# Storm shelter opinions



## styllized (Mar 7, 2012)

My budget is not astronomically high, I'm tornado paranoid and have been researching storm shelters. Was looking for opinions on what's best: safe room or underground, type, is there a good way to convert an existing 5x7 room into a good safe room, etc. Any recommendations would be helpful. I'm in northwest Arkansas.

Thanks


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

Im no expert, but I would have to say underground. Too many pics of demolished houses for me to say that making a safe room is even possible. Whats going to stand up to 180 mph swirling winds?


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

When done properly a safe room can be built bove ground. 

It takes two layers a 3/4 in plywood on the outside, three layers a 3/4 inch plywood on the inside an same fer the ceilin. The wall cavities er filled with solid concrete block. All studs an rafters have ta be tied tagether an tied ta the foundation. FEMA has a brochure on how ta do it.

A basement room can be coverted a bit easier then a above ground room.


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## Kellog (Mar 3, 2012)

I don't know if this idea would possible in your situation, but after last year's tornado outbreak, there were several news stories about individuals or neighborhoods using buried school buses as shelters. They would dig a big ditch, drive or tow the bus into the ditch and fill it in - adding bracing where necessary. Some buses were buried completely, and some were left with the roof level with the ground. Some made hatches for entry and some left the small emergency back door accessible like a root cellar door. Google "school bus tornado shelters" to see the stories. Also check with your state ag college, or local extension agent and see if they have any info or plans on building shelters. 
There is a pdf downloadable booklet (FEMA publication 320) about building safe rooms here:
http://www.cedengineering.com/upload/Safe Rooms Study Guide No 1.pdf

And some sites that may help you sort through what you need: http://www.tornadoproject.com/safety/shelters.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_2098944_build-tornado-shelter.html

Good luck and stay safe...


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## DKRinAK (Nov 21, 2011)

styllized said:


> My budget is not astronomically high, I'm tornado paranoid and have been researching storm shelters. Was looking for opinions on what's best: safe room or underground, type, is there a good way to convert an existing 5x7 room into a good safe room, etc. Any recommendations would be helpful. I'm in northwest Arkansas.
> 
> Thanks


If the groundwater isn't too high, a section of galvanized culvert would provide a good short term shelter, keeping it dry would be an issue.
(see http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago74.html)

Some folks have taken new septic vaults and partially buried those. Adding vents via the existing outflow piercing is simple. Add a bench, battery power light and you have a very solid shelter.

*See for a video of one product:*





If you search using "backyard storm shelter" you will find a massive number of products. If you have a basement, you are well on the way to having a good, dry shelter already. There are many good website showing how to make a small, but strong shelter in one corner of your basement.

Hope this helps.


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## longtime (Nov 22, 2009)

I know you said you were on a tight budget, but http://arkansasstormshelter.com/safe-rooms


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## styllized (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks, this is all great. So used to software forums where there are never any answers. I'll share what I come up with for anyone interested.


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## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

styllized said:


> My budget is not astronomically high, I'm tornado paranoid and have been researching storm shelters. Was looking for opinions on what's best: safe room or underground, type, is there a good way to convert an existing 5x7 room into a good safe room, etc. Any recommendations would be helpful. I'm in northwest Arkansas.
> 
> Thanks


As to your question about converting an existing room, I would say that it would depend greatly on whether your home is built on a slab foundation or on a wooden floor over a crawl space. The slab would allow the room to be anchored securely, whereas strong tornadoes have been known to remove even the floor above the crawl space.

With a non-slab home the safest, albeit more inconvenient, option is a separate underground shelter. The upside of an underground shelter is that some of them can pull double duty as a root cellar.


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## BlueShoe (Aug 7, 2010)

Anything the wind can get a bite on has to be reinforced. Something with a curved wall doesn't give the wind anything to multiply force against as well as something square. Whatever you do you need to be able to get out if debris is piled on or agin it. A neighbor near one of my rentals lived in a metal lawnmower shed he converted into a bedroom (!). When the rear deck of the house fell off from the car hitting it he got pinned inside until someone outside could get him out. The door was an outswing door.


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## grodgers (Mar 9, 2012)

*cheap & comfortable underground shelter*

I have been expecting armagedon for 40 years now (since the Cold War when I was in university). We thought that the US & Russia would be duking it out above us (missiles crossing over Canada). Those were the days of the first solar / wind power go round (steam cars! Mother Earth news, etc).

I recently built a "bunker / rootcellar" ... I buried a 20ft (used) travel trailer (removed the axles & propane equipment & cut off the tongue. I used foam block & concrete to surround it, ran fiberoptic lighting, cemented in a large gun safe, have a potable water tank that gravity drains into sink taps and toilet, toilet is plumbed out 20ft to an open 45 gal drum, I removed all propane appliances because I was afraid of explosion and put in a small wood stove with rock work surrounding it & fresh air vent piped directly in, I have two 6" pipes for fresh air (one to roof and one to floor), I poured a 4" slab on top (with lots of steel mesh & rebar) of everything after building a stairway down to it from my greenhouse, it doubles as a root cellar as I have bins & shelves outside the trailer for produce, there are 12v batteries to run lights & small ventilation fan, I have a power inverter and can watch DVDs, it is warm & comfortable in the winter ....I tell my wife I am going down to the 'den' and it is QUIET ! Under the slab there is 2" foam (over plastic over trailer roof) and on top of the slab there is 3ft of earth ... with drain tile and 3/4 crush packed in along the sides. On top of this there is my dog kennel (I have 3 big dogs). The roof of the dog kennel has the vertilation pipes poking through (2 x 90° bends), the fiber optic 'collector', a PV panel and a filler pipe for the water tank. I also ran a PTEC hot water loop from the greenhouse down around the trailer and also ran a 110V wire for grid power & a phone line. Its basically just like a basement room but detached and off grid if need be. It was a lot of work but fun. We worry about forest fires more than anything so it should survive any forest fire I would think ...total cost (guessing) was about $9,000 ($4500 for the trailer & I have my own backhoe).

I regret not building a secondary emergency escape 'tunnel' ... could have run a 3ft culvert or something out a ways & then 90° to surface (just in case).

I believe that as the earth heats up , living underground is the best way to go!

Gar (British Columbia, Canada)


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

I would go with the galvanized culvert or anything under the ground, even if i had no money or little money, I'd even get an old oil,gas storage tank and cut one end off just to get below ground. 
anything built in the house may hold up for a mild hurricane, but a tornado usually takes the house.

to many people in America worry about having something bigger,better and prettier than their neighbors. I just worry about keeping my family safe, nothing fancy, just get below the ground when you see the funnel.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

styllized said:


> My budget is not astronomically high, I'm tornado paranoid and have been researching storm shelters. Was looking for opinions on what's best: safe room or underground, type, is there a good way to convert an existing 5x7 room into a good safe room, etc. Any recommendations would be helpful. I'm in northwest Arkansas.
> 
> Thanks


What kind of total budget are we looking at for the shelter and what kind of time-frame are you looking at being inside the shelter (6hrs, 24hrs or 72hrs). If you are looking at a 6hr shelter, some 6' diameter corrugated culvert would be cheap and easy to bury.










Combine that horizontal culvert with a pair of access tubes (so that you do not get trapped inside) and put in some air-vents (standard chimney venting would work), build a ladder and then fill the main-section of the pipe with a soft place to hang-out and wait. Total cost could be less than the price of a good used car ...


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## BlueShoe (Aug 7, 2010)

See the water in the bottom of that corrugated pipe? A homeless person living in a storm drain gave me a good idea. He took plywood into one that stayed wet most of the time, and it was wide enough that it held him suspended above the water so he could sleep there. Not kidding. He had another piece of plywood behind the bed for a shelf with all his personal possessions (wetnaps for showering?).


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