Purchasing and installing a floor safe is considered to be one of the best ways to protect your valuables. Intruders seek the fastest method of quietly finding where your valuables are stored and removing them from the premises before either the home owner is alerted or an alarm is activated and police arrive to the premises.
There is no "best method" to installing a floor safe, however this blog post was created to walk you through installation techniques used by professions to install a floor safe in a concrete floor. This installation is a messy, time-consuming job. We recommend that the floor safe is installed by a trained and qualified installer or cement/concrete cutting contractor.
Before starting the installation verify that there are no plumbing lines, heating lines or ducts, and/or electical lines within the concrete slab or located under the slab that may be damaged or cause serious injury to you or the installer. Floor safes are NOT waterproof so be sure that the location is not subject to flooding or possible water intrusion from a source within the premises.
FLOOR SAFES CAN ONLY BE INSTALLED ON THE GROUND FLOOR. DO NOT INSTALL A FLOOR SAFE IN A MULTI-STORY APARTMENT BUILDING OR AN OFFICE BUILDING.
Once you have verified the location for the floor safe installation you can proceed..
1. Before starting the installation enter the combination, open, close and lock the floor safe at least 4 times.
2. All floors safes have a cover. Before installing the floor safe place the cover on the safe and place masking tape completely around the cover temporarily sealing the cover onto the safe body to prevent water or concrete from entering the safe during the installation.
3. Measure the length and width of the floor safe... then add at least 4 inches to each dimension to provide enough room for you, or the installer, to set the floor safe in place after the concrete is cut and removed.
4. Clearly mark the location of the area to be cut with a black marker.
5. The concrete can be cut away with either an electric jack hammer or a hand-held electric rotary wet saw. We have found a combination of both may be a good alternative. The hand-held concrete rotary wet saw can cut a clean straight line in the cement, but creates an enormous amout of dust. You must tarp off a small work area to keep the dust and debrey from intruding into the room. Have a wet/dry vacuum at your side while cutting. Once the hand-held concrete rotary wet saw work is complete you then can use the electric jack hammer to cut through the concrete slab completely.
6. Remove the excavated concrete from the space and dig out the hole for the safe including an additional 3 inches so the safe can sit in a bed of concrete. This provides a firm base for the safe to sit in and lproperly level the safe with the FINISHED concrete floor.
7. Before moving the safe and placing the safe into the excavated space... CLEAN up all debris from the area prior to placing conrete around the safe.
8. Add 3 inches of concrete to the bottom of the excavated hole.
9. Place the safe into the hole on top of the fresh concrete bed.
10. Carefully level the safe with your FINISHED concrete floor that surrounds the safe. To do so use a 4 foot level that will span the opening.
11. Once the safe is level with your finished concrete floor add (pour in) concrete around all 4 sides sides of the floor safe and smooth surface so it is perfectly level with your existing finished floor.
12. Allow 72 hours for the concrete to dry before placing valuables in the floor safe.
Floor safes are not waterproof. We strongly recommend that you place all contents in either tuperware that seals tight or a plastic bag that has a water seal.
Should you have any questions feel free to contact one of our techs by call 1-561-334-3778.