Clearing Recently Purchased Land

[scoutcub]

Sounds like you have a full plate already, and about to load up even more!
Nice pics on the land clearing, house pad and renderings....looks like a great place. Interesting safe room. Curious - any type of venting for the room?
What type of door are you planning for the room? I had a custom steel insulated door made for my basement , anchored into existing concrete wall, not that we typically have severe tornadoes here but I believe it would stand up to any weather Ohio may see.

Best of luck with the new family, and the build!

 

[wmonroe]

Good idea with the safe room. Are basements common in your area?

Good luck with the adoption process, hopefully it goes smoothly.

 

[walker450]

We considered an in ground storm shelter but I like the convienance and dual-purpose of the safe room. We will keep important documents and my firearms in there. Young kids can lock themselves in and call 911 in case of an intruder. If there is a tornado in the middle of the night, we can all go in and shut the door and be farely comfortable vs a tiny underground shelter. No worries about having to walk through the storm to get to an outdoor shelter or move a car if the shelter is in the garage floor. I also don't want anything "messing up" my garage floor. I'm picky about my garage.

The door is a heavy duty metal door. I actually talked to a sales rep today and I'm going to upgrade the door to one with more vertical and horizontal "stiffeners". Is that a word?? I'm also going to add a bar inside to help keep the door from blowing in. I'm also going to have a solid wood door on the outside that looks like a normal closet door from inside the master bedroom and securely anchor that wall and doorframe to the concrete safe room. My hopes are that if the house blows away the wall and outer door anchored to the safe room will stay around longer and absorb impacts instead of only the metal safe room door taking all of the hits. I hope this makes sense... I'll post pictures as this comes together.

 

[walker450]

Scout: there is a fresh air vent and an HVAC vent in the top. They are small PVC pipes, I think 6" round.

Monroe: Basements are not common in our area. I'm not really sure why not.... Maybe someone can chime in.

 

[dave1949]

Pricey things, but a demolition chainsaw with carbide tooth chain might be a good thing to have inside the safe room. You could open the in-swinging metal door and be looking at the remains of your house, or a neighbor's house piled-up on the safe room.

The pre-mixed two cycle fuel sold in quart cans has a fairly long shelf life I think. If you store the saw bagged with the fuel & oil drained, have a couple new cans of mixed fuel and a quart of bar oil, that should work without stinking up your room too much.

 

[walker450]

Good idea Dave! I wonder if I could just buy the demolition chain and use it on my saws I already have? I'll research that.

 

[zing]

Good idea Dave! I wonder if I could just buy the demolition chain and use it on my saws I already have? I'll research that.

Have you ever seen the dust those things kick up? I wouldn't want to be trying to breathe in that little room after you flashed up one of those things and started cutting concrete. Add the fumes from the two-cycle engine in that enclosed space as well and it would be toxic in short order. Even with a good dust mask it would be pretty brutal. I think a better plan would be to be working on a bullet proof communication plan so you can reach the outside world. First thing to test would be cell reception from inside those concrete walls. Tornados are not like hurricanes, the damage is pretty localized so the chances of losing all of the cell towers in your area are slim. Maybe a battery system that is on trickle charge, and a cheap cell phone with a pay by the miinute plan that could be left in there all of the time.

Regarding stuff piled up outside the door, I presume the plan is to have a door that swings inward. Once you have that door open then you really only need a saw that will cut wood, not concrete. Maybe a hacksaw too, just in case.

 

[dave1949]

Have you ever seen the dust those things kick up? I wouldn't want to be trying to breathe in that little room after you flashed up one of those things and started cutting concrete. Add the fumes from the two-cycle engine in that enclosed space as well and it would be toxic in short order. Even with a good dust mask it would be pretty brutal. I think a better plan would be to be working on a bullet proof communication plan so you can reach the outside world. First thing to test would be cell reception from inside those concrete walls. Tornados are not like hurricanes, the damage is pretty localized so the chances of losing all of the cell towers in your area are slim. Maybe a battery system that is on trickle charge, and a cheap cell phone with a pay by the miinute plan that could be left in there all of the time.

Regarding stuff piled up outside the door, I presume the plan is to have a door that swings inward. Once you have that door open then you really only need a saw that will cut wood, not concrete. Maybe a hacksaw too, just in case.

Not talking about cutting the concrete safe room.

The stuff that could be piled up and needed to be cleared to get out could be asphalt shingles, wood framing and sheathing with nails, metal roofing, etc. You won't get far in that stuff with regular saw chain before it's just smoking junk on a bar turning blue from heat. Fire departments use carbide-toothed chains mounted on demolition saws to open up walls and roofs while fighting a fire.

Maybe I'm using the wrong name for the type of saw? The saw our VFD has looks like a regular chainsaw except the bar is enclosed in a protective housing and maybe 4-5 inches of the bar tip is exposed by an adjustable sliding sheath.

Communication is never bullet proof, but assuming a call can be made doesn't mean help with the necessary equipment is going to reach you quickly. Someone may know where you are or will come looking for you eventually, but depending on the scale of the disaster it could be a while if the streets/roads are full of debris, downed power lines, trees, etc.

 

[zing]

Not talking about cutting the concrete safe room.

The stuff that could be piled up and needed to be cleared to get out could be asphalt shingles, wood framing and sheathing with nails, metal roofing, etc. You won't get far in that stuff with regular saw chain before it's just smoking junk on a bar turning blue from heat. Fire departments use carbide-toothed chains mounted on demolition saws to open up walls and roofs while fighting a fire.

Maybe I'm using the wrong name for the type of saw? The saw our VFD has looks like a regular chainsaw except the bar is enclosed in a protective housing and maybe 4-5 inches of the bar tip is exposed by an adjustable sliding sheath.

Communication is never bullet proof, but assuming a call can be made doesn't mean help with the necessary equipment is going to reach you quickly. Someone may know where you are or will come looking for you eventually, but depending on the scale of the disaster it could be a while if the streets/roads are full of debris, downed power lines, trees, etc.

Ok my mistake, I totally misunderstood your intent. I thought you meant that if the door was blocked you could use it to cut through the concrete walls while you were trapped inside. If you are talking about having the door open and using it to cut a path out while you have sufficient air movement for ventilation, then yes it would certainly be better than a hand saw. I just meant that if you were trapped in an enclosed place then using a two cycle saw to cut concrete would foul that air pretty quick.

The cell would also be good to have in a panic-room, breakin situation, so you or the kids can contact the outside world. I assume it would be stocked with food and water so you can spend a day or so comfortably. Is it common to have a little portable pottie in these rooms as well? Something like the ones on a boat or in a camper? I am not from a tornado zone, so I really don't know much about them.

 

[breadtrk]

Cordless Sawzall, extra batteries. I reality you probably won't need it though. If you do open the door to find debris, it was only a stick frame house to begin with, just push it out of your way.