Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:12:15 -0400, Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Do you have a basement?
How high is your water table, and how big is your yard?
the cheapest, simplest, least disruptive storm shelter
is a buried vault near the front or back door.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:53:03 GMT, John~*
************************************************** *************
wrote:

In article , Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

If you do a google search for "safe room", you get 145,000 hits.

Most homes here in SW OK over $150K are being built with a safe room.
Most are just poured concrete vaults somewhere in the house with a
steel door and two deadbolts. With furring strips glued to the concrete
you can hang drywall and except for the steel door, it looks like any
other room. Most do double duty as a master bedroom closet or a pantry
off the kitchen. Underground shelters are unusual, except for the old
style "bomb shelter" type in the back yard. Our clay soil is not kind
to basements, so they are rare in this part of the country.

Ours was built as an addition to our home and it's just 4'X 6' but it's
more than adequate. It's built of filled concrete blocks with a poured
concrete ceiling and a steel door. It needs a light and an electric
outlet; some even have a tv cable, but the cable is usually the first
thing to go in severe weather. Local contractors are adding them to
existing homes by sawing a hole in the garage floor and dropping in a
steel vault with a sliding door. The car just straddles the door.

Like anything else, it's just a matter of how much you are willing to
spend.


You are aware, are you not, that a simple concrete-filled
block wall won't stop a tornado launched 2x4? Underground
is the best bet, unless flooding is an issue. If you're
actually seriously considering something adequate as
a bomb/fallout shelter, then you want at least 3' of
dirt over your head, a dogleg in the entryway,
and air filtration. Personally, I recommend storing
enough equipment so you can dig/chop your way
out if someone drops a house on your shelter.

Try posting over in alt.survival,
if you can get them to stop babbling politics long enough
to notice the question.

--Goedjn

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

Goedjn wrote:
On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:53:03 GMT, John~

wrote:

In article , Bret Miller
wrote:

.....
I also am searching the web for some info, ...

You can start at
http://www.fema.gov/txt/plan/prevent...ter_bkgrdr.txt
....

You are aware, are you not, that a simple concrete-filled
block wall won't stop a tornado launched 2x4? ...

Where did you get that? Hollow block, no; filled, yes...

"The following are examples of wall and
door materials that passed the debris impact test
(further information is available on the Texas
Tech University website at
http://www.wind.ttu.edu/inshelter/inshelte.asp):

* 6-inch to 12-inch concrete masonry unit
walls, with vertical and horizontal reinforcement
and all cells poured full with 3,000-psi concrete..."

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one ofthese in their home?
 

Bret Miller wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Go to http://www.fema.gov and look for publication 320. This publication
covers tornado shelters in particular with a lot of info from the Texas
Tech research folks.

Pete C.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

dpb wrote:
Goedjn wrote:
On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:53:03 GMT, John~

....

You are aware, are you not, that a simple concrete-filled
block wall won't stop a tornado launched 2x4? ...

Where did you get that? Hollow block, no; filled, yes...

"The following are examples of wall and
door materials that passed the debris impact test
....
* 6-inch to 12-inch concrete masonry unit
walls, with vertical and horizontal reinforcement
and all cells poured full with 3,000-psi concrete..."

"Simple" isn't reinforced...ok, I gotcha'.

An 8" filled block wall would handle it from the impact standpoint
alone, I'd think, but the lack of reinforcing might prevent it from
staying intact in the extreme direct-hit Fujita F5. OKC/Midwest City 4
(or 5 now,maybe?) years ago, or Udall or Andover, KS, or Xenia, OH,
type monsters. OKC/Midwest City actually lifted asphalt paving from
highway roadbeds in places and scrubbed slab construction
clean...F3/_maybe_F4 largest thing I've actually seen (in open country,
thankfully) and they're impressive enough to not care about seeing
worse. :(

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

wrote:
On 18 Oct 2006 11:36:47 -0700, "dpb" wrote:


dpb wrote:
Goedjn wrote:
On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:53:03 GMT, John~

...

You are aware, are you not, that a simple concrete-filled
block wall won't stop a tornado launched 2x4? ...

Where did you get that? Hollow block, no; filled, yes...

"The following are examples of wall and
door materials that passed the debris impact test
...
* 6-inch to 12-inch concrete masonry unit
walls, with vertical and horizontal reinforcement
and all cells poured full with 3,000-psi concrete..."

"Simple" isn't reinforced...ok, I gotcha'.

An 8" filled block wall would handle it from the impact standpoint
alone, I'd think, but the lack of reinforcing might prevent it from
staying intact in the extreme direct-hit Fujita F5. OKC/Midwest City 4
(or 5 now,maybe?) years ago, or Udall or Andover, KS, or Xenia, OH,
type monsters. OKC/Midwest City actually lifted asphalt paving from
highway roadbeds in places and scrubbed slab construction
clean...F3/_maybe_F4 largest thing I've actually seen (in open country,
thankfully) and they're impressive enough to not care about seeing
worse. :(

Do you want me to link a Florida wind code wall plan? I may be able to
come up with one but basically it is a footer with #5 in it, stubbed
up to an 8" block wall that gets a #5 every 4' plus every door and
window opening. This gets tied to 4 #5s in a 16" deep tie beam across
the top. (48x lap on rebar etc) Then you pour the dowelled cells and
tie beam solid. The windows here have to stop that 130 MPH "shot out
pof a cannon" 2x4. The wall ends up a lot tougher.

Who you responding to? The Texas Tech site has design data for
tornado-hardened rooms and the links already provided OP to it thru the
FEMA site have links to it as well as to hurricane designs as well.

I was just correcting/amplifying a comment that I had made regarding
the simple filled block walls an earlier respondent made that I
initially overlooked the significance of "simple" in. We just go to
the basement on occasion and if it's stronger than that, guess we'll
deal with it at the time. :(

(It's fully below grade, 8" poured walls w/ solid decking over. Is
possible the whole house above the basement might fly away like
Dorothy, though, as I don't know that it's ever had additional tiedowns
installed and the interior was finished in the mid-70s by the folks
before we returned. Coincidentally enough, my mother's name was
Dorothy but while we kidded her over it, tornadoes didn't seem to
actually be attracted. :) )

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

"Bret Miller" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Don't forget a way to have air to breathe.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

"Bret Miller" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.


Go to www.polysteel.com They have information on safe rooms as well as for
weather protection. More specifically go to
http://www.polysteel.com/saferooms.htm They can take F5 tornado.

IMO, this is probably the best method to build in your area.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

"Goedjn" wrote in message

You are aware, are you not, that a simple concrete-filled
block wall won't stop a tornado launched 2x4?

http://www.polysteel.com/saferooms.htm

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:12:15 -0400, Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Check with Dick Cheney. He has the Ultimate.

Aspasia

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

aspasia wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:12:15 -0400, Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Check with Dick Cheney. He has the Ultimate.

Aspasia

Considering his policies, he'll probably need it someday.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

Its good to plan to be on your own, since Katrina proved the imbecilles
in the government dont ca(

stock up on water you can survive a month or more without food, no
water in a few days you are dead.......

about a gallon a day per person for just drinking.

hot water tanks are a excellent emergency source

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

Here in Houston, during our last hurricane, fools call the radio stations
and scream: "They're out of water at Krogers!" (We also had dummies trying
to evacuate from areas 75 feet above sea level because they saw what the
broken levees in New Orleans could do.)

We've had, over the years, our share of hurricanes and other calamaties.
We've never lost the water supply. Most of the city is supplied by
gravity-fed tanks - the city pumps water into water towers 100' feet in the
air during the night and gravity supplies the pressure during the day. It
takes DAYS to empty one of those tanks (absent a water main break).

what if a terrorist took out somehow the water system by contamination
or bombing the water line from the tanks? system drained no
water........... bad scene.

dont lok for any help by government, they are clueless in emergencies:(

having a emergency supply of water cant hurt. worst is takes up space
and perhaps leaks someday

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

wrote in message
oups.com...



Here in Houston, during our last hurricane, fools call the radio stations
and scream: "They're out of water at Krogers!" (We also had dummies
trying
to evacuate from areas 75 feet above sea level because they saw what the
broken levees in New Orleans could do.)

We've had, over the years, our share of hurricanes and other calamaties.
We've never lost the water supply. Most of the city is supplied by
gravity-fed tanks - the city pumps water into water towers 100' feet in
the
air during the night and gravity supplies the pressure during the day. It
takes DAYS to empty one of those tanks (absent a water main break).

what if a terrorist took out somehow the water system by contamination
or bombing the water line from the tanks? system drained no
water........... bad scene.

dont lok for any help by government, they are clueless in emergencies:(

having a emergency supply of water cant hurt. worst is takes up space
and perhaps leaks someday


Having a portable filter thing isn't a bad idea, either. The kind
backpackers use, with spare parts.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

With Bush in office you DO NOT have 16 years to build it. You are
lucky if you have 16 days before Bush blows his cork and nukes the
whole world. You better get busy !!!!!

Bush is the LAST president of the USA because he WILL nuke the world
before he leaves the Whitehouse.

------------------------

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:12:15 -0400, Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 21:48:09 -0500, wrote:

With Bush in office you DO NOT have 16 years to build it. You are
lucky if you have 16 days before Bush blows his cork and nukes the
whole world. You better get busy !!!!!

Bush is the LAST president of the USA because he WILL nuke the world
before he leaves the Whitehouse.

Where were you in 79? I remember the same rant about voting for
Reagan. Ah the good ol'days. :)

tom



------------------------

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:12:15 -0400, Bret Miller
wrote:

I'm looking for some thoughts on including some kind of safe room in
my home I am about to build. It would probably serve as a safe room
for storms since we get a lot of twisters here, but I would want it to
be able to have offer protection so I will not have to tape over my
doors and windows with plastic and duct tape.

I saw on the discovery channel where this guy built a "bomb shelter"
under his home. He did it by hand and it was a work of genius. It
took him 16 years to do it and several hundred tons of concrete.
The guy had passed away by this point, but he must have had arms like
steel pipes.

I also am searching the web for some info, but there is nothing like
first hand information.

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

In article ,
says...
On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 21:48:09 -0500, wrote:

With Bush in office you DO NOT have 16 years to build it. You are
lucky if you have 16 days before Bush blows his cork and nukes the
whole world. You better get busy !!!!!

Bush is the LAST president of the USA because he WILL nuke the world
before he leaves the Whitehouse.

Where were you in 79? I remember the same rant about voting for
Reagan. Ah the good ol'days. :)

Goldwater in '64. Some things never change.

--
Keith

Bomb shelter, storm shelter, safe room...does any one have one of these in their home?
 

People just DONT trust Bush for a bunch of excellent reasons:(


so who here is seeing that movie coming out this week on his assination?