I recently posted a teaser photo showing a job that I have been working on, and now I can tell the rest of the story.  I usually can not post photos or information about jobs that I work on due to the nature of the business, but in this case, it's a very unique installation that is for decorative use only.

I get oddball request on a fairly regular basis.  This one ranks up there.  I have spoken to a handful of people that are well known in my industry.  None of them have ever heard of a situation like this, let alone participated in one.  To our knowledge, this is the only one of its kind.

When I first received the phone call, I was very skeptical.  The job involved setting a 40,000 pound vault door.  This isn't very common itself, but what really makes this uncommon was that it was a residential installation.  Not just any residential installation though.  The door is in a boat house, next to a lake.  You will go through the door and into a tunnel, that connects to the house.  The entire face of the boathouse will be glass so that any boater going by can admire this work of art.

Here's the door:




Here is where they wanted the door:

 


Well, not exactly.  They had to dig a big hole first:




For weight purposes, the door had to be separated from the frame.  This usually isn't done, but it's what we had to work with.  How does one detach a vault door?  Like this:




After the bits and pieces are out, you need a big truck to haul it:




I admit that I had to ask myself this very question.  How does one support 40,000 pounds worth of door and frame, at the end of a hallway, in a glass boat house?  Apparently, if you have a few engineers, a group of guys that build bridges for a living, and enough concrete and steel, it's entirely possible.




Now that the support structure is in place, it's time to set the frame.  No problem for a 50 ton crane.




A 50 ton crane sounds really impressive, and my math says that it will life 100,000 pounds.  However, the crane operator had to burst our bubble.  Although it will lift 50 tons straight up and down, the amount it will lift decreases exponentially as you reach further out.  He says that he can not lift the 30,000 pound door from where the crane has to sit.  He is 60 feet away, and needs to be within 20 feet.

No problem he says.  He claims he'll just park the crane over the top of the hole by setting up some "crane ramps".  He says they do it all the time:




Will it hold, or will the crane topple into the hole and get my door dirty?



 




So far, so good.  Now we only have to put it all back together and see if it works:




Some new bearings and fresh grease sealed the deal.  That 30,000 pound door swings open and closed with one hand.

Tagscribed....

I know its on a lake, but is there any concern about flooding?

so you are retired now after the markup on that job... congrats!

That's delightfully bonkers. I salute the owner and wish to some day have enough money to throw around to do things like that.

WOW, thanks for sharing.  It is a work of art!!

Great work.  And God Bless America.

WOW!
Thanks for sharing!!!

That Sir is pretty Fing cool!

This is one of those moments when you don't ask why; you ask- why not.

That is fucking impressive!  Well done!

Damn I am impressed

I'm shocked that they were able to get a permit to do all that. Aren't shorelines of any kind normally a pain in the ass to disturb.

It is my understanding that the entire property is protected wetland.  Every single aspect of this job had to be approved by whomever approves those sorts of things.  Every tree that was cut, every hole that was dug, every parking area for the trucks and equipment.  It will all be restored back to its former glory.

The door's owner has a bit of pull, so I'm sure the permit itself wasn't that difficult.  It did however require a lot of paperwork, site surveys, and the like.

Absolutely amazing!

That is insane. Really cool OP. I bet I could have built a nice house for the amount that cost though.

Wow! Thanks for sharing the pictures...

Simply stunning

Can't say I've ever seen that done before. Incredible.

Cool

Where was this done?  

I mean, if he is building a glass boathouse and wants people to see it from the water,  where would one go to do so?

That is really cool, but qualifies for the 'more money than sense' club.  

Thanks for sharing that.  I enjoyed it.

Awesome.  Thanks.

Rad. Any pictures of the completed project?  I want to see end result.

If you have money or clout anything is possible.


Yes, it's a bitch to get permits... but if you pay enough fees and have enough engineers and lawyers you can pretty much do anything you want.



Only thing I don't understand is the project of this scope with a house so mediocre.... the guy must have been desperate for attention or must be in the bridge building, concrete or some similar business (which would explain how he acquired the safe door, probably free)

Meh.....not impressed. Let's see you do that with a gun safe company "vault" door!!

Not in Missouri.  I don't want to give away too much at this point, because I do not know if the owner has plans to show this off himself once it's complete.




It will likely be several months before it's anywhere near complete.  I did ask for photos once it's complete, but do not know if I will get them or not.




The current house is going to be demo'd, with a new one going up in its place.  The boathouse had to be completed first, as the newer larger house was going to block access needed for the large equipment.




Just to give you an idea, he is indeed in a business that does this type of work, and he did get the door for "free".  Even with those things factored in, he's into this door project somewhere in the $200,000 to $250,000 range......for just the door.  Had he purchased the door on the regular market, and paid retail dollars for all of the work that had to be done, he would have been into it for around $500,000.




Give me a week and a half, and I'll take some pics of one going in.  

Ditto......I'd like to see it as well.

This is awesome!   All the concrete and steel holding up the crane on the edge of a lake holding a 30,000 vault door.  Hard to beat!

What kind of door is it? Diebold? Mosler? And how old? 1950's?

I love those old bank vault doors! Takes me back to my childhood... When I was a kid, the bank my father went to had one like that, a couple of times we went in just before closing time and the manager let me push the door closed when they were locking it up for the day. I always felt like superman moving that massive door...

Herring Hall Marvin.  Late 1920's to Mid 1930's.




As promised, here's one I just did Saturday.  We used a crane here too, but it was much smaller, and didn't require any temporary bridge construction.  

wow!!!

Outfit I used to work for in Detroit, used to get door fabrication orders from a local company. We fabricated doors for the US Navy missile engine test facility, but I am unsure of the final location, and I never got to see the installation. We also did a door for the King of Saudi Arabia. It was a blast door that went in an underground bunker. 12" thick, with 5" diameter locking pins. The 2 doors had O-ring gas seals and had to be tested with a scale to make sure they would open easy enough for his wife to open and close. I never got to see the final installation of that one either.

Pretty damn cool op

That looks like an AMSEC BF Vault Door Frank, is that right?

Amazing install, thanks for posting Frank.

Great job. As a fellow rigger and installer I can appreciate the work you've done. Those crane hinge circular doors can be a bitch. I wish they still made them like that. The bolt work is truly a work of art.