If you own or have firearms in your home, then owning a gun safe is one of your responsibilities as a firearm owner. Gun safes can be bulky and heavy with most weighting up to 300 pounds when empty. Thus, if you are planning to move it, you need to take time to plan well, acquire the right gear and the right human labor to do it. Most moving companies understand the hassles to move a gun safe, thus they charge ridiculously high fees some charging up to 500 dollars to do it for you. Thus, unless you have some extra money to spend, read on to find out how you can do it yourself.
The first step is to get some people to help.
This can be three or four of your friends or pay some people in the neighborhood to help. As a gun safe can be bulky object, attempting to lift one can easily lead to back injury, leg or arm injuries if you try to move it on your own, especially if you want it moved down the stairs to the basement. Thus, ensure you have at least two people to help you move a gun safe.
Get the right tools for the job.
Remember, as pointed out earlier, a heavy gun safe should not be lifted with your arms unless you don’t mind breaking something, straining your tendons or pulling your muscles. The best recommended equipment to help move a gun safe is a dolly, preferably with straps and a rating of 1200lbs+. The straps help you to drag the gun safe so that you eliminate the need to lift it from one room to another or down the stairs. If you find one specifically designed for the stairs, then that is better, if not use a ratchet strap or a rope. Ensure that the straps are hooked at the bottom of the dolly to enhance the stability of the gun safe when moving it down the stairs.
After putting the gun safe on the dolly, the next step is to guide it down the stairs. An important thing to consider as you move a gun safe is to ensure that there is NO ONE on the way of the gun safe. Whether it is the people helping you move it, or any member of your family, ensure that everyone stays upside of the gun safe. Hold the dolly and carefully lay it at the top of the stairs with the wheels first and each of the men holding the straps. Carefully push the dolly so the wheels can fall off the edge. As you do this, hold the dolly to a 45 degree angle to the downward slope to ensure that the weight of the gun safe is moving with the momentum. Be sure to ease the wheels of the dolly as you push the dolly down each step on the stairs to avoid damaging your stairs as well as avoid the risk of the gun safe detaching from the dolly and falling off the stairs. Always remember to hold on to the straps of the dolly tightly, until you get to the final stair case, as losing grip of the straps can be catastrophic.
There are several ways to move a gun safe; this is just one of the most common methods. If you don’t want to use the dolly, you can use a hand-truck with an electric stripper. However, be prepared to part with some extra money, as the hand-truck can be more expensive than the dolly. Hiring a professional to move a gun safe can be the best option since you don’t know if your stairs can support the weight of the gun safe. Some people try to do it on their own, only to end up spending more to repair the staircase and hire a professional to move the gun safe which they should have done in the beginning. So think carefully before you choose the best way to move a gun safe in your home.
References:
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/guns.htm