Installing a safe in a terrace basement without using the stairs

The Dunstaville’s were well underway with their building work at their terrace property when they started thinking about safe storage for their valuable collections and documents.

Their refurb plans included a safe at the basement level of the property and a second one in the master bedroom.

Their builder on site had pointed out that the stairwell to access the lower and upper floors had a tight turn which was going to very much limit the size of safes that could be lifted up and down them.

Not happy to compromise on the spec and size of safes they installed, the couple got in touch with us to find out what their options were.

Making the impossible possible

Through our initial phone call with the client's insurers and then with the client, we established that the on-site builder was correct and that the size safes required by the couple would not be able to be transported up and down the stairs.

At this point, it was clear that we needed to attend the property and carry out a free site survey and risk assessment.

When a client is looking for a large safe, or if there are unusual installation requirements such as this, we always carry out a survey. This ensures that everything goes smoothly when we deliver the safe and that we will not encounter any problems that may result in the job being aborted.

The survey showed that the safe for the 2nd-floor bedroom could be moved into the property via the window and that the basement level safe would need to be lifted over the house in order to access the basement via a light well.

Both safes would, therefore, require our mobile crane for which we can obtain parking permission.

So, after our survey, what had seemed like an impossible feat to the couple was now a carefully planned delivery and installation just waiting for execution.

Safe in the hands of our mobile crane

Our mobile crane is a pretty impressive piece of machinery and in this instance, it enabled us to be able to lift both safes accurately to their required location at the front and, over the house to the back of the property.

To get the safe into the second floor, we had coordinated with the on-site builder to remove the window for entry and had constructed a gantry from the inside of the property to outside the window ledge.

The mobile crane was then used to carefully lift the safe up to the gantry where our team used rollers to bring the safe in through the window opening and into the room and installed in place.

The crane was then tasked with lifting the second safe all the way over the house and lowering it through a light well down through the ground floor. We then used block and tackle to lower the safe into the basement through a removed section of a steel walkway, into the basement.

Both safes required precision and planning to get into the rooms and into place for fitting. We worked with the on-site building team to ensure that everything went smoothly and as planned.

In Conclusion

Having over 20 years experience moving and installing safes in some weird and wonderful locations means that we have the skills and the machinery to get most safes to where they need to be… no matter how complex the task!

We deliver and install safes and vaults throughout the UK and our services are trusted by the Film and TV Industry, Jewellery industry, high street retailers, as well as domestic customers like the Dunstaville’s.

Most domestic and commercial safes can be delivered and installed directly by our specialist installers in unmarked vehicles. Larger safes and vaults are generally delivered to site using our crane lorry.

Visit our services page to find out more about our expert safe delivery and installation services

*Client names have been changed for his security and privacy