So, I am still thinking of adding some sort of safe room/ vault to my house.  If I situate the room in a corner of the house, I only need 2 walls and the ceiling reinforced since the foundation is already reinforced concrete.   Problem I can not overcome is the slab has radiant heating tubes, so i can not cut into it to add a footing to support a traditional masonary wall.  I don't think cinder block will work either on a 4 inch resi slab.

I have been shopping for Tl30 safes, and a lot of them do not offer fire protection.  Or the ones that do have fire protection have small interiors relative to the unlined versions.

For the same price as the tl30, I can buy a lot of 10 gauge sheet steel, and build a composite of steel and plywood for a sturdy, impact resistant wall.  Frame it for a vault door and voila.

Any similar build threads or pointers on strong but light weight composite walls?  Again, I wish I could go concrete, but it is not an option.

I like the idea of the room with plenty of space, but if it is cheaper to go with the fat boy sized tl safe....

Need help talking this out, or links.  Thanks!

Considering that when we build our new house, we plan on putting in a concrete vault with a vault door...and then have a safe inside the vault for an additional level of security, I would suggest going the vault route. If you can, make it as fire proof/resistant as possible, put as much money into the door as you can [i]and then still put (at least a fire) safe inside the vault.

I'm a little weird that way, in that I typically go overkill on things "just to be sure."

The problem with "do it yourself" is that you won't get anywhere near the protection of something built by a professional.   If you need TL-30 level security, buy a TL-30.  Nothing you build will get you there.  If you don't need that type of security, then the money will go a long way to reinforcing a room.

You could add it in the garage, or behind the garage with a mini-split A/C, instead of tearing up your house.

When I got my TL-15 from Toys R Us, I was concerned about fireproofing it.  I looked up quite a bit of information, and while I never did the heat transfer problem myself, evidence from house fires shows that the vast amount of steel in the TL safes does a good job of protecting your items.  Keep the most expensive stuff lower in the safe, and if you experience a house fire, make sure that they're putting plenty of water onto it.  Call a locksmith immediately, especially if you have a digital lock.

If I were really worried, I would put a few layers of fire-retardant drywall on the outside (or even the inside, or both).  Fire-resistant drywall is pretty cheap.  If I move this safe to my forever house, I will build a frame around it with metal studs, and put a double or triple layer of fire resistant drywall on the outside.

Good information, thanks!

Would put stonewool between the studs as well.