safe rooms

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
With the incredible amount of tornado activity across the country this year, I have been thinking that people building new homes might want to get a 'safe room' built in. I know some luxury homes have long had 'panic rooms' which doubled as storm shelters. But, now for popular priced homes this might be a good idea for everyone.
But, I'm wondering if the builders would want to do it. e.g. custom built house has a safe room. Tornado hits, people inside hurt. Family sues builder. Hmmmmm.
 
Family sues builder.

Yep, that is why you probably never see it being done on a grand scale. They have made manufactured homes (trailers) sold in the state (IN) to now have a weather radio hard wired in.

My home here has a pretty safe room in the basement. It is the cellar, that is used for canned goods. 4 block walls and concrete top, actually under the front porch. It is on the N/E corner of the structure.
 
Lots of people here are beginning to put those in their homes. I've installed cabinets in at least 3 houses over the last couple of years with concrete storm shelters either serving as a closet or pantry plus the steel door that opens inward.
 
Most of the newer houses around KC that have basements usually have one under the front porch, some are pretty small, but safe just the same. My last house had one that was pretty large, had to hole up in it a couple of times. The current house doesn't have one, but we've got some concrete corners in the lower level that will have to do until we can get one done.
 
It really makes sense to have one. When I was a kid growing up in Iowa, we would just go to a corner in the basement. We don't have them out here, but still, disaster preparedness makes a lot of sense.

I need to really get my ducks in a row on that front.
 
I've never lived in an area that needed a storm cellar/safe room, but if I did, I'd find a way to have or build one. Here in earthquake land, our "safe room" is the front yard.

When I was growing up in Albuquerque, the neighbors a couple of houses away had a beefy underground concrete fallout shelter in the back yard. It was set up to live in for weeks at a time. (We used to sneak over there and check it out.) I guess it made sense to have one in Albuquerque, because if things had gotten nasty during the Cold War, ABQ was something like 3rd or 4th on the Soviet hit list. Most of the US nuclear weapon stockpile was there.
 
A few years before I got married my Mom bought an old colonial house in Medfield Mass. The lady who owned it raised Irish Setters. She had a bomb shelter built in the basement. Had air purifiers and all kind of stuff to keep her and her dogs safe during a nuclear attack:eek:
 
Our house is a hillside ranch with walk out basement. The downstairs (basement) bathroom has a large walk-in closet that is essentially under Ozark rock. If needed that will be our tornado shelter. The location of the house and that feature is a big part of what my wife liked/likes about the house.
OT for a moment. It seems most of our (as a country) efforts go into rescue and clean up after the fact. There does not seem to be much going into protection and prevention beforehand. Yes, the weather service warnings are good but horribly inadequate.
 
Well Frank, I don't see how the prediction can be any better. At least for now. The weather service has came a long way.

I do know that most trailer parks around Evansville, IN have either been required or have done on their own, built a tornado structure in the middle of the park. It is usually sized rather big to accommodate persons living there and any guests. Pretty hefty structures, from what I can tell.
 
Way back when I was a kid in South Dakota, I can't remember a house that didn't have a basement or cellar. That is where we went during a tornado. I don't understand why so many homes in tornado alley are being built without them now. Here in Oregon if you put in a basement you are really putting in a pool because of the rain.
 
Might get a chance to try it out later. Weather radio is going nuts. The storm is supposed to stall out over us. Should get bad about the time the school buses take off.

And to top it all off, the local TV station has done said, THEY WILL BREAK INTO TH LAST OPRAH IF THEY HAVE TOO. Oh the humanity of that. Interrupting the last Oprah for a tornado or something.
 
Way back when I was a kid in South Dakota, I can't remember a house that didn't have a basement or cellar. That is where we went during a tornado. I don't understand why so many homes in tornado alley are being built without them now. Here in Oregon if you put in a basement you are really putting in a pool because of the rain.

In my area, the Arkansas Ozarks, basements are very uncommon. Usually a few feet, or even inches, under the topsoil is solid rock. The builder of my house had to blast out the hillside to make this style house. We feel very fortunate to have found this home.
 
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