will prevent the internal temperature from rising to above the 125oF mark.
Step 5 – Installation of Roll-Out Drawers
This will highly depend on the size of the gun safe that you buy to store your guns. If you have several guns then it might be a great idea to install roll-out drawers in order to create more space for your guns. It would also be great as it would eradicate the chance of your guns being stored close to one another. In making the roll-out drawers, you should ensure that you pay enough consideration on the gun types you are going to store in the safes like pistols, hunting rifles and shot guns. This will ensure that you get the right fit for the drawers. In order to enhance your gun’s safety, you should ensure that your roll-out drawer is also made from fireproof materials. In order to create some even more space, you should store some guns standing upright while the others can be layered carefully on the roll-out drawer you install.
Step 6 – Securing the Gun Safe Properly
After ensuring that you have completely observed all the safety precautions necessary when you want to fireproof a gun safe, you should invest in combination locks that should be of a higher quality. These locks ought to be installed in order to further enhance the safety of your gun safe. You should also ensure young children and any other unwanted or unauthorized person does not in any way access your gun safe. The combination locks will help you create a combination that you should only know if you are the only person who ought to access the guns. This will ensure that your guns are safely stored and also safe from other dangerous vices such as fire that can easily destroy them while exposing you to accidents.
All the above are the important steps that you should follow when you want to fireproof a gun safe.