Moving a gun safe

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:45:01 AM EDT

I'm looking at purchasing a 575 pound gun safe, but I'm concerned about getting it moved from the store into my house. Because of where I want to place it in the house, it would not be necessary to go up or down any stairs. My biggest concern would be just getting it on and off of the utility trailer. If I were to tackle this project, I would of course rent an applicance dolly.

For those of you that have moved your own safes, do you have any advice or tips? Would two friends be enough to get the safe moved into position? I'm finding it difficult to grasp how difficult it could be to move something this heavy. I've moved refrigerators around, but they typically weigh one half of the safe I'm looking at. Any advice would be appreciated.

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:46:52 AM EDT

[#1]

I sure wish some mod would thumb tack this thread. It seems this same topic comes up about every two to three weeks.

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:47:15 AM EDT

[#2]

You need friends with a strong back and weak mind!

Seriously though, a stout dolly is your best friend. Be prepared to take some time to muscle it in place. And you will want a weightlifters belt too.

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:48:58 AM EDT

[#3]

Short Answer.
Hire someone to do it and forget it.

Long Answer. If you wanted to fly across the continent would you invent a plane?

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:51:08 AM EDT

[#4]

When I moved my safe to my new digs I had to obtain a dolly large enough to move it with first. My work place just happened to have one.

I then secured help. This consisted of two large friends. (200# plus, not fat)

Getting it into the house was easy, upstairs was not. They were on the bottom and I was on the top.
Grunt, push, bump. Grunt, push, bump. Repeat as needed until objective is achived.

Posted: 3/30/2006 11:54:40 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
I'm looking at purchasing a 575 pound gun safe, but I'm concerned about getting it moved from the store into my house. Because of where I want to place it in the house, it would not be necessary to go up or down any stairs. My biggest concern would be just getting it on and off of the utility trailer. If I were to tackle this project, I would of course rent an applicance dolly.

For those of you that have moved your own safes, do you have any advice or tips? Would two friends be enough to get the safe moved into position? I'm finding it difficult to grasp how difficult it could be to move something this heavy. I've moved refrigerators around, but they typically weigh one half of the safe I'm looking at. Any advice would be appreciated.

575 is not very heavy. An appliance dolly rated for the weight, and a helper is all you need. A flat furniture dolly can be used for tight corners. The nice oak dollys are plenty strong enough.

Earp has moved lots of safes.

Helpers tend to like beer and donuts, regardless of time of day.

Posted: 3/30/2006 12:31:11 PM EDT

[#6]

575 is nothing, two strong guys and a dolly... Try moving a 2000+ pound safe and things get interesting.

Posted: 3/30/2006 12:39:42 PM EDT

[#7]

You shouldn't have a problem with the right dolly and one other person. I bought a new safe a couple of weeks ago weighs between 600lbs and 700lbs. I unloaded it out of my full sized truck by myself. I had another guy help me move it from the garage to the front door with a dolly but had to get a third person to get it up the 2 steps. none of us were big guys. Two of us were around 170 and the other maybe 155.

Posted: 3/30/2006 1:01:51 PM EDT

[#8]

Yes, I agree. Hire the professionals. Talk about a PIA. Try moving a 8,000 lb Diabold. We had to have a backhoe, five guys, professional moving casters, a flatbed wrecker and lots of luck. It almost tipped over a couple of times. If it would have, somebody could have been killed. This made moving the 1200 lb Mosler almost a walk in the park. Do yourself a favor, and spend whatever the professionals want. I know I'll never move another one myself.

Posted: 3/30/2006 1:10:11 PM EDT

[#9]

Appliance dolly and two friends will be fine. I just moved my 600lb. safe out of my old house and in to storage with just a friend and I. Then moved it out of storage 2 months later and on to the moving truck (a ramp loader) with 3 friends (that was cake). Then offloaded it 750 miles away with just one other guy. Going down the ramp on the dolly was FUN!

The hard part is just getting it up on edge on the dolly. From there it's just balancing it and getting up over short obstacles and such. Don't worry about it. I stressed on that one piece my whole move and it turned out to be a non-issue.

Posted: 3/30/2006 6:52:42 PM EDT

[#10]

I moved yet another one tonight, just me & the skinny owner. We used a four wheeled furniture/appliance dolly, i.e. all four wheels pivot. Piece of cake.

The key to moving a safe is to NEVER pick the GD thing up, just tip it or tilt it enough to get the dolly under it or out from under it. Obviously, this is when no steps are involved.

My .o2

Posted: 3/31/2006 1:39:07 AM EDT

[#11]

When my safe was delivered to my apartment around eleven years ago, there were three men. They had what I call a "two wheeler" (or "hand cart" - what I think most of you are calling a dolly) that had an electric motor on it to raise and lower the platform in relation to the wheels as they went down the stairs. My apartment is on the lower level. When I move in a few months to a house (hurray!) I'll hire movers to get this 750 to 800 pound beast up the stairs and into the house (1st floor). It's a cost worth paying, in my book. If you're moving it with friends, I think you can remove the door and separate the weight. But I'm only assuming that - I haven't tried it with my safe.

GL

Posted: 3/31/2006 6:01:12 AM EDT

[#12]

I just hired a guy to move my 800 lb safe. He did it by himself with high-tech hand-truck that had a built-in electric lift. The electric lift allowed him to walk the safe up/down stairs and onto the truck bed. He charged $225 and it was well worth every penny.

Posted: 3/31/2006 1:13:45 PM EDT

[#13]

Thank you for the input everyone. I've pretty much decided to tackle this project myself instead of hiring it out. I've located a rental place that will rent me a heavy duty dollie that comes with the extra set of wheels so you can tilt the safe back and support it in that position. Because of where it's going in the house, I don't have to navigate any stairs, but I do have to cut through the yard to get to a back door. If I can get the thing off of the trailer, the rest of it should be fairly easy going I hope.

Posted: 3/31/2006 4:23:52 PM EDT

[#14]

Just hope it has not rained or is not raining when you have to cross the yard. If the ground is wet you will have trouble, go to Hd,Lowes, or what ever lumber place and buy 3/4 plywood and cut is wider then the dolly. Lay the plywood on the ground and roll on that.

Posted: 3/31/2006 4:31:35 PM EDT

[#15]

If you are buying it from a safe dealer, they should be able to move it for very little.

Posted: 3/31/2006 4:38:24 PM EDT

[#16]

The biggest problem is when you tip it, that can get hairy.

I moved my safe by myself a couple of times.
Once it is upright you can "walk it" through the house by moving it a little at a time.
If you have a couple strong friends it should be pretty easy.

Posted: 3/31/2006 4:41:49 PM EDT

[#17]

I've moved mine by putting a few golf balls underneath it. One person can move it easily, even on carpet.

Posted: 3/31/2006 4:48:00 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
I've moved mine by putting a few golf balls underneath it. One person can move it easily, even on carpet.

I moved mine the same way,
dont plan on using those golf balls again for golfing though.

Posted: 3/31/2006 5:05:09 PM EDT

[#19]

I believe on some the door can be removed when it is open. This could break the chore into two lighter chores. It could also make it more complicated.

Mine weights 800 lbs empty and my neighbor and I used his "carpet dollies", low flat platforms with lots of wheels underneath, to move the safe. No steps were involved and since we moved it over tile, we used sheets of plywood to spread the load. Laid it down in a utility trailer for transport and then tipped it out onto the driveway. We then tipped it up and slipped the dollies under and rolled it into the house. PITA however you look at it and I had it easy.

Good luck.

Posted: 3/31/2006 6:44:28 PM EDT

[#20]

you can also use a bunch of rods or broom handles and roll the safe on them. Just keep feeding them in the front as they come out the back.

Posted: 3/31/2006 7:55:07 PM EDT

[#21]

I use 6" pieces of pipe to move mine around the garage. Golf balls are ok if the bottom is flat if it isn't watch out.

DO NOT LET ANY PIECE OF YOUR BODY, USEFUL OR NOT, GET BETWEEN THE SAFE AND WHERE IT WANTS TO GO ESPECIALY IF THERE IS A WALL, DOOR FRAME OR ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WAY.

Moving them around straight on level surfaces is remarkably easy. The ups or downs or around tight corners is where it gets tricky.

Posted: 3/31/2006 8:06:08 PM EDT

[#22]

My safe is due to arrive tomorrow about noon and I'll have the fun of getting it from the driveway into the house. I already bought 8 casters and bolted them to a cart so it can be rolled and plan to bolt this to the safe floor. Sounds like I'll have fun.

It's about 700 lbs.

Posted: 3/31/2006 8:21:07 PM EDT

[#23]

(1) Get a dolly with big wheels. Like 12"+. A lot of the heavy-duty dollies have tiny wheels that make going over thresholds, unloading, etc a pain in the butt.

(2) Take the door off and move it separately. That will probably be 1/3 of the weight.

I was easily able to move my 700 lb safe by myself this way.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Moving a gun safe

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us