Are you well prepared for a tornado?

[JDgreen227]

Outswing doors blocked by debris will entomb you. Inswing doors require extra measures on the inside of the sheltered area to keep them in place against intrusion by debris but at least can be opened to give access to the debris so your wrecking bars, axe, saw, and bottle jack can be employed.

Pat

This may sound weird, but because we built the stairs ourselves, I actually installed two of the steps and risers overhead of our shelter area using no glue and finishing nails instead of headed nails so I can easily pry them out, should the inswing door of the shelter area be inoperable or blocked. The two stairs are marked on the underside. Sometimes I wish we had been able to design our addition so the egress window from the basement was on the south wall near our stair shelter area, but sometimes I think it better it is 30 feet to the north.

 

[patrick_g]

So you are still thinking you'll never be found by search and rescue people and you must cut, pry and force your way out?

If a man is sufficiently prudent to consider a shelter a good idea I'd think his being prepared to extricate himself is not much of a stretch.

Just how stupid would someone feel if they survived a direct hit by an F-5 and then died of thirst and starvation because they were buried under debris that defied empty hand removal. The very nature of a sufficient shelter tends to make it sound proof.

Pat

 

[rsewill]

If a man is sufficiently prudent to consider a shelter a good idea I'd think his being prepared to extricate himself is not much of a stretch.

Just how stupid would someone feel if they survived a direct hit by an F-5 and then died of thirst and starvation because they were buried under debris that defied empty hand removal. The very nature of a sufficient shelter tends to make it sound proof.

Pat

You're not going to die of thirst and starvation but possibly fire.

I've seen a photo of one of those homes that is built into a fairly flat hillside (the kind where they excavate a hole, build, then backfill around and over the structure) with only the entry wall exposed that had been hit by a tornado. The underground part was I damaged but the exposed wall was gutted, door(s) and windows. The wall was obviously not meant to stand up to a tornado but I bet the owner was surprised at the damage, I know I was.

 

[patrick_g]

You're not going to die of thirst and starvation but possibly fire.

I've seen a photo of one of those homes that is built into a fairly flat hillside (the kind where they excavate a hole, build, then backfill around and over the structure) with only the entry wall exposed that had been hit by a tornado. The underground part was I damaged but the exposed wall was gutted, door(s) and windows. The wall was obviously not meant to stand up to a tornado but I bet the owner was surprised at the damage, I know I was.

I have seen unretouched photos of a house that was in a group of houses hit by a tornado. Except for windows and shingles it looks completely intact. It was ICF construction. Their neighbors just had floor slabs with evidence of plumbing stubs and nothing else. Anecdotal evidence with no hard facts regarding the storm and the construction makes for interesting but not particularly useful observations. I'd say the ICF instance was more useful as it allowed comparison to houses on three sides of the ICF one.

Some earth sheltered homes like you describe are stick built on the uncovered side and may have a conventional stick built roof. Even if the wall is concrete (or blocks) it may have such a high degree of fenestration the wall is weak.

Pat

 

[dmccarty]

So you are still thinking you'll never be found by search and rescue people and you must cut, pry and force your way out?

If we ever build a root cellar, it will also be used as a storm shelter, and will contain tools to allow us to escape. I have even thought about installing culverts to have a second way out.

Our house is not visible from the road, which is owned by us, and the road is gated quite a distance from the driveway. Unless first responders know our house is beyond the gate, they would have no reason to check our house since it is not apparent there is a house to check.

We are close enough to a town and if a tornado hit us it almost certainly would tear up the town. The First Responders are going to be busy with the destruction in town and not our house even if they know about the house. Eventually I think they would check. I think. I would hope they have laptops loaded with the aerial photos of the county as well as maps which they would use to check on homes in the track of the tornado. That would take some time and I would not want to be stuck in a hole that long.

Later,
Dan

 

[patrick_g]

If we ever build a root cellar, it will also be used as a storm shelter, and will contain tools to allow us to escape. I have even thought about installing culverts to have a second way out.

Our house is not visible from the road, which is owned by us, and the road is gated quite a distance from the driveway. Unless first responders know our house is beyond the gate, they would have no reason to check our house since it is not apparent there is a house to check.

We are close enough to a town and if a tornado hit us it almost certainly would tear up the town. The First Responders are going to be busy with the destruction in town and not our house even if they know about the house. Eventually I think they would check. I think. I would hope they have laptops loaded with the aerial photos of the county as well as maps which they would use to check on homes in the track of the tornado. That would take some time and I would not want to be stuck in a hole that long.

Later,
Dan

Dan, if you don't want to be entombed don't rely on emergency service folks to rescue you. Continue with your self sufficiency ideas.

A combo root cellar/shelter makes excellent sense and dollars and cents too. If you could arrange/locate the cellar so that you don't have to brave the rain, wind, hail, lightning, mud, etc to get to the shelter it is much more likely to be used. It is not good practice to wait till you see a tornado bearing down on you before going to your shelter.

Games for kids, books, crochet, wood carving tools or whatever plus good battery operated lighting and you'll be OK. Oh, maybe a futon or other way to make a bed. A curtain for privacy and one of those toilet seats made for a 5 gal pail and you won't be tempted to leave prematurely if the danger lingers for a few hours. Snacks are good too.

Patrick

 

[jonyyuma]

Pat, it sounds very safe at your mom's, or in your bedroom? You nearly exceeded the req. for a bomb shelter...We had a couple of them built here.. I worked on their back-up power.. Thank goodness about their not being used for that purpose. You read my mind on why get up and chase out into the weather.. I planned to do nearly all the ICF specs you have on my next home. Then I can sleep thru the storms.. Believe i will add a baffeled entrance for it.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Last night there were a few tornado warnings in mid-Michigan, but we only had watches posted for our area.......

Wow, the big story on the news tonight was a tornado that touched down in MI...What a time to post this thread JD...Hope all is well in your neck of the woods...

 

[patrick_g]

Pat, it sounds very safe at your mom's, or in your bedroom? You nearly exceeded the req. for a bomb shelter...We had a couple of them built here.. I worked on their back-up power.. Thank goodness about their not being used for that purpose. You read my mind on why get up and chase out into the weather.. I planned to do nearly all the ICF specs you have on my next home. Then I can sleep thru the storms.. Believe i will add a baffeled entrance for it.

We purposely turn off the NOAA weather radio so storm warnings and watches won't disturb us.

Our basement guest room is probably the most secure room in a residence you are likely to find. 12 inch thick steel reinforced concrete walls some of which back up to dirt. Steel interior storm shutters. door opens up away from glass wall of walkout basement so you would be safe with door open but the door is FEMA approved with triple deadbolts (as much for window dressing as functional so guests FEEL SECURE no matter the weather.

It is so quiet in these rooms that I considered outside microphones to play ambient night sounds inside the house and then the whip-poor-will and mocking birds started holding auditions for the Audubon hall of fame and I dropped the project.

Pat

 

[Stradbash]

Wow, the big story on the news tonight was a tornado that touched down in MI...What a time to post this thread JD...Hope all is well in your neck of the woods...

Those were just down the road from me. About 5 miles away. We had hail and a lot of rain but if it were not for the radio I would not have known the storms were bad enough to destroy a house and the other buildings. I don't think we had any damage except for a bit of erosion on the lane...