About Brown Safe

Vaults - GSA Door Buying Tips
GSA doors have undergone rigorous governmental testing to earn the GSA Class 5 certification rating. Many government contractors and institutions are required to use GSA doors for their vaults.

Click here to go to our GSA pages.

Pros - These are certified GSA doors.

Cons - GSA doors can not be customized or altered and can only be ordered with certain approved options.

GSA Vault Door Specific Buying Tips:

  • Understand how "Armory" and "Security" models differ - Both of these GSA door models carry the same protection rating and both are very reliable high security doors. The primary difference between them is in their locks.
    The Armory Vault Door uses a conventional and highly reliable mechanical dial combination lock, the S&G 2937.
    The Security Vault Door's lock, the Kaba-Mas X-10, is also a dial combination lock, but it operates electronically. To avoid lock failure due to a low or dead battery, the X-10 gains it's power by the physical act of turning the dial... ensuring it can be opened any time, every time. This lock is considered more secure than a mechanical dial lock by many security professionals due to it's electronic operation and additional security features.
  • Free your contractor of unnecessary anguish by ensuring the door you purchase comes with good instructions - Our GSA doors come with full installation instructions and direct line support to our door designers and technicians, allowing them to be installed by any general contractor with minimal fuss.
  • The vault door must swing out - A Class 5 GSA doors must swing out per GSA regulations.  The vault door cannot swing into the vault. Adhering to this simple but often overlooked regulation will avoid undo headache when it comes time to install.
  • Decide on left or right side hinges early on - Believe it or not, this seemingly simple decision is the source of most headaches at the time of installation.
  • Don't be the one to learn too late that the door ordered opens in the wrong direction.
  • Hinge designation differs between safe makers so be sure to clearly agree on the same hinge definition during the order process.
    At Brown Safe, hinge location is designated by standing outside the vault facing the front of the door. A hinge on the left is a left side hinge door, a hinge on the right is a right side hinge door.
    To best avoid costly misunderstandings, we here at Brown Safe ask for blueprints defining the building layout near to any vault doors in order to identify any potential issues prior to the doors construction.
  • Make lighting considerations for an accidental lock in - All GSA vault doors come standard with an emergency escape device on the inside to prevent an accidental lock in. Finding this device in absolute darkness, can still prove daunting, especially if the person locked in has no knowledge an escape device even exists.
  • With minimal forethought, the above situation can easily be avoided by ensuring some form of lighting is readily available or easy to locate within the safe...when the door is shut and locked.