Moved the Safe Today

[Beau Cassidy]

Well it looks like I will be moving again... Grrrr. Not too bad except for my safe- an 1100 lb liberty that is a serious thorn in my side when moving. Here in Georgia it has been in the front bedroom of my house. By this time tomorrow it needs to be in the garage so I can get the carpet cleaned. After moving the safe away from the wall (it is on carpet and slides with a good push), I cut some 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe 30 inches long and put under it. We had 6 pieces and was able to move the save extremely easy with myself and girlfriend. I also rotated on the PVC like it was nobody's business. Today I pushed it into the foyer where there is no carpet. Tomorrow we are going to push it into the garage so my neighbor can help me put it on the truck. I am going to go get a little larger diameter PVC pipe so it will be easier to go over the door threshold. I read somewhere about using PVC pipe and man does it work!

[ph4570]

How did you get it up onto the PVC pipe? Push it back and put pipe under or?

I need to move mine in the not too distant future.

[WilliamDahl]

I think you mean 3/4" PVC pipe, not 1/4", right?

Also, use schedule 40, not that thin stuff they use for irrigation systems.

Best way that I've found to get it up on the pipe is to remove all the firearms from the safe first. Then open the safe door 90 degrees (i.e. pointing straight out). You then pull down on the door and the rear of the safe will tilt up far enough to get a piece of pipe under it. Put a few pieces spaced a couple of inches apart. Let the door come back up, possibly with a bit of help by pushing on the top of the safe after closing the door and you can put a piece of pipe under the front of the safe also.

Going over major thresholds is best accomplished with larger diameter pipe. I used 3/4" and 2" to move my safe throughout my house. Just take everything slow. It's nice to have one person on the other side when you are going through doorways so that you can give them the pipe to put under the forward edge of the bottom of the safe. Exiting the house can be accomplished with the various diameters pipe and various thicknesses of solid concrete blocks.

Another option that works pretty well is golf balls. I used to live in a house that was on a golf course and I was always finding golf balls in my yard. I had about a 5g bucket of them when I sold the house, but I kept them. If you toss a lot of them under the safe, it works great to move a safe around in a room. I would not suggest using them for crossing the thresholds going outside the house or to go down any steps leading up to the house, but they are great for getting the safe into the tight corners and such in a room or just moving it around the house.

For the most part, my experience is to NOT hire movers to move your safe. They will scratch it up. They think that they can just lay it on it's side and slide it into the truck. If you have to move it up or down a large flight of stairs, it might be in your best interest to hire one of the safe moving companies to do it. They have a motorized hand cart that can actually climb the stairs and it is pretty impressive to watch.

Don't get in a hurry and just take it an inch or so at a time. If you are having to exert any strength to do it, you are doing it wrong. They moved the blocks for the pyramids the same way, albeit with a lot more labor. But then again, you're not trying to move the safe across SAND, so it should be easier.

Once you get through though, remember to anchor the safe to the concrete floor. If it is easy for you to move a safe around, it would also be easy for the crooks to move it around.

[geargnasher]

I rolled mine in on 1" PVC pipe, worked like a champ, I could push it across low-pile carpet with one palm, although mine's only about 800lbs.

To get across thresholds was simple: Push the safe up to it on the PVC rollers and slide it across the threshold until it hangs over far enough to start another roller under it, then just let the rollers stack against the threshold as you slide it across them and get it rolling over the rollers you keep feeding into the forward side. Obviously your rollers have to be slightly taller than the threshold you're crossing to keep from scraping it.

To get the safe up on rollers to begin with, I used a small piece of 1/8" steel to protect the floor and a big mechanic's pry bar to wedge under the edge and pry up enough to get a thin piece of wood started, then got another "bite" with the bar using a thin piece of wood under it for a fulcrum and went up another 1/2" or so, eventually getting that side high enough to start a roller. I found it helpful to get the safe propped up high enough that the first roller was about 1/3 of the way back from the lifted edge and put about three of them under there, that made tilting the safe up on the rollers and back level again on top of them much easier. The closer the first roller is to the balance point the easier it is to kick the safe up onto the rollers. I used some rubber wedge doorstops in front of the first roller to keep it from pushing out while I tilted the safe up onto it.

The only drawback to the rollers is if you're going down a slope, like a concrete driveway or ramp, it can really get away from you with very little grade. A 2"-wide Nylon tow strap and a couple of people with some "lead in their pockets" and the strap around their waists helps keep a safer from running away on a grade.

Gear

[ph4570]

I get the picture. Thanks for taking the time to relate your experiences. Next spring I will be escaping from CA to OR. I will move all my toys myself and leave furniture items to a mover.

[WilliamDahl]

To get the safe up on rollers to begin with, I used a small piece of 1/8" steel to protect the floor and a big mechanic's pry bar to wedge under the edge and pry up enough to get a thin piece of wood started, then got another "bite" with the bar using a thin piece of wood under it for a fulcrum and went up another 1/2" or so, eventually getting that side high enough to start a roller.

Try the solution that I suggested with using the door as a lever. I believe that it is a LOT easier. My safe weighs about 1600 lbs empty I can tilt it up enough to get the PVC pipe under it without any help.

[Beau Cassidy]

1 1/4 inch white PVC pipe. I decided to move it after the turkeys moving it before thought they could move it with a refrigerator dolley. It almost took a few of them out when it rolled over. Luckily no damage as it was still on the truck.

I moved it thru the house into the garage a little while ago. The hardest part was pushing it on carpet. Several times I had to manipulate the safe on the pipes so it was easy to tilt back and put the leading pipe under it. Once I got off the carpet everything went super smooth. No problems going over the door jam into the garage.