The photos shown in this blog post illustrate a particular type of safe moving called ‘cribbing’. Cribbing involves stacking wood, either 4×4’s or 4×6’s in an alternating square pattern in order to raise an object. In our case, we use cribbing to bring a heavy safe up or down steps. This method involves raising the safe the required height using the wood and then placing two longer pieces of wood underneath the safe that spans from the crib stack to the top step. These longer pieces act as a bridge, allowing the safe to be slid from the crib stack to the top of the steps (or vice versa if going down the steps).
We do have stair climbing equipment (can be seen on our safe moving page) that we use regularly to bring safes up and down steps. The maximum capacity of our large stair climber is 2200 lbs. Just because a location has steps doesn’t mean the stair climber is the best approach to moving safes. A careful assessment of the location and the safe to be moved will determine which method we use. One good benefit of cribbing is that there is no weight limit (for us). Wood can handle a tremendous amount of weight when it is organized into a crib stack, so we never have to worry about ‘equipment’ failure. This allows us to move safes above the 2200 lb capacity of our stairclimbing equipment.

Photos 1 & 2 are of an Inkas safe we delivered that had to be installed in the basement. The basement was two steps down from the garage level. In addition to that, there was a height restriction due to the low ceiling. This required us to setup the crib stack on a platform made up of wood covered with aluminum plate.
Photos 3,4 & 5 show a safe being cribbed from a grass lawn onto a set of brick steps. Plywood sheeting is laid on the grass lawn to provide a stable surface to build the crib stack on. The safe is then moved from the stack to the brick steps and then into the home.