So What about a Gun Safe in Garage
Any responsible gun owner is going to have a gun safe, but what about having that gun safe in your garage?
This is important to keep your guns away from your children and out of the hands of possible burglars. And of course, to keep any drunk friends from thinking it’s funny to pull out one of your weapons. It’s absolutely critical that you always keep your guns secure in a strong safe.
Today we’re going to be talking about putting your gun safe in the garage.
There are a lot of things to consider here.
You definitely don’t want to put your gun safe anywhere that’s very humid, as water and humidity can be a big problem for your weapons. You want the location of your gun safe in the garage to be the same humidity as the air inside the safe.
For this reason, the basement is arguably one of the best places to keep your guns because of the concrete floor and how easy it is to set up a dehumidifier. But if you don’t have room in the basement, a certain someone isn’t letting you keep the gun safe in the bedroom closet, and you obviously can’t store it in the kitchen, there is nowhere left but the garage.
Is It OK to Put a Gun Safe in the Garage?
It is OK to keep a gun safe in the garage. So long as it’s locked, it doesn’t really matter. But there are some things to consider. If you’re worried about burglars, they almost always go into the garage. Either they break in through the garage or exit through the garage, or at least scope it out to see if there are any goodies. This could leave your safe vulnerable.
But if you live in the real world, it’s unlikely you’re ever going to be burglarized, especially if you have a great big gun collection. However, while you’re opening and closing your garage, everyone in the neighbourhood can see what’s inside.
This could actually be a big problem and lead to a burglary that wouldn’t have otherwise happened. The wrong person could walk by and see your giant stash of guns and get some funny ideas.
The best way to fix this is to cover it with something so it doesn’t look like a giant safe. Even if people don’t know it’s a gun safe, they might think you’re hoarding gold and get the wrong idea.
Just keep it covered so that when you open and close your garage, nobody passing by can see the gun safe in your garage.
Another issue with the garage is humidity. But to avoid this, you can simply set up a dehumidifier to keep your garage from sweating.
Can You Put a Gun Safe in an Unheated Garage?
Nobody recommends putting your gun safe in an unheated garage. Literally nobody. The concrete floor is definitely great for bolting your safe down, but you need temperature control and insulation. If your garage is straight-up cold, this is a huge issue. If too much moisture builds up inside the gun cabinet, rust will destroy your weapons. This is especially true if the gun cabinet is standing against an outside wall.
To fix the situation, you need to insulate your garage, add some kind of heating system, and make sure you have a dehumidifier handy.
The recommended temperature for maintaining guns is 21 degrees Celsius or 70 degrees Fahrenheit. You also need approximately 50% humidity. No more and no less.
What Do You Put Under Gun Safe on Concrete?
When setting up your gun safe in your garage, it’s obviously going to be sitting on concrete. But you don’t really want the safe sitting directly on said concrete. You want a barrier between the safe and the floor. Yes, you can bolt the gun safe to the floor, but you can still add a material in the middle.
The best-recommended material is a rubber. You want to put a specialized rubber mat between the safe and the concrete for optimum protection. This will stop moisture from being absorbed directly into the safe. You might even want to consider creating a custom strip of rubber and placing it against the safe and whatever wall it is standing against.
To keep your safe from tipping over, you can bolt it to the wall or to the floor. The wall is OK, but the floor is definitely better. Most gun safes are going to come with pre-drilled holes, and your best bet if you really want your baby to be secure is to use every pre-drilled hole that came with your safe.
Do Gun Safes Need to Be Climate Controlled?
We are going to circle back a little bit here. If you’re putting your gun safe in the garage, and your garage is cold, you might wonder about keeping the safe climate controlled. And while not necessary, you can always use special implements inside the safe itself to try and keep the humidity and condensation at safe levels.
However, there is no substitute for a proper environment. If you have your gun safe in an environment with the proper temperature and humidity, there is no need to do anything inside the safe itself. To be quite honest, the best thing is to keep your guns in the house. But if you have to keep the safe in the garage, it’s actually better to keep the garage itself climate controlled rather than the inside of the safe.
But to answer the general question, your weapons must be climate controlled. Whether the control comes from, it doesn’t matter. But the guns need to be at the right temperature with the right humidity. The last thing you want is condensation soaking into the metal of your weapons.
