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storm shelter / root cellar

26K views 26 replies 19 participants last post by  scoutmaster60 
#1 ·
This I'm sure is N/A to folks up north who all have basements and such - but I'm here in Texas where it would be really difficult to find a contractor that had any idea how to build a basement or even have the tools to do so. That leaves me with an option to buy a ready built storm shelter/root cellar. It seems everytime I do a search for them I end up with all new sites to look at and none in the central Texas area. Can anyone recommend a place or person or site for me to go to? I'd like a biggun. like 8 X 12 or so. Buried culverts don't blow my skirt up - but a steel one made for it's purpose would be good. IF I could find an outfit near Austin to help me with that. I want one that is entirely underground - not half & half. (thinking of putting it under the house I want to build) both pros & cons to that idea.
 
#2 ·
Get out your check book. I'm sure there are some good industrial contractors that could build and install it, but I bet you are looking at $10,000 to $12,000, for just a steel box in the ground. No reinforced entry. No ventilation or drainage work. No septic system. No interior fixtures. $40,000 or more for a turn key install, is my best guess. There is a guy on this forum, 76211teen, that builds them in Florida. He might have a better idea on cost. He doesn't post on here a lot, but I see he was on yesterday. Send him a PM.
 
#3 ·
well now -- you see my problem .. he's in Fla. ... There's a place NE of Little Rock that sells a 6 X 10 cash & carry for $3800 ....which is what I'm looking for except in a bit larger size. If I could find a 7 X 14 close enough for me to go pick up ... That would fit on my trailer. I'll find somebody to help me bury it. -- or do it myself if I have time. (I own a small backhoe for my tractor) ((note avatar))
 
#4 ·
Go to a small steel fabrication shop and tell them what you want. They'll sit down with you and sketch something up and calculate weight loads and such. Ask them about corrosion coatings for the outside. Steel is expensive now days, but not completely outrageous. I'd want at least 3/8" steel plate, but 1/4" might do, with 3" x 3" x 1/4 angle iron frame stiffeners every 4 feet. It's got me thinking if I could afford something like that. My problem here is water table, but I wouldn't mind above ground with a dirt berm cover.
 
#5 ·
I got one from a welding shop in Post, Texas. I got their biggest one, 8x12. Two years ago when I got it, it was $3000. I know the price has gone up. My sister and brother in law live in Georgetown. I remember seeing some similar units for sale down there in the hill country. Might look in the papers or Thrifty Nickel for ads. If you can't find any down that way, send me a private message and I'll look up these guys phone number for you so you can talk to them. They've built metal storm shelters for 20 years.
 
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#6 ·
Buy yourself a shipping container. Comes in many sizes, cheap, strong. Probably would need some reinforcement before burial. My idea is to weld re-bar to the outside, form and pour concrete "ribs" every few feet. the sides wouldn't be able to bow inward because the re-bar in the concrete is attached to it. You could buy a 40 footer for about $2500, then buy a 20 footer and turn it on it's end as your access, then weld in a fire escape type metal stair. Make a great underground shooting range too!
 
#7 ·
Ok here goes at the age of 18 i worked for a construction Company that built Basements under already built houses that was 27yrs ago but anyhow first rent a Bobcat to dig out a square hole in your back yard STOP call first (sorry) to find out if there are any lines or cable in the back yard. Dig it 24" wider then you want (this is for a root celler) so your hole will be a ramp heading down to your hole ,,say you want a room 8'x 10' finished the hole will be 10'x12' after this you will need to dig footings a small trench appx 6" deep 14" wide lay 2 pcs of rebar in the trench all the way around when you pour the concret stand up rebar every 24" appx 4" tall off the top of the footing so you can tie onto your vertical rebar for the walls that comes later. After the footing set you then tie your vertical rebar and rebar horizontally every 2' high to 7'3/4" your walls will be 8' high 6" thick,rebar it up and leave an opening for the door. then you will need enough 3/4" plywood and 2x4s to make your forms for the walls, lay 1 sheet of ply wood on saw horse's flat nail 2x4s around the inside edge of the ply wood and one down the center lenght ways make enough for the inside and outside you may need to make some smaller one too, take a mixture of used motor oil and diesel and roll it on your forms (plywood side) so the concret won't stick to them, your walls will be 6" thick and 8' tall you will need to rent a nail gun to nail the forms to the footing the kind that use's the 22 cal blank after that brace the walls with 2x4s every 2 foot to the top lenght and with one on top of each other then put a cap on the top of the forms with 2x4s just like they do wall when they frame house walls and across the top of the wall every 3' or so so the top doesn't spread open , then back fill the outside of the wall with you dirt next pour the walls let set for 2 days stripe the forms and 2x4s,, next you will need to make steps and pour the floor make a door and celing for it,, I hope i got it all I just got off form work it's 3:36am right now,, please check with a carpenter you trust on the dementions its been some time since i'v done this type of work.
 
#13 ·
There is a very detailed article in the book "Country Wisdom & Know-How" on how to build a root cellar. I think it would easily double as a storm shelter. I plan on building one myself using this excellent article as the main reference. You can find the book in the Mother Earth News bookstore or I'm sure you can find copies on Amazon.com or eBay. It's an oversized book with a brown cover, with a picture of a red barn and grain silos on the front.
 
#16 ·
This I'm sure is N/A to folks up north who all have basements and such - but I'm here in Texas where it would be really difficult to find a contractor that had any idea how to build a basement or even have the tools to do so. .
Ditto Florida. I wonder why they don't build houses with basements. I sit on a hill, so water isn't an issue. There are plenty of pools, which are basements with no house over them.
 
#17 ·
#18 ·
I have always wanted a 'root cellar', I'm plannig on building an 'A' frame about 2 feet underground with an inside height of 10-12 feet. Other than having to rent the backhoe, it shouldn' cost more than a few thousand dollars. I'm planning on using those treated those odd shaped garden edging boards with thin steel on the outside to protect from water intrusion and using a gravel base on the bottom. I'll also be putting extra supports throughout the bottom, to assist in the deeper soil there. It will end up between a 10'x10' or 12'x12' interior layout, probably with a smaller second level where things will actually be stored, leaving the main level for living space or as a storm shelter. This will either be connected to my basement or acessed through the garage with a 1 foot thick wooden door(or a bomb proof door, depending on cost).
 
#20 ·
there are several companies that make pre-fab storm shelter they are fiberglass/plastic pods that get buried the opening is all that is above ground they usually go for between 2-5 thousand installed will hunt down info an post it for you I say them at a Homeshow and thought about getting into installing them.
 
#24 ·
Welcome cuttingman!

To the guy in Canada - I honestly don't know why they don't put basements in some parts of the States. I think in florida it probably has to do with the ground being too damp for it to hold a basement but wouldn't it be tough to do foundation too?

While we're on this topic, does anyone have a bunker built far below ground? Say more than 20 feet below or so? Just curious.
 
#25 ·
thanks for the welcome... I wish I could put a shelter that deep beneath my house but when we have excessive rain like we've had this year so far anything that deep would involve a lot to keep it dry. Throwing ideas in my head of how to make a shelter in the basement that would hold up in the vent of a tornado that would cause my house to collapse. My Old house is not built very well even a small tornado could level it I believe. was also thinking of ways to shelter against radiation since TMI isn't all that far away but then realized do I even want to survive any kind of nuclear fallout ?
 
#27 ·
Keeping it simple.....how about digging a hole, laying in footings the using insulated concrete forms? http://www.smartblock.com/ (just one of the brands I found online)



You set them up like lego blocks and fill with concrete. You get concrete, insulation and easy installation all in one. I guess you could work on it a little at a time by filling blocks with your own concrete when you can. As long as you have rebar in the core I don't think it would be a problem (someone please correct me if my assumption is wrong here!) just doing a few at a time.

This one even shows a saferoom built out of them. http://www.buildblock.com/builddeck/index.html
 
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