Gun Storage in Attic

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Firpo

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Question for you ya’ll. I have what may be a bit of a unique situation in that I have three walk-in attics and I’ve been considering putting a gun safe in one to store those guns I don’t use very often but don’t necessarily want to sell. Wondering your thoughts on how bad an idea it would be or do you think it might be okay to store a gun up there? I know of people that keep their gun safes in their garage but not an attic which can get pretty toasty in the summer and cold in the winters. You know our weather, most of the time it would be fine but during a heatwave it could get maybe 125° in the summer and 20° winters could bring their own problems. So what say you yay, nay?
 

dennishoddy

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If you contained the firearm/firearms in a safe with a heater inside to control humidity and mediate the temperature in the winter, that would eliminate the rust issue that could produce, but maintaining a good lube on the gun will prevent it too with regular maintenance visits. Leave it up there for years, you might have an issue. Synthetic stocks would be the only one I'd leave in an attic.
 

swampratt

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I have 2 friends that had their attic ceilings sealed with spray in foam.
Like 10" thick or something like that.

Not hot up there.
One actually made a reloading room in his attic after it was done and just has a small fan to pull some air from the lower part of the house into the room.

Maybe you could section off an area and foam it.
 

Snattlerake

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Go up into your attic and look at the rafters. Wood sap from the heat. I have a wooden mantel clock that was found in my great grandpa's house made from oak. It was beautiful in its day but they had no air conditioning back then and the 80+ years in the heat of the house drew out all of the sap and I had to use thinner to remove it all.

1670393204326.png
 

OkieJoe72

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Since it’s a walk-in attic, could you essentially frame and insulate a walk-in closet just inside the attic area? The temperature would be closer to the upstairs climate controlled temperature instead of the attic temperature.
 

Firpo

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Aside from the concerns about the guns themselves, what about the concentration of weight inherent in a safe?

Is the floor of the attic designed to withstand the weight of a safe full of guns, all in one place?
Good thought but I’m not talking about an 1,100 pound safe with 100 long guns. More like a 75-100 pound safe with 10 guns. Also these attics are all really just extensions of the second floor as far as construction goes. I’m in no rush to do this and think I’ll take a few temp/moisture measurements on those really nasty days to see just how bad it is up there. The one on the north side of the house would be the most likely candidate being it will stay the coolest during the summer.
 

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