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BCrippsy38 said:
I just finished my gun room in a similar location. Picked a corner of the basement and added 2 cinder walls making a room. I used rebar vertically as well as horizontally. You shouldn't need to add any footings if you can utilize the footings already in place. The foundation should have footings along the walls and down the center where the lolly columns are. If you can get both ends of the walls to land on a footer then you're all set. Using horizontal rebar in the first couple rows and filling the block with quickcrete will prevent the wall from ever sagging.
I didn't go all out on the door, used a 90 min steel fire door and built the wall around the frame. Still figuring out the ceiling aspect, I left half inch threaded rods coming out of the wall so no matter what I go with I can secure it to the walls.
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This is sound advice, in my house i have colums in the middle but its not a continious footing under them each pole has a small footing. If yours is continious and both ends of your wall land on the the footing. It m,ay be enough. But since the OP said the wall hell be installing is forming the third wall of a triangle..i dont see it working that way.

I was just making some suggestions base on work ive done and work ive seen done wrong.
Personally saw cutting the floor and pouring a footing isnt that much work if your going to be taking on this type of project. The worst part is the dust.
 
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Terminator03 said:
These are some great ideas too. As someone who works in the home renovation field, I can say with certainty that free spinning rebar, or even steel water pipe inside a wall where it can't be contained is nearly impossible to cut through. I bet that would take longer to get through than rebar reinforced cinder block wall, or poured concrete because a large diamond/carbide saw would cut a nice door right through both the concrete and steel with ease.
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it is difficult but a smart thief could cut enough plywood away to grasp the rebar with visegrips and cut it with a sawzall possibly. A LOT of effort but if they have the time it is doable.
I like the reinforced concrete, there has to be a way to build the ceiling without having to rip up the floor above, maybe leave enough room between the floor joists and the ceiling if the basement height is high enough.
 
slipknot said:
it is difficult but a smart thief could cut enough plywood away to grasp the rebar with visegrips and cut it with a sawzall possibly. A LOT of effort but if they have the time it is doable.
I like the reinforced concrete, there has to be a way to build the ceiling without having to rip up the floor above, maybe leave enough room between the floor joists and the ceiling if the basement height is high enough.
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Nothings fullproof. If you can keep them out for 30min.. thats pretty good... if they have all day or a weekend anything can be defeated.

If the op has carpet in the room above i wouldnt hesistate to cut the floor open.. if its finnished nice hardwood, not so much.

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OldeBD said:
Concrete board will destroy any blade thats not diamond or meant for cutting concrete.
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A demosaw with diamond blade would cut though concrete and rebar rather quickly..but not some a non pro would have.. preventing smash and grabs is about the best you can do
 
FWIW, there's a dedicated sub-form under the "armory" section, on ar15-dot-com.... regarding detailed discussions on gun rooms, their construction, building process, pictures, gunroom doors, etc., etc., etc....
 
usp45ct said:
Don't think stopping a determined thief, think delaying action and skill level of the thief and from there determine how much time do you want to the theif given a skill set to consume time.

In all scenarios think layered protection

allow me to elaborate.

Common crack head 2x4 or 2x6 with metal mesh and wireless alarm system on the outside and guns in safe inside, I'd say 30 min of protection. Add in a big ass dog and an alarm to n the house, I bet they don't get anywhere.


pro theif with torched and 3/4 in steel plate and wireless alarm, who knows.

Be reful about a wireless system inside a room with wire mesh in the walls think faraday cage ( i.e. Alarm no communicate to outside world wirelessly, but damn near emp proof if me ash is on ceiling and all walls)
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A crackhead ain't even spending 30 minutes, he's going to the next house. [rofl]
 
pavlin said:
I forgot to mention the gun room will have dedicated standalone wireless security. So potential buglar will first have to disable house alarm, then break in into the vault then disable vault alarm. Sounds like a lot of trouble to go thru.
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Do you intend to keep guns inside safes in the room?

I ask because I recently built a gun room with increased security compared to a regular room, but its certainly not a vault. The outside wall is made of 3/4 in plywood, covered with sheetrock. The inside wall is 1/2 in plywood. The door framing is reinforced with steel. I am still looking for a commercial door with a steel channel jamb. I used to have a couple but threw them out when I moved. Idiot me.

The hinge pins are welded in place on these doors and I will have the door swing out. So a kick pushes against the entire jamb, not just the lock.

Someone could get in with a sawzall in 5 minutes. But without tools there is no way someone is getting in there.

Once inside they will find a TL30 safe. ;-)

Oh and they will be doing this while a monitored alarm is screaming at them and the police are on the way.

I did this room this way for 2 reasons.

1) making it more secure than a standard room was only about $600 more.
2) I want a locked space so that I don't have to be extra scrupulous with making sure all my ammo is put away.
3) If I'm working on a gun and want to leave it on the bench, I can stay legal and not deal with putting it away. Although if its apart and inoperable, it may not be a firearm per MA law, but why invite trouble.
4) if there is ever an emergency inside my home the EMS people won't see anything that relates to guns.
5) If I ever need to have my hotwater heater replaced, the plumber won't see anything that relates to guns. (although I seem to have that covered since a cop friend of mine gave me the name of a cambridge cop who moonlights as a plumber.)

Don
 
On the alarm system I would suggest adding smoke/heat detectors and since it is in the basement a water sensor on the floor.
 
With respect to the smoke, heat detectors. I had monitored smokes in my old house. I burned something on the stove and the FD showed up. I called the monitoring company and they told me their protocol was different with smokes than an entry alarm. It was to call the FD, then the homeowner.

We were able to straighten things out, but just be aware that a monitored smoke MAY be a bit of a hassle. So check with your alarm company. As far as a CO alarm, they refused to change their protocol, insisting that any CO alert needed to trigger a FD call. I disagree, but never had any nuisance alerts with CO.

Don
 
pavlin said:
How much is good chunk of money?)))
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Subjective. You're max budget might be only $30k and someone else might be able to spend $80k-$100k and do it up right.

This is my gunroom:

221.jpg




dcmdon said:
... We were able to straighten things out, but just be aware that a monitored smoke MAY be a bit of a hassle. So check with your alarm company. As far as a CO alarm, they refused to change their protocol, insisting that any CO alert needed to trigger a FD call. I disagree, but never had any nuisance alerts with CO.
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With yours or monitoring companies in general, can you select which alarms sound locally and which ring through to the noc?
 
namedpipes said:
Subjective. You're max budget might be only $30k and someone else might be able to spend $80k-$100k and do it up right.

This is my gunroom:

221.jpg






With yours or monitoring companies in general, can you select which alarms sound locally and which ring through to the noc?
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My current alarm routs everything to the monitoring center. However, they are fine with only calling me on smokes and CO. Although I haven't purchased any yet. I'll probably buy some smokes, but won't bother with a CO alarm. I don't really care if there is CO in the house and I'm not home to hear the alarm go off.
 
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pavlin said:
Here's what I plan on doing. So would I need additional footing or not?
View attachment 170713
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Id say with that column in the middle your good to go... even without continious footing its much better than i was envisioning it. Just dont go overboard with the ceiling weight and if you going concrete roof. Drill a hole at the top of the existing foundation every foot and drive in 5/8 rebar before pouring.Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

I would think if it the colum were on a continuous footing it woudnt be running the way your new wall will be. So it would in effect be the same as a small footing under the column.

A pictures worth a 1000 words
 
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pavlin said:
Today got the copies of blue prints from the city hall. Each column has an individual 2x2 footing so unfortunately it's not continuous. Slab is 4" thick and it's poured over 6" of compacted gravel.
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Didn't see this... it may be close.. but atleast both the ends of the wall and the Middle will be on footings.. there could be cracking, but maybe not that extreme. Ultimately you'll have to decide.


Also note that just because your blueprints says its is 4".... it could be thicker or thinner especially in spots... id of felt alot more confident if it was 6" thick
 
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