We may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Thanks for the support! 👍
Placing your gun safe in the right place is extremely important, both so that you can stay safe, but also so that you don’t damage your home. If you are in a home that can’t quite handle the weight of your gun safe, you probably are wondering if you should just put the safe in the garage and not worry about it.
So should you keep your gun safe in the garage? Keeping a gun safe in the garage can be a great solution for those that want the convenience, easy access, and the ability to bolt to the ground. However you should only put it in the garage if you plan on keeping it out of sight when the garage doors are open.
Let’s dig into all the reasons you may, or may not want to keep your safe in the garage!
Why you should keep your gun safe in the garage
Keeping your gun safe in the garage can actually be a great idea, due to quite a few reason! Let’s take a quick look at those reasons, and then we will discuss in a bit more depth on the downsides, so that you can decide if it is right for you and your family.
1. Easy to bolt the safe to the ground
Everyone should be bolting their safe to the floor, everyone (I recommend this kit right here). However the downside to this, is that it actually can damage your flooring, and especially your carpeting! That said, this should not be the reason you don’t bolt the safe to the ground. The last thing you want is for a thief to wander into your garage, and wheel it away.
You want to know a material that is extremely resistant to damage, and easily reparable, and is likely in your home? Concrete. With that said, most garages have a floor that is primarily concrete.
This is great for anchoring the safe to the floor, as it is much more secure than attaching to wood like you would inside the home.
This is one of the primary reasons why is is a great idea to install your safe into the garage!
2. You can easily find a place for it
One of the biggest issues people have with purchasing a gun safe, is where in the world to put the thing. Due to its size, weight, and honestly styling, it doesn’t exactly fit just anywhere.
With that, garages are generally somewhere where you can easily move items around to fit in a gun safe! Due to their utilitarian design, they also will for the most part, fit right into your garage with no problem at all.
The concrete (as discussed before) is also generally very level in the garage, meaning you don’t have to worry about leveling out your safe too much. With that note, there also aren’t any ledges to get the safe over, making it easy to wheel the safe into your garage and place it where you would like.
3. Out of the prying eyes of visitors
We will discuss more in depth on how to keep your gun safe, safe from prying eyes when the garage doors are open in the next section, however outside of that one glaring issue, the garage keeps your gun safe out of visitors prying eyes!
Visitors generally will not be visiting your garage on a regular basis, however they likely will be visiting the interior of your home more often. This makes it considerably easier to keep your neighbords, and visitors from ever knowing you own a gun safe in the first place.
The first, and best way to keep your firearms safe, is to not let anyone know you have them in the first place.
Why you may not want to keep your gun safe in the garage
1. Garage doors keep contents out in the open
House doors are large, garage doors (especially 2 car garage doors) are even bigger! Because of this, if you have your gun safe up against the rear of your garage, it will be on full display to any and all people that walk, drive, or bicycle in front of your garage during this time.
This means you can’t work on your car, warm up your car, or remove items from your garage without showing to the world that you own a gun safe.
Instead, if you are keeping your safe in the garage, you should be keeping it hidden! This can be done by keeping the safe on the front wall to the sides of the garage door (if this can be done in your arrangement) or by hiding it behind shelves, or anything you can find in your garage to do so.
Alternatively, there are companies out there that actually make sheets that look like other items ( like this one right here) or can just be a black cover to at least give it some form of secrecy.
2. Most garages are not the same temperature all year round
The other big reason for not keeping your gun safe in the garage comes down to temperature control! Most garages tend to have temperatures that range heavily depending on the time of the year. This can be detrimental to whatever you are keeping in the safe.
With fluctuations of temperature come settling of any moisture that might be trapped in the gun safe from opening and closing it at different times.
Thankfully, this is actually a smaller problem now that we have high quality dehumidifiers on the market that will allow for keeping the moisture in the air where it belongs, and not on our valuables. I like this dehumidifier here, however you can actually read a whole article about my other favorites here as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you put under gun safe in garage?
Generally speaking, you don’t have to keep anything under your gun safe when it is in the garage. However if you wanted to, a vapor barrier is always helpful! If you are in an area that floods regularly, you may also want to have some kind of a platform that raises the safe up off the ground a couple inches as well.
How heavy does a gun safe have to be to not bolt down?
No gun safe is heavy enough to not bolt the safe down. If you don’t bolt the safe down to the ground, a determined thief will be able to tip it over and pry it open, or worse yet remove it from your home or garage and get into it off the premises.
Do I need a dehumidifier in my gun safe?
I believe every gun safe should have a dehumidifier. You never know how much humidity is in your safe, and no one wants to open their gun safe to pitted firearms, and moldy paperwork.
Conclusion
If you own firearms, you should own a gun safe, however keeping that gun safe somewhere safe from prying eyes can make a big difference! Keeping it specifically in the garage really does have its upsides, and downsides, however if you are careful you can keep yourself safer if you think through everything before making that decision.
For most people, keeping their safe in the garage will work no problem as long as it is out of site! It’s when you leave it out in the open that causes a lot of issues.
