I need to get a safe, and I need to put it in the basement of my home.  The local dealers have giving me a price of between 300 - 600 dollars to move a safe down 2 sets (7 steps)of stairs into my basement. Question how hard is it to move a 700lb safe, can it be done with a a two wheel heavy duty cart and a couple of guys ??    

Do a search, this has been covered a lot of times.

It can be done with a special safe dolly and a couple guys, 3 is better with one guy stabilizing the load. The reason that I wouldn't use a regular dolly is that they don't have any way to descend or climb stairs safely. One slip and down it goes crushing everything in its way.

I have seen the results of some heavy appliance moving on wooden steps in my apartment complex. Some of the steps now slope down so they aren't level anymore and others have big chunks missing on the edges. I might consider the professional movers. Check around, the last time I priced movers, they only charged about 20-30 dollars extra for each step.

No good news here.  I bought a safe about 6 months ago.  It was a major bitch just to get it off the truck, into the house, down a narrow hall and into a bedroom.  At this point it came off the safe dolly (highly recommended equipment) and had to be man-handled into position.  

The problem you have is you just can't get enough guys close to it to put hands on it.  It was MUCH harder to do than I anticipated, and my location was not that bad.

So, you gotta ask yourself, do I really need it in the basement?

If you do, go with the professionals.  If you look at your worst case boo-boo (somebody gets killed, and your best case boo-boo (safe takes out stairs and kills itself on floor) it just aint worth it.

Good luck.

There is at least one company that manufactures safes that are made to be assembled after you have them in your home. It's one Hell of alot easier to take 1 piece at a time down stairs than the whole safe at once.

ColtShorty

GOA KABA COA JPFO SAF NRA

"I won't be wronged,  I won't be insulted
and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do
these things to other people and I require
the same from them."

Thanks very much for the input.

Zanotti is the take apart safe. There isn't any fire protection in them and they are EXPENSIVE, about double of a fire-lined safe.

This type of heavy moving is often called rigging.  When moving safes it is sometimes advantageous to remove the door.  The door will contain approximately half the weight.

The safe can then be moved in two sections that are fairly manageable.  This is the way I moved my 800# safe down a 3' 30 degree incline.

With a little thought and proper equipment you'd be suprised how much weight/bulk can be safely moved by 3 or 4 guys.

Ryan

If you are as stupid as I have been in the past you can use a hand winch and winch it down the steps covered with plywood, it sure is a pain to set upright at the bottom but it can be done. Otherwise pay the men who move safes they have this stair walking dolly that is motorized, much easier on the back and the nerves.

About safes....had a nice time with my boss delivering a 300lb safe some time ago.

Three stories up stairs, in between the 2nd and 3rd floor, the lights in the staircase went out because of the timer.

Actually, my part was rather easy since i had a good grip, my boss on the other hand had a tougher time since there was no way to secure a good grip on the upper end.

I just moved a safe..speaking from experience..it was just light enough for an appliance dolly (over 700 lbs). It took me and one other person to push it around..onto and off of a truck.

It was a MAJOR pain in the b_tt moving it out of my first residence because I had to winch it up a small hill.

I've moved my 800lbs safe 3 times now! it's not so bad, well i'm 6'4" 340lbs myself and have similar sized friends, i'd just rented a uhaul truck with a ramp to make the transition from the truck to ground easy . just take your time and go slow and keep the safe UNLOCKED  or you'll risk tripping a relocker or you'll be hit and have to call a safe tech to open it TRUST ME!

Seems high.  I called a few movers and got quotes from $250 to $350 for picking up the safe in a nearby town (20 miles or so away), bringing it to my house and taking it downstairs to my lower level (1/2 flight of stairs).  I went with the $250 quote and tipped the guys when they were done.

P.S.  In the yellow pages I looked for piano movers and asked them if they do gun safes too.

Rich
NRA, GOA, LEAA, CCRN

When I moved to Phoenix, the company I worked for paid to have my gun safe moved professionally.  The managed to scratch the safe and damage the walls of my house.

When I left Phoenix, I sold the safe to a fellow board member.  With about 5 guys, we did a far better job than the movers.  We did not have to negotiate stairs though.  We used a heavy duty appliance cart.  The safe weighed about 800-900 lbs.

IF you decide to do it, make sure you have LOTS of help, setup a plan, and do everything slowly and deliberately and by God BE CAREFULL!!!!!!

A safe dolly is a must, along with some of the other equipment necessary.

And regular furniture movers might not be the best choice for safe moving.  Call your local locksmith and ask if he does safe work.  Some questions to ask:

1) What brands of safe are you familiar with?
If he says Mosler, Hayman, Diebold, American Security, or Lord, you're in business.

If he says Sentry....well, he wouldn't be my first choice.

2) What is the largest/heaviest safe you can move?

The correct response to this one is, "It depends greatly upon where you want to move it."

I'm trying to help you feel out the kind of pros who really KNOW what they're doing vs. the dolt who just wants to take your money and "learn by doing" using YOUR safe.

I chose a 3600 pound TLTR30 safe.  That is not a typo.  The safe really is heavier than some cars.  I moved it myself with a Johnson Bar and a pallet jack.  It's on my porch.  I don't figure anyone's going to steal it anytime soon, and it's rated higher than any structure I could think to put it in, short of perhaps a bomb shelter or missile silo, or maybe a bank vault.

The advice given here is right on IMHO.  The trick is not to get professionals, but to get SAFE PROFESSIONALS to move that safe.  The part about removing the door is also correct, ESPECIALLY considering that many relockers are NOT resettable from the exterior without destructive drilling.

Good Luck,

Panz