Five Tips for Protecting Your Guns from Water Damage
Posted on: 18 January 2017
As a gun owner, you have to take precautions to protect your guns from a range of risks, including theft, fire, and flooding. If you don't want to deal with rusty, ruined, waterlogged guns, you need to take steps to protect them. Here are some ideas to help you.
1. Keep Your Gun in a Watertight Safe
To give your gun an extra layer of protection, invest in a gun safe. Ideally, you want a gun that is advertised to resist flooding and fire. If you aren't ready to invest in a new gun safe, you may want to consider modifying your existing safe. Simply consider adding weather stripping or rubber along the edges of the safe and the door. That can help to create a seal that blocks out water.
2. Store the Safe on the Second Floor
To keep your safe away from rising flood waters, backed-up sewer pipes in the basement, or similar issues, consider locating the safe on an upper story of your home. If you have a single-story home, keep the safe on the ground floor instead of the basement. Alternatively, consider keeping it in the rafters or elevating the safe slightly to boost the chances that it will stay above rising water levels.
3. Bolt the Safe to Studs
Unfortunately, in the event of a serious fire, safes on upper floors may fall through the floor into the ground floor or basement. This event will typically damage the safe and the gun. The dents and dings received from the fall can even surpass the damage caused by the water.
To reduce the chances of this happening, consider bolting your safe to the studs. That way, if the floor falls out from under the safe, the safe will cling to the frame of your house.
4. Position Sprinklers Strategically
If you have a home sprinkler system for fire retardation, keep your gun safe in mind when you set up the sprinklers. If possible, orient them in such a way that the water sprays on any flames next to the safe but does not hit the safe itself.
5. Get Flood Insurance
Even if you take a lot of precautions, your guns may still get damaged. In most cases, if your guns are water damaged through a fire, your homeowner's insurance policy will cover that damage. However, many policies don't cover floods. Because of that, you should consider making sure that your guns are covered with flood coverage.
Talk to a company such as Southern California Security Centers to learn more.
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