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Expert: - 4/13/2009


Question
I bought a building that was formally a bank.  The walk in vault door was dry-walled open because the previous owner's child lock himself in.  I have been approached about selling the door.  I however have no idea the value.  I do not want to have the cost of ripping out the dry wall (and replacing the cabinets on the wall) if the vault door is not valued high enough to cover the cost.  I have never seen the door.  The bank left the building in 1980.  I believe the bank vault was made in the late 1960's.  The door frame opening is six feet tall, about 3 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. Any advice you could give would be very helpful!  Thank you.

Answer
Julie,

Well, this is one of those Yes/no answers.  First, Yes the vault door has resale value.  Unfortunately, any company coming in to remove it, will probably charge you $5000 to $10,000 to remove it, and then they will haul it away.  You will still have the expense of refinishing the walls when they leave.

I know this isn't the answer that you would like.  Part of the reason is that there are quite a few used doors available at any given time.  I currently have about 13 sitting in my ware house.  The key word being "sitting".  Even though I can eventually sell the door, it will sit for several years, so I have no incentive to gain another door.  Infact we just sent 5 doors to the scrap metal dealer the first of the year, to lower our inventory.

You are paying for the luxury of having the door out of your hair, and the safe company is being paid for the inconvience of having another door in its inventory, and the labor to extract it.

The exception to the above would be to find a buyer for the vault door.  They would then be responsible for the removal of the door, and you could work out what ever details you need concerning the repairs of the walls in the building.  Even if you "gave" the door away, the buyer would need to arrange for the removal.

I don't really believe the story of the child locking himself in the vault door, as they are not designed this way.  The exception to this would be fire resistive type door, but these have an emergency escape handle on the inside.  This handle could be used to secure the door, but the person would still, NOT be locked in.
Someone on the outside would have had to lock the door after the child entered.  Makes a great story, but I think that it has more of an "urban legend" feel to it, unless there is more to the story than meets the eye, if you get my drift.

If you decide that you need the door removed, let me know and I'll try to give you some referals.

Hope this helps,

Andy

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Terry V Andreasen (Andy)

Expertise

Safe and Vault related Questions; Antique Safe Repair and Restoration; With over 40 years in the Safe & Vault industry, if I can't answer your question I know where to get the answer. Current Project: Restoration of two Tilton & McFarland Safes from the 1860's. Will answer Safe & Vault related questions concerning age, value, restoration, moving, opening & repairing, parts, operation and history. Note: It is not my intention to teach you to open safes or to provide information which may aid in the unlawful opening of a safe. I will not give out drill points or information which I deem inappropriate.

Experience

40 years in the Safe & Vault Industry. Service Manager for one of the largest Safe & Vault companies on the West Coast. Graduate of Lockmasters Safe Lock Servicing, Safe lock Manipulation and Safe Deposit Lock Courses. Graduate of Locksmith Institute. Certified Instructor for the California Locksmith Association teaching Basic and Advanced Lock Servicing, Basic Safe opening and Repairing. Factory Trained by AMSEC, LORD Safes, LeFebure, Mosler, KabaMas, LaGard and Sargent & Greenleaf

Organizations
Safecrackers International and the National Antique Safe Association

Education/Credentials
Graduate of Locksmith Institute 1972 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Lock Servicing 1974 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Lock Manipulation 1975 Graduate Lockmasters Safe Deposit Lock Servicing 1985 Instructor Certified - California Locksmith Association - 1985 Factory trained by AMSEC, MAJOR, STAR, Johnson-Pacific, Kaba-MAS, Allied-Gary, ISM, Lord, Brown Safe, EXL, Mosler, Diebold.

Awards and Honors
2009, 2010 & 2011 Listed in AllExperts top 50 Experts. All Experts Categories - Safes & Security Containers, Locksmithing, Antique Safes. Retired US Army Reserve Chief Warrant Officer (CW3), with 32 years of total service. With numerous awards from Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. US Navy - 1971-1981 US Army Reserve 1984-2006 US Army Retired Reserve 2006-present

Past/Present Clients
US Secret Service, FBI, BATF, Local Law enforcment agencies, Diebold, Hamilton Pacific, Red Hawk Int., Chubb International, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, Mechanics Bank, El Dorado Savings Bank, many Credit unions and smaller banks. McDonalds, Togos, BurgerKing, TacoBell, Carls Jr. FoodMaxx, SaveMart, Lucky's, Albertson's, Raley's, Safeway, NobHill, Bell Markets, PW Markets. Great America, Century Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, UA Cinemas, and many homeowners and small businesses. Provide warranty service for lock and safe manufactures. Service area is Northern California - Fresno to Oregon, including western Nevada

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