Long story short, we had to close a branch and relocate it to a new facility a mile down the street due to highway widening. In addition to all the furniture, we decided it was economical to take the safe deposit vault door out of the building and store it for future use. This particular door is a Class II door, and it is made of a steel shell filled with concrete, weights about 3500 pounds. From the time they took off the trim plates on the inside until it was sitting on the sidewalk was only about an hour, maybe 90 minutes. The storefront entrance had to be removed to provide clearance, because the door was about 7′-6″ tall.
This is the outside of the vault door before the work began. And a pic of the inside of the vault, with the trim plates (door casing) removed. (Don’t bother opening the bigger pics, I somehow loaded the same thing twice, but in different sizes. Well I’ve made a real mess of these attacments now.)
“Put your creed in your deed.” Emerson
“When asked if you can do something, tell’em “Why certainly I can”, then get busy and find a way to do it.” T. Roosevelt
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The first thing to do is cut loose a welded clip at the base of the door. This is welded between the door frame and the vault walls, which are precast concrete panels with angle iron edges and weld plates.
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There are six jack bolts on the door, two on each side and two on the top. These serve to wedge the door in place against the vault walls, and to plumb the door during installation. Sometimes the void between the door frame and the wall panels is filled with high strength grout, but it's not needed, and if you think the door might be removed one day, it's better not to grout.
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Here is a pic of the weld clip and jack screw after the door was pulled out.View Image
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Edited 11/24/2008 9:05 am ET by FastEddie
Ok, next thing, one guy goes into the vault and the door is closed and locked. Don't want to take any chance that the door could swing open while it's being moved. First they verify that they have to combination, then the door is closed and the combo dials are spun so that someone holding on to the big wheel can't accidently retract the bolts. Then they lay down a couple of 3/4" solid steel rods, and start jacking the door out of the frame by prying up with a long crowbar. The guy inside pushes too.
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View Image"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
More pics of getting the door out of the opening, across the carpet, onto plywood to cross the tile, and then onto the truck. Once the door is out of the opening and turned so it can roll on the rods, it moves pretty easily. It's a little slow on the carpet, but once it hits the plywood it moves easily.
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This one was a little difficult to get out of the opening because there was a wall very close to the strike side of the door, so the guy on that side didn't have much room to swing the crowbar. The bar was about 4 ft long, and several times they would stand on the end to get enough leverage.
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They only used two bars to roll it. They would puch until the back bar fell out, then move it to the front. If they tried to use three bars so there was always two under the door, it would have been hard to add a bar to the front. With just two, when the back one fell out, they could rock the door to raise the front end enough to get the new bar under the sill.
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"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Edited 11/24/2008 9:21 am ET by FastEddie
Some of those guys have pretty low waists.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Funny thing is, that's Tony, the oldest one in the group. Probably mid-50's. All of the crew are company employees, no temp help. He looks that way cuz they don't stop once the work starts, not even for lunch. First thing in the morning all his clothes fit properly. Real good crew, everyone pulls their weight, no ipods or cell phones on the job (except company phones)."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Then I'll fall back onto the position that the guy has no ####.
Suspenders perhaps?A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Your lucky that door was installed wrong. It's supposed to be grouted into place. If it was done right they would have had to used chipping hammers to remove the grout before they could get to the jack bolts.
It's amazing what a guy can do with a couple of small rollers ,and a good crow bar aint it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sbqIyeed4g&feature=related
Yeah, I was surprised it wasn't grouted, since we owned the building and the land, so when it was installed we had planned to be there a long time. At leased locations, even a long term ground lease, we usually don't grout. It passes federal bank standards, so what can I say."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I've never seen one not grouted. We wouldn't warrantee it.
About three years ago we moved one out of a basement. I think it took longer to chip the grout out then it did to get it up the stairs and on the truck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sbqIyeed4g&feature=related
tut tut tut, breaking into a vault and documenting it with pics.. Hope the FBI doesn't see the thread ;)
jt8
The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept. -- John Gardner
Nice to know how easy it will be to break into a bank and steal the stuff in safe depositories. Hour and a half huh?
Hour and a half huh?
Yeah, but you have to be inside the vault to do the work. That;s the trick."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
That's where the tunneling comes in. If I start digging in the vacant store next to you, I shoule be inside the vault within an hour and a half...I saw it on a TV show, it didn't look too hard.