Been living in a craphole for a while where the only safe I could use is a Dakota that I could get in the (small) door in pieces. I have nothing but good things to say about this safe, it does it's job splendidly, as designed. Obviously it's not the best safe, but it's better than hiding guns in the closet.
Now I am working on buying a bigger place, and I (will) have an entire unfinished, dry basement to work with.
... I have a few questions.
The biggest question I think I have is how much weight can a standard 2x12 basement stairs hold? Looking at the weights of some of the better safes, it's hard to imagine that my stairs would survive getting the safe down. As a practical consideration, I have a straight shot from my garage, up 2 concrete steps through a doorway, across a concrete floor, up another concrete step, through a second doorway, across 4' of hardwood covered by linoleum, then down the 2x12 stairs, so getting a safe in shouldn't be terribly difficult except for the weight on the stairs.
The other option might be multiple smaller safes bolted to each other and the wall/floor depending on the layout.
Other than that, I have a clean slate, I am fairly handy, and I have 2 son in laws and 2 cousins that are all pro carpenters, so all I have to do is decide what I want. I think one thing I am going to want is to integrate a bench and computer desk so that I can do something like pull up a disassembly video on the PC and follow along on the workbench, or maybe reloading data for my latest wildcat, for example. I really like the dual safe layout on that PAFOA forum (linked from here), but I have much more space to work with and think I will be building as much as I possibly can into the walls. Shelves, cabinets, benches, etc. If I do it right, the only moveable items will be the stools and chairs.
I also think I am going to want everything a few inches up off the ground, just in case I do find some water, but otherwise...
So, I need to come up with plans, ideas, dumb ideas, you name it. I have the opportunity to build damn near anything, so arfcom, help me out...