Tag: Vault doors

Vault Doors: Ventilation/Air Quality in Vault rooms

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Buyers of vault doors frequently ask what they should do for ventilation inside their vault room.  Ultimately, that should be decided by the builder and HVAC contractor.  I am not an expert on this, but here are basic guidelines from my perspective, geared toward starting the thought process:

  • Plan for ventilation issues in advance of building.  These issues are more difficult for a vault room than for inside a gun safe.
  • A dehumidifier should be run inside the vault room for at least a year or two following construction. I am told that concrete gives off moisture for at least a year as it cures.
  • Long term it is best to run a dehumidifier in the vault room to protect your guns from rust unless you are absolutely certain that the HVAC system provides very good airflow and that it keeps humidity low. It would be ideal to put in some type of humidity monitoring device.
  • If there is no ventilation in the room, it will be stuffy, maybe smelly, and you may develop a mildew problem.
  • It is best to have heat and AC ducted into the room (rather than rely only on passive vents) to force air exchange.  Addition of a passive vent out will make for better air flow.
  • A motorized vent like in the bathroom, to outside the house, connected to a timer, is another way to achieve ventilation.
  • If you plan to work on guns in your vault room – clean them, blue them, etc. – it is absolutely necessary to have good airflow to prevent buildup of dangerous chemical fumes. Install a fan that blows out through the vault door, or through a wall vent to the outside of the home. Wire the fan directly to the light switch so you don’t forget to turn it on.
  • You will need extra ventilation if you are lucky enough to have an underground shooting range, or if you are setting up a “man cave” where you and your friends will watch TV, play cards, drink, smoke, etc.
  • Temperature and humidity requirements may be different for vault rooms which are intended for wine collections, stamp collections, sports memorabilia, etc.  Check with experts in your field of collecting.

OK, so if you need good ventilation in there, how do you keep out heat and smoke in case of fire?  Next post . . .

Three Vault Doors: Unusual Application

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Last week I visited a customer’s job-site, curious about why he wanted THREE high end in-swing vault doors in his new home.  What I saw would make every “gun guy” envious.

One vault door allows you to enter a combination wine cellar / secure room.  The other two, however, are on opposite ends of a 110 yard underground shooting range!!  From inside the house you go down stairs to a vault door, but open the door and you enter a very long 9’ by 9’ concrete tunnel with in-floor heating and appropriate ventilation. When finished it will have sound attenuation, shooting benches, gun racks and a state-of-the-art bullet catching system.  This guy likes to shoot!

underground shooting range
underground shooting range project

Exit through the vault door at the other end of the tunnel and stairs take you into the “toy barn” where cars, tractors, boats and other fun stuff will be kept.  I am really jealous!

If you have a cool or unusual vault door application please let us know.

New Home Design, Plan for the Safe

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One feature which is frequently overlooked in the design of a new home is where to put a safe or vault room.  Too often the homeowner calls us after the house is built, and then it is more difficult to find a good place for the right safe.  In the home pictured, a cubby hole was built so that the owner’s gun safe fits right where he wanted it, and it does not stick out into the room.

Blog, Safe Planning (2)

Most owners of medium to high-end homes have need of a safe.  Everyone has important documents that should be kept private and protected from fire – wills, trust papers, investments, mortgage papers, etc.  Many homeowners also keep substantial amounts of cash, jewelry, metals, coins, stamps, sports memorabilia, and so on.

Each application has different requirements.  For example, if a woman regularly wears expensive jewelry she should have a jewelry safe located where she dresses, so she can access it easily.  If the safe is in the basement she will still leave her jewelry sitting out.  Cleaning people may then be tempted, or someone who breaks into the home for a quick “grab and run” may find it.  If her safe is small it should not sit on the floor.  Getting down on hands and knees to look for a ring or necklace is inconvenient.  And remember that as she gets older her knees and back will give her more trouble.  A small safe mounted securely at about eye level works out much better, and tall skinny unit works even better.  Proper planning when the home is designed makes these options possible. Likewise, putting a vault door or a really heavy safe in a home is much easier if planning is done in advance.

If you are the builder or architect, make sure to ask the homeowner about safes early in the process.  If you are the homeowner, don’t be tempted to put this issue off until later.

The Best Batteries for Electronic Safe Locks

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We get this phone call every day:  “My safe has an electronic lock and I have changed the batteries but it still won’t open.”  Usually the problem is that they put in cheap batteries.  Yes, there is a difference.

J BAWM & VULCAN 007

Whether the lock is on a fire safe, commercial safe, gun safe or vault door, the ONLY batteries that will consistently work electronic safe locks are Duracell and Energizer alkaline.  Store brand batteries and even the other famous brands are inferior.  The voltage will be the same on most of them, but the amps will be higher on Duracell and Energizer. Electronic safe locks need high amps to work properly. Use batteries that are fresh from the store, not the ones that have been sitting in that kitchen drawer for six years.  Don’t use rechargeable batteries, either.

One more word of advice:  Be really careful when changing batteries on electronic safe locks so you don’t break the contacts or connecting wires.  That will require the help (and the fee) of a safe technician.

Buy Guns From a Gun Store, But Buy Gun Safes From a Safe Store

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It may seem like a natural fit for gun stores to display and sell gun safes.  But just like we don’t know enough about guns to provide proper advice and service for weapons, gun stores don’t have the appropriate knowledge to provide advice and service for safes.  To them, safes are a sideline, a way to boost sales and profits.  At Hoogerhyde Safe, safes are our business — you can tell by the name, right?  We know more about safes because we work on them every day, just like a gun store works on guns every day.

We have the tools, training and years of experience to do any service work that might be required after the purchase.  It is common for customers to tell us “I bought my safe from the gun shop. Now that I have problems with it they say they can’t repair safes.”  When you are out buying a new rifle and you are tempted to buy a new gun safe at the same store, ask this question:  “If the lock fails and the safe cannot be opened, what specifically can YOU do to fix it?”  If they do not have the ability to open it themselves that is the wrong place to buy a safe.