Gun Workbench & Saferoom ideas wanted.

M

MP Freeman

New member
I had a house built with safety and protection in mind and then moved in about one year ago. I have finished all the "other" projects, ie. landscaping and picket fence, finishing garage, furnishings inside and out. And now it's time to finish the basement! I've been looking forward to this ever since I've moved in. I want to do all the work, or at least most of it, myself. I have about 1600 sq.ft. of basement give or take a few feet.

Here are the specs and requirements.

The area I will be finishing for my gunroom/safestorage area is currently about 36'x18', has concrete walls on three sides, no windows, first floor joists for the cieling and a concrete floor. The fourth wall will have to be built.

Now I don't just want to throw up a wood and sheetrock wall to partition this room off. I want to make it a strong room. I don't want to have to buy another safe. Now here are my ideas:

Construct the fourth wall with 2x4x1/4 mild steel C-channel frame anchored in the floor and ceiling and concrete side walls, then overlay 1/4" mild steel on the frame to make up the walls. The steel walls will have some type of vent put in them to keep fresh air in and to prevent mildew. I live in IN. Install a strong room safe man-door, maybe from Fort Knox or somewhere. Finish the ceiling in 1/4" plate steel either anchored to the joists(or biuld a steel frame for it as well) so nobody can rip up the flooring above and drop in my room. For interior walls, I'll use 1/4" peg board to hang things on. Paint the whole thing bright white and run the electrical in rigid conduit with outlets every 4' and plenty of lighting. For flooring I'd just like to paint the concrete floor gray, with rubber mats in front of a work bench.

How should I heat/cool this area? Should I use the house HVAC system? The basement hasn't leaked yet, but what about mildew? Should I make the fourth wall concrete as well? I don't want to spend much more than $4,000, should I budget more? I can do most of the work myself. I am an electrical engineer, but know quite a bit about structural and civil engineering as well. And I either have or can get the tools needed to do this job. I plan on taking about 9-12 months to complete. Working weekends and holidays.

I'm sure you've also thought about building a room like this so, I would appreciate comments on such a room and ideas on workbenches that I can build. I want to cover all the bases before I start.

Thank you.
 
I'd suggest that for the door, you can make it yourself by making a steel door, and welding heavy pipe lengths alternating all the way down one side and the door jamb. Then insert a solid bar from the floor above down through the "hinge." Then weld the bar to the top part of the hinge, so it can't be removed easily.
 
I'd go with a concrete block wall, with rebar laid between the courses, and the cells filled with concrete. And a pre-fab safe door, they're not terribly expensive. Unless you used high strength concrete with mesh, you'll need to cut open the floor and pour a new footing under the wall to distribute the weight. You can rent a masonry saw for that stage of the project.

If you seal the floor and walls, the house HVAC system should be adequate to control humidity during the heating and cooling seasons. You might get into trouble during those parts of the year when neither heating nor air-conditioning kick in, though, so I'd recomend a small room dehumidifier, connected to a floor drain. I've got one running full time in my basement, (Never got around to sealing the concrete.) and don't have rusting problems.

The ceiling is another matter; Steel might be worth it there, just for ease of instalation; Pouring a concrete ceiling would be a pain, though that's the way I'd do it, in sections to re-use the forms. Do NOT attach those plates to the joists, as anybody who's opened up the floor could easily cut the joists and gain entry! There's where you'd want to resort to the steel channels.

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Sic semper tyrannis!
 
Sounds like a great plan.
I think I would check with whoever you plan on ordering the door from and get their input and requirements for the door installation.
I've had too many projects go wrong at the end since I didn't do all the coordination.

Good Luck with it.

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He who dares wins.
NRA Life Memeber
 
MP, Brett has the right idea with concreat blocks. You can buy the steel renforcing made special to lay between the blocks, it looks kinda like a ladder, I would use 3/8ths rebar down trough the hollows of the blocks also, spacing about erery second block across (with the ladder stuff) and up an down with the 3/8" rebar.

If I was BG and wanted your guns, and you had a steel wall it would take me about 10 min. and I would be hauling your guns to my waiting van. (It`s called a cutting tourch)

The concreat with rebar, is a horse of a differant color, I would let you keep your guns.

I seen a bank vault being built once. (concreat & rebar)

The cealing should have 5/8ths" fire code sheetrock, then the steel, or you can buy 1/2" concreat sheets 2+4ft (used on counter tops) insted of the sheet rock, but eather should slow down a cuting tourch. The sheet rock would be easier to install, also if you had a fire upstairs or down in your vault, it sure would slow down a fire.

[This message has been edited by B9mmHP (edited August 21, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by B9mmHP (edited August 21, 2000).]
 
Since you are going to be doing a LOT of work, how about the idea of putting in an automatic sprinkler system in case of fire.

Good Luck,
Rob

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It's amazing what a large group of stupid people can accomplish.
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There are companies that specialize in building modular steel rooms to protect against tornadoes. Since thay have to pass stringent impact tests due to the high speed projectiles, upgrading it to ballistic capabillty should be a snap. They bring in the panels, bolt them together and then shoot them into the floor....presto!

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Take Care,

Bill Perches
Street Smart Professional Equipment http://www.streetpro.com
streetpro@bohica.katn.org
(949)888-1131

[This message has been edited by streetpro (edited August 22, 2000).]
 
Only one problem with getting people in to do the work. Construction people talk, a lot. I used to work in a building supply store and heard all kinds of stories about what people had in their houses. If I was going to build a room like that, I'd do it in stealth mode.
 
Gee, sounds to me like a good security system might be a bargain here, if you don't already have one. Protects the rest of your house too (+ smoke/fire)
I did something similar in my house but I figured a well-built studwall with plywoood both sides and steel door will slow them down until we get a response to the entry and motion sensors.
 
If you aren't going to be telling a lot of people about what you have in this room, you could likely get away with building it less bomb proof and just disguising the entrance. The casual thief will be in a hurry and will look in all the obvious places for the usual things then leave. A friend of mine walled off one end of his basement leaving a 10'x16' space behind the wall. In the wall is a single closet with the usual stuff in it. The back wall of the closet is actually a cleverly disguised pocket door behind which is a solid core door with two deadbolts. For a workbench, he used another solid core door on top of a 2x4 frame.

Another friend created a safe storage space in a bathroom. He has a false wall behind the vanity with about a 3' deep space behind it. The medicine cabinet above the vanity can be pulled out of the wall allowing access to the space. In here, he keeps most of his guns except a couple of cowboy guns he had out on display and a single pistol for home defense. A month or so ago, a thief entered through an unlocked door while he was gone and stole the cowboy guns, some custom knives and several thousand dollars in cash but never suspected the bathroom wall hid many thousands of dollars in high end firearms.

A professional who knew you had a pile of guns in the house and had the appropriate tools with him wouldn't be fooled for long but your average gang banger looking for money, drugs and guns will usually miss a well hidden storage area. It wouldn't hurt to combine this with a whole house security system, as well, not to mention making sure the doors are locked when you leave.

[This message has been edited by proximo (edited August 22, 2000).]
 
MP,

I also am in the designing phase of my next house. Included in this house will be a safe room / gun room in the basement. I'm thinking of a 10 by 12 foot room at a minimum. Gun storage and reloading. Heating and cooling could be normal house air. A dehumidifier would be a good bit of insurance.

Concrete block walls reinforced with rebar or filled with concrete (or both!) or poured reinforced concrete walls with just a standard size opening for a safe-type entry door. The ceiling could be those pre-fab specialized concrete panels that they use for vaults, but who whould think of coming down into the safe room? Who would have the time? The average home thief wants to get in and out in a hurry. They don't want to spend hours trying to access something somewhere that could get them caught if they take too much time.

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Remember, just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!
 
A bit easier to start from the ground up http://www.acmecity.com/rosie/flower/304/boysroom.jpg Thank You Rosie

Concrete blocks, a little tougher than cinder blocks with tied rebar and pea gravel concrete poured in the voids. "among other things." Ceiling was poured over concrete on braced forms. We did this in several steps and had to have the concrete pump rig out twice not counting the slab. It adds up in price but with electronic security and good response times from my local S.O. I feel like I will be ok.
MP, at this point the ceiling will be an excercise in engineering but it can be done.
As far as air handling goes I am using part of one zone of my homes AC with an extra return vent. I live in the South where humidity can pose a problem but I know that being below grade will be a larger problem.
The main thing to try here is to find a way to maintain as near as normal and constant temp and humididty situation as you can.
As for the benches and layouts just do a few searches on "reloading room" and "reloading bench"
Best

[This message has been edited by HankL (edited August 28, 2000).]
 
If you want to build a room like this for yourself and stay in the "stealth" mode, just call the room a "storm shelter". Works real well here in North Alabama with all our tornados and such.

Albin
 
We told the neighbors who asked if we were building a branch bank exactly what Albin suggested. It's a storm shelter, yeah, that's it and it actually is a comfort during a storm. Unfortunately, on the plans it still said "Boys Room". We had many a trades person feeling sorry for us having a boy we had to keep in a room such as this!
 
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