# Linen Closet Gun Safe?



## JeffWard

I'm thinking of converting the small linen closet between my master BR and my Master Bath into a "gun safe".

The closet is standard depth, about 3 ft, and about 3ft wide. It has a standard 6-panel closet door on it, on standard hinges etc... Not very secure. The back of the closet backs up to the plumbing behind my shower... so I'm leaving that alone.

I think I can do this cheaper, and nearly as effectively as a floor safe, but without fire protection.

Here's the plan:

The door opens OUT anyway, so it's very hard to kick in. Even if it were kicked in the stronger shelves would be less than an inch inside the door, so the impact would be dispursed to them.

Inside: Rebuild the shelves to accomodate long-guns down one whole side. I only own three, but I'm building racks for 6-8. This section will run from the floor, up to about 4 ft, on the hinge side. On the other side, I will have multiple shelves with bins for cleaning/reloading supplies, etc. On the bottom, I have a small strong-box for reciepts, bills of sale, serial numbers, and other non-gun-stuff, like passports, cash, jewelry, etc... Above these, I will have nicely padded shelves for handguns, and maybe some racks. I'm going to build it out like the inside of a nice gun-safe, all fancy and pretty.

Before the shelves go in, I'm goint to fit 3/4" plywood between the studs, inside the exterior drywall, on the two non-shower sides of the closet. These will be bracketed in from the inside.

The door: I'm going to BUILD a "solid" wood door, boxed with two layers of 3/4" finished grade plywood, glued a screwed, with a layer of thick wire mesh in the middle (makes it a bitch to cut through). I'll glue some pretty trim strips on the front to match the other 6-panel doors in the house. I will install it with 5 heavy-duty hinges (instead of 3) w/ 3" screws. I'll install an exterior-quality lockable knob, and additional deadbolts near the top and bottom of the door, painted to match and "disappear". Heavy duty striker plates. (But since you won't be able to kick your way in, the jamb is less critical.)

The objective is to have a safer place to store guns and valuables that would take somone a serious amount of time an effort to get into, if they really knew what was inside. Absolutely "kid-proof".

Total cost would be hinges, locks, plywood, and material to "line" it with.

Anyone have inputs or ideas?

JeffWard


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## niadhf

be sure to get Outswing door hinges. No Jeff i am not being a smar A$$. Outswing exterior doorrs come with NON REMOVABLE hinge pins. I would put at lleast 2 of them in if you are doing 5 hinges. The sheetrock in place could have firecode rock added to it if you want a SMALL amount of fire protection (probably still wouldn't do much though). The jamb is the week spot as you point out. USe long screws to go into the jack studd/header/sill depending on your lock location. You may not be able to kick it in, but it could still be pryed OUT.
There is a magnetic chaild safety lock used for kitchen cabinets that i once used to help create a hidden lock on a "wall safe" for valuables. That may be an additional layer of protection.

my.02


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## cvillechopper

If it opens out, your hinges will be exposed, right? You want to think about how to upgrade or cover access to the pins. I have seen longer pins used and drilled for a small lock but it's really only a stubborn kid deterrent. A thief would go ahead and break the small locks and pull the pins.

Other than that, sounds like an effective way to add additional security without spending a fortune. Of course you could replace the plywood with 16ga steel for about $200 worth of additional material costs and it would be harder to get through but it might be overkill.

Good luck. You should make sure to post some pics once you get the build completed (if you feel comfortable with that).


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## bruce333

I'm planning on doing the same thing with the closet in my extra bedroom.

At the website below, if you scroll down to the "back door" section, you'll see what I plan to do to the door.

http://www.met.police.uk/crimeprevention/doors.htm

Dead bolt knob, 2 more dead bolts and 2 hinge bolts (stationary "pins" on the hinge side of the door).


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## usmamg

you could gut the closet and fit a smaller safe in it.


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## JeffWard

Hinge Pins... Yup... Secured. No sense if they can just pop them out!

Looking at it, I'm just going to screw and glue a 3/4 sheet to the back of the existing door, maybe even steel. It will look for all the world just like a normal door, except for the extra deadbolts and 4 hinges. The current door has 2 hinges, so I'll probably replace those, and add two more toward the middle.

Instead of going between the studs on the inside (requiring ripping out the inside closet walls, I'll probably just go right over them with the 3/4". The interior walls hold up the shelves. They look to be plywood, not sheetrock, anyway. That will get me over an inch of plywood in the side walls, glued and screwed into the studs every 12-16". This way, if a future owner wanted the standard closet back, he can just rip it all out.

If I were buying a house and it had a strong-closet in it, I'd see it as a nice feature...

JeffWard


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