Help with Vault Doors

Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
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I am currently in the process of finalizing plans on our home. I’ll have a concrete shelter/safe room inside and am trying to find a “swing-in” Vault door that’s worth putting in. I have tried finding reviews/recommendations on line and am getting conflicting info/opinions. Fire rating, steel thickness, door strength and security features amongst others are all things to consider. I want quality, not crap. Buy once cry once. Some Manufacturers I have looked into are:

- Liberty
- Ft Knox
- Smiths
- Pentagon

I am familiar with Liberty and Ft Knox. The other two I know nothing about. I saw some negative stuff on the Pentagons and have read Smiths are top notch. Anyone on here already been down this road and if so….who did you go with? Pros & Cone of the ones listed above. Any others worth considering? Thanks
 

BadDogPSD

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Are you anywhere near St. Louis? Frank, the owner of Zykansafe, Zykansafe.com, really knows his stuff. He's a member of SIGforum and is generous about helping others make good decisions.
 
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Theringworm
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Are you anywhere near St. Louis? Frank, the owner of Zykansafe, Zykansafe.com, really knows his stuff. He's a member of SIGforum and is generous about helping others make good decisions.
I am in Texas. I still may give home a call and see what he recommends. From researching, the Graffunder looks to have the better security set up but the fire rating lacks in comparison to the Liberty or Ft Knox. American Security makes a vault door as well but it appears to only be one size and not many options/upgrades.
 
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Mar 19, 2021
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Graffunder does well with these. Or try to find an old bank vault door. A friend recently did that, it’s pretty neat.
 
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As embarrassing as this is to say, type several related words in pinterest. I have got lost on there for hours looking for different outdoor themed searches.
After their algorithms get a idea of the pages you click, they show you some pretty damn cool content.
 
Last edited:
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The Greatest Spectacle in Motorcar Racing
American Security https://americansecuritysafes.com/product/vault-doors/

I called them and spoke with a woman named Mina. She put me in contact with a supplier in my region and through them I was able to order a custom made vault door for my intended use. Once built, it was shipped directly to me. It's been several years and I have no regrets.
Thanks, I’m going to look them up here in Indiana
 
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Theringworm
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If I owned that I would have to display it in my front living room. Too pretty to hide behind a hidden wall. Some great ideas from everyone. I have a call into a distributor who carries American Security, Graffunder, LIberty and Ft Knox. I am going to go with one of the 4 I am certain.
 
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Jun 17, 2017
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I went with a Sturdy. No beauty queen, but gets the job done (I assume anyway).
Same.

A lot of the nice looking doors are thin gauge metal over gypsum. Easy to pry open.

I have the Sturdy. 3/8" of steel plus hard plate. 700 lbs of keep out.

 

def90

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I did a small chipotle job and it use to be an old bank and there was a bank door like this. They just opened it all the way and built a wall around it.
Yeah, there are guys that go in to old banks that are being remodeled or torn down and take the vault doors and resell them. The one in my photo above the guy told me had been in a bank somewhere in Kansas from the early 1900's, he then took it out some time in the 70's when the building was being torn down and he sold/installed it in another bank somewhere else and it sat there for another 30 years until that building was being torn down and he went in and got it again and then sold/installed it in this home I was working in.
 

BroncoAZ

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Another vote for Sturdy.

 

Marble

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After being through a few large forest fires with 2000 degree heat being generated, and watching it cream through neighborhoods and cities, leaving just nothing that was usable, I only saw one safe that had anything salvageable and it was a multi layered system. Some rooms underground with multiple layers of protection survived also.. Meaning that, underground rooms with multiple doors, or barriers gave great prevention and the only safe I saw with anything left that was usable out of around a thousand homes, was a cheap safe with multiple interior boxes inside that the home owner used out of pure accident.

All of the guns were toast, but in the box within a box some cash and some coins survived. The rest melted. Guns too. everything was just toast.

If it were me I would build underground and have a room separating me from where the heat was. Two different doors and some type of circulation system .

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