Building a gun room

As a thought.. Depending on your budget.. You might consider a Safe door as an entry way. The sell them at that place in mendon. As far as laws go, this would probably over kill. But that would turn the whole room into a safe.

Just an expensive thought.
 
seanc said:
As a thought.. Depending on your budget.. You might consider a Safe door as an entry way. The sell them at that place in mendon. As far as laws go, this would probably over kill. But that would turn the whole room into a safe.
Click to expand...
Um, no. That would only turn the door into a safe door. If the two interior walls are still made of 2x4s and drywall, anyone could use the reciprocating saw that all of us have in our basement to get inside. Even if you armor those two walls, that still leaves the ceiling.
 
freedom2012 said:
If you go on youtube, you can see videos of mock thieves breaking into 800lb concrete gun safes in 3 minutes. The bad guys can break into anything. My daughters, who really are the concern here, would cut thier hands off with a sawzall before they figured out how to get into this room.
Click to expand...

Yup, a motivated criminal will get into whatever he or she wants. I don't have any children, so that won't be a problem.

I just want a dedicated room, that will be off limits to everyone besides Myself and my Father, because we are the only ones with LTC's. I have wanted a gun room ever since I saw Tremor's about 15 years ago when I was 10.
600px-TremorsWOG.jpg
 
I helped a friend build a gun room, we did expanded steel on the studs + double sheetrock. But no matter how you do the ceiling/walls, anything can be defeated if a BG has enough knowledge + TIME. Enter the alarm system. For my friend I set up a dedicated perimeter zone with door contact + motion sensor on his existing system. We also put a keypad right at the entrance for arm/disarm as well as panic/silent duress. Should a BG somehow get the drop on him or his family and forces him to open the safe, he can enter a code that silently dials the monitoring company to send immediate help.

OP should also consider ventilation/humidity control.
 
M1911 said:
Um, no. That would only turn the door into a safe door. If the two interior walls are still made of 2x4s and drywall, anyone could use the reciprocating saw that all of us have in our basement to get inside. Even if you armor those two walls, that still leaves the ceiling.
Click to expand...

This is true, the door is only as good as the walls and ceiling. Once again, I will say these rooms and safe are not burgler proof. The real bad guys can always get in. It's the thieves on a time and ability budget plus children that get detered.
 
freedom2012 said:
This is true, the door is only as good as the walls and ceiling. Once again, I will say these rooms and safe are not burgler proof. The real bad guys can always get in. It's the thieves on a time and ability budget plus children that get detered.
Click to expand...
Well, that's true, but the average steel gun safe is a lot harder to get into than light construction interior wall. While a typical gun safe can be defeated by a peeling attack with a heavy pry bar and axe, your smash and grab robber isn't going to know that.

In contrast, your typical smash and grab robber might kick in the drywall to a safe room, see that there are only 2x4s between him and the guns, and then go looking for your saw. Most all of us have a reciprocating saw, circular saw, or chainsaw in our basement. It doesn't take a lick of skill or knowledge to cut through a few 2x4s.
 
freedom2012 said:
This is true, the door is only as good as the walls and ceiling. Once again, I will say these rooms and safe are not burgler proof. The real bad guys can always get in. It's the thieves on a time and ability budget plus children that get detered.
Click to expand...

Thats why you should worry about meeting the MGL requirement and not about making your guns theft proof.

use other methods of deterrent.

Don't brag about how many guns you got.

Don't twitter about your upcoming vacation.

Don't talk about the big game your going to.

Let people know that all your good guns are off site.

Keep complaining about how nosy your neighbors are. "man if a car drives buy too slow in front of my house, I get a full report from the neighbor"
 
I highly doubt I will be re-enforcing my ceiling in this room. It is to satisfy the state requirements. Although it may slow down any thieves, that is not my main concern. I live in an active neighborhood, and the likelyhood of a criminal choosing mine is slim, although it is possible.
I also don't have any children so they won't be a problem either.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, keep em coming.
 
If you're going to make this into a reloading room, then I assume you'll have gun powder stored somewhere in the room. Be sure to address local and state fire code concerning the safe storage of gun powder. It would be a shame if you went through the trouble of ensuring that the firearms were displayed/stored legally and had 20 lbs of black powder sitting in a corner somewhere.
 
whatever you do with the walls...if your gonna do anything with the door otherthan a steel frame, atleast make it an outward swinging door. Not being able to "kick in" a door is usually a good thing when trying to keep people out.
 
It may not be cheap or light, but they do make lead lined sheetrock for x-ray rooms that is pretty easy to order from a good lumber yard. You could also just use insulated steel panel (it can come painted or powder coated) that is basically two steel sheets sandwiching a 2-5" thick foam core. You wouldn't even need to frame out walls with the panels.
 
rapture said:
If you're going to make this into a reloading room, then I assume you'll have gun powder stored somewhere in the room. Be sure to address local and state fire code concerning the safe storage of gun powder. It would be a shame if you went through the trouble of ensuring that the firearms were displayed/stored legally and had 20 lbs of black powder sitting in a corner somewhere.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll look into the that.
 
iefstath said:
whatever you do with the walls...if your gonna do anything with the door otherthan a steel frame, atleast make it an outward swinging door. Not being able to "kick in" a door is usually a good thing when trying to keep people out.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that your typical outward swinging door puts the hinge pins on the outside as well! That's why all the entrance doors to your house swing in.
 
One thing to consider is when you buy the door be sure that the hinge pins are on the inside of the room thus having the door open in. Reason is to prevent the hinge pins from being driven out and removing the door. I use to rent our first home in Maine and had a small storage closet with some of our personal items in it. Some SOB stole a bunch of ammo from me and that was the only way in.

FWIW I was informed that a conversion did not meet the terms of the law years ago. That's not saying I agree with this stupid law.

Sorry the above was mentioned already. I didn't read all 100% of the replies.
 
Most outswing doors have 'tight pin " hinges that prevent the pins from being driven out or have internal tabs that lock the hinges together when the door is closed. I keep my bolt action rifles in a gun closet with deadbolt and keep the bolts in one of the gun safes. Even a burglar with no tools can kick through a sheetrock wall in a few minutes. Don't waste money on a steel door and jamb if you're not willing to line the walls with steel. What good are gun locks if they smash the walls and take all the guns? My gun closet is a temporary fix until I get a third safe.
 
I would build your room for reloading and cleaning, however i would consider

a nice safe, heavy as hell and store whatever you like. put a lock on the

door just to keep folks out. building a room that is VERY secure is gonna

get more expensive that a real good. I've seen several rooms built to

keep the contentss secure. the last one had 2 cement block walls

with rebar in each cavity, a steel door similar to a safe door that was

anchored to the cement block.

JimB
 
My reloading/gunroom is a simple 6x8, 2x4 construction sheetrock, walls, solid core door with dead bolt. When they break into that they have my 600 lb cannon safe to deal with.
 
I know one guy who built a room..basement corner, cinder block with rod & cement in the hollows, and a vault combo door. This was 25yrs ago...the door was a couple of grand back then
 
any body think about fire damage in one of these rooms? The safes can give some smoke heat water protection but the room would need to be fairly well sealed top to bottom.
 
SSShooter said:
Keep in mind that your typical outward swinging door puts the hinge pins on the outside as well! That's why all the entrance doors to your house swing in.
Click to expand...

All the entrance doors to my house swing out and not a one has visible hinges. Anyone who doesn't do a little milling to the door to put the hinge pin inside is a idiot...pure and simple.
*unless they use hinges properly designed for this purpose
 
Last edited:
iefstath said:
All the entrance doors to my house swing out and not a one has visible hinges. Anyone who doesn't do a little milling to the door to put the hinge pin inside is a idiot...pure and simple.
Click to expand...

HUH?

I've never seen a house with a door that swings to the outside. How does it open with a pile of snow in front of it?
 
You could go in through an out door?

Asaltweapon said:
HUH?

I've never seen a house with a door that swings to the outside. How does it open with a pile of snow in front of it?
Click to expand...

I think most storm doors open out, mine does. But the regular door, opens in. It would be kinda cumbersome if they both opened out..... just my two cents.
 

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