How to secure a safe to the floor?

J

joepa150

New member
I want to bolt/anchor my safe to the floor. It is sitting on concrete. I have drilled into concrete and brick in the past (previous job) BUT I was using a hammer drill and had access to unlimited amount of drill bits. I never used a regular drill to do this.

I bought some tapcon screws/bolts and a concrete/masonry drill bit. All I want to do is secure it with two bolts (one at the back corner and one on the opposite front corner).

I some advice on another forum but it seemed that many of the answers were not what I wanted to hear. Most of them recommended renting or buying a commercial hammer drill.

Will I be able to do what I want to do with my 18v Ryobi cordless drill?
 
Personally, I would put something as a barrier between the steel and the concrete - even if it is a stall mat or similar

You could always make a wood platform - secure THAT to the concrete and the safe to the platform, but in any event you will be going through the safe bottom - not a big deal, it is typically the thinnest steel area
do not forget to also attach to a wall, or if in a corner, both walls
 
Does the safe sit flat on the floor or is it slightly elevated on wheels or legs? Using masonry bits, you may drill holes in the floor corresponding to where the bolts feed through the floor of the safe. One thing you can do is to buy bolts and epoxy them into the holes using Hilti's bonding agent. This stuff is available at Home Depot, costs about $19.00 for a cartridge you insert into a calking gun and once hardened, is as tough as the concrete it adhered to. After drilling holes, clean them with vacuum cleaner to remove dust. This adhesive is with the Hilti product line, not in the paint department with the caulking cartridges.

Just had some work done on house. Contractors used Hilti's cement to fasten wrought iron railings to new brick and masonry stoop. It passed inspection with Building Department. Also used it this summer to bolt 9'X12' garden shed to a concrete slab. We then had a hurricane. Trees came down but the shed didn't move.
 
Will I be able to do what I want to do with my 18v Ryobi cordless drill?
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It depends on how long you have & what size the Tapcons are.
Drilling into old concrete can be a bear - even with a small (6 or 7 amp) hammer drill.
Those small 6 or 7 amp hammer drills are ok for 1/4" holes, but don't have the oomph for 3/8" or larger.

I'm afraid you already have the answer - the cordless Ryobi isn't going to get the job done. @ least not in a reasonable amount of time.

Best guesstimate based on what I've done in the past is going to be 1/2 hour to an hour per hole.
That's if the Ryobi hold up.
Chances are it won't. No offence intended, but Ryobi isn't made for a pounding like that.

A Panasonic, Festool, Milwaukee or DeWalt would take it - Ryobi? I don't believe so.
 
How big a hole are you wanting to drill? I've got half inchers in mine and used a concrete anchor that you place in the hole and then drive a wedge pin down into it with a hammer. The top third of the anchor is threaded like a bolt and you just use the nut that comes with the anchor. Makes for a nice secure installation.

I personally put an anchor in each corner, and if it was me, and I was only going to put in two, I would put both in the back as a lot of safes have heavy doors and when you swing them open it could tip over.

As for your drill, depending on the hole size you might be able to use your drill and get by. I would stop by your local construction rental type store and rent a hammer drill and save yourself a lot of time and effort.
 
I guess you could always go to any hardware store on the planet and get yourself a star punch, and drive those holes by hand. Won't take a few minutes.

Do you plan on attaching it to a wall, as well? Bolts in the base aren't going to hold up to some hooligan with a crowbar and a lot of initiative, he's goint to get a lever behind that safe up at the top, and rip it right out of the floor.
 
In this case, the rent-a-tool company will be well worth your time. I have two hammer drills, but neither one of them is strong enough for 1/2" holes, and they're both electrically driven, not battery. One is an older Skil 1/2", and the other is a newer Skil 3/8", but they won't cut concrete easy enough, especially older pours. The cost probably wouldn't exceed $25-$30 for an hour's usage. You need the leverage 110 volts provides.
 
+1 for oneonceload get something between the concrete and the safe you could use one of those flat plastic chair shields.
 
I agree that you should out something between the floor and safe.

Does anyone see anything wrong with just bolting it to the studs in the wall? Use some good thick lag bolts there.

Maybe lag bolts in the wall and the adhesive on the floor if you really don't want to rent the hammer drill.
 
"Will I be able to do what I want to do with my 18v Ryobi cordless drill?"

Very doubtful.

Even tapcons go in best when being sunk with a hammer drill.

I personally like dogleg bolts for anchoring things that I never, ever, want to come out.
 
I've had to drill holes in concrete on many occasions and I never had any success with a regular drill and masonry bits. They get dull and overheat fairly quickly. Most concrete anchors require at least a half inch or five eighths hole two and a half inches deep. This is going to take a hammer drill and four minutes of your time for four holes. IMO, anything else is just pure frustration.
 
I bought some tapcon screws/bolts and a concrete/masonry drill bit.
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Even the largest tapcons are not big enough.
The leverage on a decent size safe to break it lose is very large.

Shield type anchors starting around 3/8 in size are what you want.

And use enough.

Four is a good starting point.

And rent a hammer drill.

As soon as you hit some hard aggregate in the concrete a plain carbide bit without any hammering action will stop penetrating.

Hammer drill carbide bits are NOT the same as plain rotary carbide bits.
Pay the extra $ and use fewer bits.
 
Mike Irwin said:
Lacking a hammer drill, masonry bits are really only for drilling mortar joints.
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Lacking a hammer drill, I recently mounted two plywood backer boards to the concrete walls of my basement. The concrete is 60+ years old. I used a carbide masonry bit with a Sears 3/8" 120-volt drill and had no trouble at all drilling (16) 1/4" holes using the same bit.

Drilling into a floor slab, it's important not to try to drill too deep. A typical floor slab is probably 4 inches thick. You need to be deep enough that the fastener won't just pull out the top of the concrete and leave a dish-shaped depression, but you also do not want to go all the way through the slab. The anchor needs to be in the concrete to have any holding power. Going all the way through isn't good practice, and with some types of anchors may not work at all.
 
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I guess you could always go to any hardware store on the planet and get yourself a star punch, and drive those holes by hand. Won't take a few minutes.
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I spent a Summer once trying to make a 10" deep, 1" hole in a concrete loading dock apron using a 4# sledge and a star drill....

It was a good way to work off frustrations..
 
"Lacking a hammer drill, I recently mounted two plywood backer boards to the concrete walls of my basement. The concrete is 60" years old. I used a carbide masonry bit with a Sears 3/8" 120-volt drill and had no trouble at all drilling (16) 1-4" holes using the same bit."

Amazing.

I tried the same thing a few years ago to mount a cabinet on the cast wall in my basement, and all I got was very ticked off.
 
There is all kinds of concrete hardness. If the concrete is soft enough that a masonry drill bit and an electric drill can drill the hole, the anchors will break out or pull out of the concrete fairly easy. You see this usually with handrails mounted to home-mixed concrete steps. If the basement floor was poured by a concrete company, it will likely be the good stuff. Like Lurch wrote, get the ½ inch anchors with a wedge pin, either with a threaded stud or a socket that will accept a bolt. The top of the anchors should be ⅛ to ¼ inch below the surface of the concrete after they are seated. Seat them firmly but don't just beat them in and take a chance of breaking out the sidewalls of the hole.
 
Just curious as to why folks are stating that the safe cannot be placed directly on the concrete floor?
Where is this concrete floor, in side the house, garage, basement?
I enclosed my garage and the safe lives there now and nothing between the safe and concrete except the indoor/outdoor carpeting. If the floor is remaining dry why would the bottom of the safe not stay dry? Generally condensation will form in a garage when the room is NOT vented as in no opening in the soffit
 
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