"Closet Sized" safes(?)

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Sanford

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Anyone found any larger safes that are 24" (or less) deep, including any lock/handle? I've got several closets in my house that would be great candidates for a safe - up to 48" wide - but they're all only 24" deep.

Problem is that as soon as a safe gets much more than 24" to 30" wide they start growing to 25" or 26" deep which would necessitate removing the door(s) from the closet, rather defeating the whole purpose (out of sight, out of mind) of locating the safe in the closet in the first place.

So - why is it that safes have to get deeper when they get wider? I haven't found any reasonable explanation but it seems to be pretty consistent across the industry. Would think a company that marketed a safe that would actually fit inside the average home closet would be able to sell more of them based on that fact alone.

Stack-On does make a cabinet - one of their green ones - that's 38" x 18" x 55" that is pretty close to ideal as far as internal dimensions; if it were covered with a few layers of fire rock surrounded by an outer shell, and had a heavier door with a better lock it would be "da bomb". As it is it would be almost as good at beating burglary attempts as most of the "big box store" safes, especially the quick grab and go types that seem to be so prevalent.
 

bigfug

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In this case, you're sacrificing protection from concealability. Most burglars will probably never check the closet so the heavier door etc are 'almost' moot points. Fire protection is going to increase thickness, thickness will increase depth and so on. You could just build a closet in a closet, ie steel door, fireboard covered with paneling etc. you could even remove your drywall to obtain a few more inches.
 

Sanford

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Have considered the closet-in-a-closet idea more than once - if I were any kind of welder it would certainly be a viable option. Still, I was wondering why none (or at least none I've found) of the safe manufacturers seem to have considered the overall depth of the safe as a limiting factor. I may have found the answer, though - I was looking at some safes earlier this evening and found some large safes that were less than 24" deep EXCEPT for a couple of square "feet" that extended from the front of the safe apparently for anti-tip purposes. Sort of makes me wonder if there's some obscure OSHA or some such other agency safety regulation of some kind getting in the way.
 

Parks 788

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IIRC, most of the bigger safes get deeper to provide a bigger/heavier ass-end to counter act the weight of the big, wide, heavy doors. Other wise the safe will tip forward, especially if not much inside to weigh it down. Can you imagine the lawsuit if some jack hole opened his safe and was trapped inside/under it because the heavy door pulled it on top of him.
 

Sanford

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That could be it - guess the open/opening door could end up on top of a foot if the safe tipped; would think the door itself would keep the entire safe from tipping though. Another good reason to bolt a safe down too.
 

bigfug

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Why would you think this?

Depends on the situation, but its usually a smash and grab, and I am assuming most people these days have alarms. Most occur during the day during working hours, or during the day, and anyone could come in at anytime. Its usually a few minutes in, a few minutes out, grab the easy stuff, high end electronics, tv's, laptops etc
 

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