Getting your gun safe into your home is challenging even when you know how to move a safe. Having to navigate a few steps before reaching your front door adds to the challenge. But when you need to go up a flight of stairs to the second floor of your home, the move becomes even more difficult and dangerous. Your best bet is to have a professional safe mover do the job for you. That can save you the risk of injuring yourself, damaging your safe, or damaging your home. However, we know a lot of you will still choose to move it on your own, so we've compiled some tips to help you get your safe upstairs.
Preparing for the Move
You should never attempt to move a safe across a room, let alone up a set of stairs, by yourself. So, you need to assemble a team of at least two strong helpers to assist you. Everyone who is moving the safe should wear heavy-duty work gloves and closed-toes shoes for the move.
You also need to know the dimensions and weight of your safe. This can help you select the right moving equipment. If you don't have a heavy-duty dolly, you will either need to rent or purchase one to get your safe upstairs. Choosing an electric stair-climbing dolly can make the process of getting your safe upstairs much easier. But a heavy-duty dolly or one equipped with stair climbers could also be used.
Make sure the dolly you choose is load-rated for the weight of your safe. Now would also be a good time to make sure your stairs are capable of holding the combined weight of the safe, you, and your helpers.
Don’t forget to have strong straps to secure your safe to the dolly. You’ll also need several thick moving blankets to help prevent damage to your safe.
You’ll need to empty the safe before moving it. If possible, you should also remove your safe's door, because that can reduce the weight you're moving by nearly one third.
Ready, Set…Let’s Move That Safe!
Once you have all that prep work done, you’re ready to move your safe. Follow these steps:
- Securely wrap the safe in the moving blankets.
- Tilt your safe to one side while a helper slides the dolly underneath it.
- Tightly wrap the straps around the safe and secure it to the dolly to prevent it from moving.
- Tilt the dolly back to evenly distribute the safe’s weight onto its wheels.
- Carefully and slowly wheel the safe to your stairs.
- As you guide the safe up the stairs, your two helpers should lift the dolly up one step at a time if you are using a non-stair-climbing dolly.
- If you have a motorized stair-climbing dolly, your assistants can help steady the safe as you guide it up the stairs.
- Don’t be a hero; if the safe slips, jump out of the way and let it fall.
Moving a safe, especially up a stairway, is dangerous, even if you know how and have experience. We want to keep our customers safe, so our Liberty Safe team always recommends that you arrange for a professional mover