Safe Rooms?

[achiro]

So the builder was saying that it would be 20-25 thousand more to add a safe room to the house.:eek: First of all, does anyone know if they have actually ever been tested? Any failures?
Second, I think I am just going to have a hole dug in the ground and pour a shelter in when we do finally build the new place.

[Taxman71]

We got an 8 person underground shelter in our garage (like the ones they sell at the state fair in Agtropolis) for a few grand when we built our house. Can't really use the space like you could a saferoom, but it is much cheaper and, if an F4 or worse blows through, I want to be underground.
:gary:

[mdklatt]

If they can get the safe room installed in the next 30 minutes, I say go for it.

[StormySooner-IN]

If they can get the safe room installed in the next 30 minutes, I say go for it.
:eek:

[r5TPsooner]

We got an 8 person underground shelter in our garage (like the ones they sell at the state fair in Agtropolis) for a few grand when we built our house. Can't really use the space like you could a saferoom, but it is much cheaper and, if an F4 or worse blows through, I want to be underground.
:gary:

WE did the same thing. I always wonder when we're setting in it if an F4-F5 could sucks us out of it?

[Curly Bill]

WE did the same thing. I always wonder when we're setting in it if an F4-F5 could sucks us out of it?

Absolutely........your *** is doomed! :D

[bluedogok]

If built right, it should be able to survive an F4 or F5 tornado, for that extra measure of safety it is better to be below grade. Remodel/addition is always more expensive than new construction, they charge you a penalty for the hassle.

I was the Architectural Project Manager on the OKC Archdiocese youth camp in Lincoln County, we had just started pouring slabs when the May 3, 1999 tornado hit, after that they wanted to add safe rooms to the cabins (10 of them). So we ended up designing the safe rooms around one of the bathrooms. It has Florida Hurricane Rated exterior doors/frames which should be able to withstand both trying to be sucked out of the wall and flying debris penetration.

[achiro]

If built right, it should be able to survive an F4 or F5 tornado, for that extra measure of safety it is better to be below grade. Remodel/addition is always more expensive than new construction, they charge you a penalty for the hassle.

I was the Architectural Project Manager on the OKC Archdiocese youth camp in Lincoln County, we had just started pouring slabs when the May 3, 1999 tornado hit, after that they wanted to add safe rooms to the cabins (10 of them). So we ended up designing the safe rooms around one of the bathrooms. It has Florida Hurricane Rated exterior doors/frames which should be able to withstand both trying to be sucked out of the wall and flying debris penetration.

Its the words "should be able to" that concern me.

[bluedogok]

Well, there are some items rated by the State of Florida and Texas Tech has some rating system for items able to stand up to their tests. Standards aren't really set like the UL or FM rating systems but the Florida standard pretty much applies to anything built within a 100 miles of the coasts so that should be an identifier.

I have to use phrases like should be in my line of work :D

[Whet]

download this publication from FEMA:
Building Safe Rooms (http://www.fema.gov/library/file?type=publishedFile&file=build2.pdf&fileid=86c23a50-59ff-11db-8645-000bdba87d5b)

[ultimatesooner1]

get the underground shelter

you can put some lights in it and grow ganga in the offseason

it should pay for itself within 2-3 years ;)

[Okla-homey]

I like the steel box installed above grade variety myself. When we move this winter, that's what I'm looking for in a new house. They sink a bunch of lag bolts into the slab and the one I like has been tested with a Lincoln being dropped from a crane 40 feet above it. No damage to the room.

http://www.stormsaferoom.com/aboveground/index.htm

[OU-HSV]

Mill Creek Lumber in B.A. used to have one on display.

I for sure would've used one last night instead of the wife and son piling into our laundry room.

[Norman Sooner]

We have one on the side of our house. Problem is, everytime there is a storm the Mother in Law is over here trying to get in it. Probably not safe if we were to get in it at the same time. Its definitely nice to have though.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/snrbrdnbrn/P6060165.jpg

[OU-HSV]

You should let the MIL live in the safe room and then when a storm hits, tell her to feel free to head into the house. :D

[stoopified]

I like my storm cellar,never been in a safe room.

[King Crimson]

We have one on the side of our house. Problem is, everytime there is a storm the Mother in Law is over here trying to get in it. Probably not safe if we were to get in it at the same time. Its definitely nice to have though.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/snrbrdnbrn/P6060165.jpg

it's nice you have that attractive tile walkway so that when the nukes start flying you'll have a lovely lane to take when you roll the dice against species annihilation. :D

seriously, my dad built one in his new house and uses it to keep documents and his shotguns and stuff like that so it's not totally without purpose while we wait for a half dozen F5's to be unleashed by the Bush-Cheney climatological warfare weather machine that cranked out Katrina, cyclones and earthquakes.

[royalfan5]

Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but are full basements rare in Oklahoma?

[mdklatt]

Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but are full basements rare in Oklahoma?

Any basements are rare.

[Taxman71]

Any basements are rare.

Unless the house is over 70 years old....in which case it probably leaks every time it rains a quarter inch.

[royalfan5]

Any basements are rare.

Is the water table to high for basements in most places?

[mdklatt]

Is the water table to high for basements in most places?

I think a bigger problem is the clay soil. It's a bitch to dig into, and shifty.

[Norman Sooner]

it's nice you have that attractive tile walkway so that when the nukes start flying you'll have a lovely lane to take when you roll the dice against species annihilation. :D

seriously, my dad built one in his new house and uses it to keep documents and his shotguns and stuff like that so it's not totally without purpose while we wait for a half dozen F5's to be unleashed by the Bush-Cheney climatological warfare weather machine that cranked out Katrina, cyclones and earthquakes.


I took out the so-called attractive tile walkway about a month ago and was going to do something else with that side of the house. Then the wife noticed what i did and made me put them all back. Still trying to find something to do with that side of the house cause it looks like crap right now..

[King Crimson]

also, due to population density (or lacktherof) when a lot of houses in Oklahoma were built as tract housing it was a lot cheaper for the builder to not have to build an upstairs or dig down. more cost efficient for the producer and consumer to build, say, ranch style type houses due to the availability of land. no real spatial limitation on simply making the house "bigger" east/west instead of up/down.

[OU-HSV]

Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but are full basements rare in Oklahoma?

Pretty rare it seems. I do know that you see a lot of full basements in Missouri and Arkansas though

[proud gonzo]

Kansas has a lot of basements as well.

[Whet]

I think the builders do not have the expertise to construct a proper basement, thus slab and foundation construction dominate. The clay soils excuse is not valid - there are clay soils outside of Oklahoma!

If I moved back to Ok, I would build my house with a full basement that has the "safe room" constructed in a portion of the space.

[Taxman71]

I think the builders do not have the expertise to construct a proper basement, thus slab and foundation construction dominate. The clay soils excuse is not valid - there are clay soils outside of Oklahoma!

If I moved back to Ok, I would build my house with a full basement that has the "safe room" constructed in a portion of the space.

Bingo! Mention "basement" to a builder and you get the "you don't need a basement" speech.

[bluedogok]

I think the builders do not have the expertise to construct a proper basement, thus slab and foundation construction dominate. The clay soils excuse is not valid - there are clay soils outside of Oklahoma!

If I moved back to Ok, I would build my house with a full basement that has the "safe room" constructed in a portion of the space.
COST is the main reason why, if you don't mind paying much extra for it, they will build you one. The clay soils are more elastic and closer to the surface in OK than in many other places and are more affected by the soil flexing due to water/drought cycles. That is why you can see 1-2 inch cracks in the ground in the summer time and give it some water and they are gone. In most other places they have a bit more topsoil over the clay.

The foundations they build with here are nothing compared to what we did in Oklahoma, of course we have chalk limestone a few inches below the surface in most places. The biggest issue is voids within the limestone creating small caves, you have to fill those with concrete.

[Curly Bill]

COST is the main reason why, if you don't mind paying much extra for it, they will build you one. The clay soils are more elastic and closer to the surface in OK than in many other places and are more affected by the soil flexing due to water/drought cycles. That is why you can see 1-2 inch cracks in the ground in the summer time and give it some water and they are gone. In most other places they have a bit more topsoil over the clay.

The foundations they build with here are nothing compared to what we did in Oklahoma, of course we have chalk limestone a few inches below the surface in most places. The biggest issue is voids within the limestone creating small caves, you have to fill those with concrete.

There's your safe room right there.

[Whet]

The builder can over excavate the hole, put in a good gravel base, back fill to the forms with gravel, including a french drain collection system. The clay dessication cracks should not cause problems with the basement structure.

[soonerboomer93]

as you move father north though, you see more basements.

it become cost effective on housing where you have to make sure the foundation starts below the frostline (atleast that's my understanding)