Millions of people across the United States and the world are gun owners. With a variety of uses, including personal safety, work, hunting, it is crucial that these powerful weapons are secure. Gun accidents occur all the time and often it is because they are not securely hidden or out of reach. The best strategy for housing a gun is in a safe.
How do you mount a gun safe to the wall? Many people choose to mount gun safes to walls so they are out of reach to children or they are easily accessible for your own use. With a proper anchoring system and heavy bolts, a gun safe can be easily mounted to a wall. Usually these are smaller and lighter safes.
To ensure proper mounting technique and effectiveness, let this article be your guide to safely mounting a gun safe to a wall. Specific placement and strategy should be used for safety and alternative mounting locations should also be considered.
How to Mount a Gun Safe To The Wall: Step by Step
When first mounting your gun safe to a wall, it is important that you know the exact location you wish to place it as well as the dimensions and weight of your safe. Knowing these will help you make the best decision in safely mounting your guns.
Gun safes can range from a minimum of 25 pounds to 500 based on the size and number of guns someone owns. Mounting a 500-pound safe to a wall without any ground support is not viable, so knowing the needs of your safe’s secure placement is crucial.
Mounting a gun safe to a wall can be a fairly simple process if the proper precautions and procedures are followed. Wall mounting is definitely not the most common location for gun safes, especially heavy ones, but they are a viable option for many homeowners.
- Finding a Secure Location
For any gun safe, finding a secure location that is not easily found or accessible is key. With gun safes, the two largest threats to gun accidents are children and thieves. Having gun in the reach of children is incredibly dangerous as they may often think the weapon is a toy. Countless home accidents have been due to children finding their way into safes and around unsecure guns. Secondly, guns are easy for thieves to steal if they are not secure. Many criminals will break into homes and take entire gun safes with them. They will try and break into the safe later when they have more time and better tools. If guns are not secure, these thieves could greatly injure or kill people in your home. You are essentially arming them when these weapons are not safely contained.
A secure location definitely depends on your living situation and lifestyle. It is probably not best to secure a gun safe to a wall in your living room. With heavy foot traffic and safes being not so subtle contraptions, this is not an ideal or safe location.
You should aim to put a safe in a location that is:
- Hidden
- Out of reach of children
- Where many people do not usually go or have access
- Dry and humid-less areas
- Easily accessible only to you
These are important considerations in picking the ideal location. You should not advertise that you have guns in your home as you never know who someone could tell. You could be making yourself a target of crime without even knowing it.
Keeping weapons concealed in a hidden location is the best way to prevent accidents and theft.
Additionally, gun safes should be kept in a dry environment. Humidity can cause damage to a safe and the contents inside. To prevent this, keep your safe in a location that is free of humidity. If this is not possible, they sell dehumidifiers for a safe.
- Choosing a “Good Wall”
You cannot just mount a safe to any wall in your house. Different walls have different textures and materials. It is important that you choose a wall that can support the weight of a safe and cannot be easily removed.
You should mount a safe to the studs in a wall. Studs are boards that were used in the construction of the wall to maintain its structure and strength. Usually these are spaced from each other evenly and connected by drywall, which is not as sturdy.
Attaching to the studs will allow for maximum security. Fastening a safe to drywall may not hold it securely, or someone could try and steal it by ripping it off the wall. To find studs in the wall, the most effective way is to use a stud finder.
This is a computerized device that is able to calculate the different densities in the wall. Having this will ensure you properly placed your safe.
Without a stud finder, there are always way you can identify studs. Some people tap on the wall to listen for changes in hollowness and material. This is not always a successful method but has been used throughout time.
Most houses are constructed using the same methods and principles in structure. Stud boards are usually 2×4 or 2×6 in dimensions so you can use easy math to try and identify where they are.
Each board is usually 16 to 24 inches from one another. Once you identify where one stud is, you can use these simple calculations to find the studs in the desired safe location. Start from the corner of a room or find an electrical outlet to find a stud.
- Picking the Right Safe
Some safes are specifically meant for wall mounting. You will know this based on the mounting holes. Many safes only have mounting holes on the bottom, suggesting they are meant for floor mounting. A proper wall safe will have mounting holes on the sides so you can properly secure it off the floor.
Wall mounting safes will also be the proper weight specifications to ensure they will not fall off or be a danger to others when off the ground. Size availability will also eliminate weight issues.
The most popular wall-mounted safe is an in-wall safe. This will require you removing drywall to the dimensions of your safe and inserting it in the wall.
This will keep even with the wall and allow for absolute sturdiness to known studs. In-wall safes are a more inconspicuous method in a hanging safe. They are only inconvenient in that they cannot be moved easily like a free-standing safe.
- Leveling
For precision and security, you should make sure your safe is level on the wall. Without a level position, contents inside could be shifted awkwardly, and resting upon other items where they shouldn’t be.
Using a level, or a tool that ensures you are operating on a flat surface, is very easy to use and will help you determine the locations of your drilling holes.
- Drilling
After finding the studs, you should use a power drill to mount the safe. The safe should come with its own screws, so your job is just to make sure these securely and tightly fit within the safe.
Like any drilling job, be careful not to strip, or ruin the drill head by a power drill causing shredding, as you will not be able to properly secure afterwards.
Additionally, over screwing or letting the screw go too deeply in the wall may compromise its effectiveness. This is why washers and big screw heads are used. They will prevent the rest of the screw from continuing through the wall.
The Best Materials For a Wall Mounted Gun Safe
For a wall mounted safe, there are many materials you should use to make sure it will be properly installed. This includes the surface in which you mount and the materials used to physically mount the safe.
These materials to consider are:
- Wall type
The best material to mount a gun safe to is cement. It is the sturdiest material and will be nearly impossible to remove. This could be brick or plain cement. This is almost perfect in preventing burglaries.
Unfortunately, many people do not have access to cement walls in their homes. Given this, many people will mount them to standardly built wood and drywall. As previously mentioned, drywall is not a secure mounting material. Finding the board within the wall will allow for maximum security in a typical wall home setting.
- Tools and Hardware
Power drills are the main tool you will be using to make a hole for a screw or bolt. You will often need to make a hole in cement and other materials as a screw or bolt will not be able to penetrate the material itself.
Power drills increase efficiency and security in proper mounting. Screws and bolts are both used to secure items. Screws can hold themselves into items and do not need additional support.
Bolts require a nut, or a fastener on the opposite side. This is usually less viable when drilling into a wall as there is no other side to secure from.
You will usually use a wrench, power drill or screw driver to fully mount the safe. This means you do not need a power tool to properly mount the screws to a safe, but you should be using proper wrenches and even other screws to turn it snuggly into place.
Is It Dangerous To Mount Your Gun Safe?
If not properly secured or carefully attended to, a gun safe can be dangerous to mount. But as a general rule, mounting one to a wall is a fairly safe activity. The most common way and generally safest way heavy gun safes are kept is bolted to the door.
Things to consider when mounting to ensure safety include:
- Weight
Most gun safes that are mounted to walls, will be lightweight or hold minimal weapons. Very heavy guns with lots of weapons are not suitable for wall mounting.
Danger will arise if you try and mount too heavy of a safe to a wall or try to put too many things in it.
When purchasing a gun safe specifically to be mounted on a wall, they will be smaller and give you specifications of how much weight it should bear. The smaller size of the safe will allow this process to be fairly safe.
- Secured Screws
The largest danger posed when mounting a safe to a wall is the potential of it falling. This will not happen with an in-wall safe but may occur if a wall-mounted safe is not properly installed or secured tightly.
- Power Tool Safety
In working on any project, the use of power tools, hand tools, and hardware should be used safely. A power drill can be dangerous if your hands get in the way! Make sure you are working in a focused manner and very aware of the tools around you.
- Grab a Buddy
It may be helpful to get some assistance when installing a wall-mounted safe. Holding it level, drilling holes, and inserting the screws/bolts will be difficult if you try to do it all yourself.
You may be limited to one hand which will increase the chance of accidents. Having someone to help will allow the job to be done more quickly and efficiently in a safer setting.
Wall Mounted Gun Safes: Pros and Cons
As there are many options in picking a gun safe, gun owners and experts will be quick to point out the benefits and drawbacks of each type. Wall mounted gun safes are not the most popular option, but can be a good choice for many gun owners.
Pros:
- Do not take up much space
Because they are built in or on the wall, they do not take up much real estate. Most free-standing safes require space in a room, while this safe can be built into a wall and not take up any additional space.
This is perfect for people who live in a smaller apartment or house or do not want to place them on the floor in a corner of a room.
- Subtle additions to a room
Being built-into a wall makes the safe less obvious than a large and standard safe. You can always cover the safe with a photograph or some other type of wall covering.
This allows them to be “hidden in plain sight,” making it a safer option oftentimes. When people are unaware that a safe exists, there is less opportunity for accidents and theft.
- Desirable heights
You can choose the height at which a wall-mounted safe is installed! This can be helpful for people who want it to either be easily accessible or further out of reach.
People with mobility issues can cater it to themselves for more desirable access. Keeping them at higher heights will also allow for no child access.
Cons:
- Installation can be difficult
You will have to install a wall safe and this often includes putting a cutout into your wall.
This is definitely more extensive than a standing safe. It takes time and effort to ensure that the safe hole will have the proper dimensions and that it will be secured safely to studs within the wall.
- Potentially easy to steal
If a safe is not properly mounted, it can be stripped off the wall. Attaching to drywall is not secure enough and could even be pried out.
- Immobile
In-wall safes are also fairly permanent. Firstly, you have cut a hole in your wall and secure it. It cannot be easily moved to another location. This may prevent some people from wanting to choose this safe option.
Where Else Can a Gun Safe be Mounted?
Gun safes can be mounted and used in different locations throughout your house. These will require different dimension safes, but can be securely fastened to many surfaces.
- Floor
The most popular mounting location is to the floor. Cement floors are the best as they are the most secure. Wooden floors can also be good options but they can be less secure as someone could rip up a floorboard.
- Steel Sheet
People will also secure a safe to a sheet of steel. This makes securing the sheet easier to other surfaces!
- Wall and Floor
A very secure mounting method is both to the wall and the floor. This lessens the ability for it to be stolen!
- Tied to A Heavy Item (No Mount)
Some people may not be able to mount their safe! A landlord may not allow holes in a wall or floor. Or you plan to be moving it around consistently. For whatever reason, there are ways to secure a safe without mounting.
You can either have an incredibly heavy safe (multiple hundred pounds) or use chains to lock it to a heavy piece of furniture. This will add another level of security if mounting is not an option!