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As the title says... looking for a relatively inexpensive tornado shelter solution. I'm not really after a plush and comfortable "doomsday bunker" that I can live in. No, my interest is in getting my sons and myself underground safely in a tornado.
I grew up in West Central Alabama, and if you drive around in the country, you'll see "storm cellars," as we called them back then and there, all over the place.
Now I live in East Tennessee. We have far fewer tornadoes here, but believe it or not, there's a slight downside to this, and the downside is that there's no one within a hundred miles of me selling a decent shelter at a decent price. That's because by the time I had one shipped here, it'll add at least another $1000.00 to the overall cost, plus I'll have to hire a septic company to bury it for me. Between digging the hole and backfilling, that'll be about another grand. The old "price includes installation" thing doesn't apply for me.
I'm not really into the whole indoor "safe room" concept. Even though most say they're rated for 250 mph winds, I can't help but wonder how they'll hold up to the neighbor's tractor hitting them at 250 mph. There's a bit of a difference there. My interest is in strictly underground. Besides, my house is a framed type with a crawlspace, so the only feasible place I could put one of these would be in the garage on the concrete floor, and that takes up apace.
I've considered the storage container idea, but I figure by the time I get welding equipment, learn to weld, buy the scrap steel, and reinforce it, I've spent enough to just buy a prefab steel shelter and have it shipped.
But then again... a properly reinforced buried container would have much more space and be nicer overall than a prefab shelter, plus it could hold more people and I could also use it for storage.
There are several other concepts I've explored:
1. Buy a used dumpster, bury it, and pour concrete (with rebar) around the bottom three feet or so.
2. Just straight-up build a concrete block shelter.
3. Just bite the bullet and finance a steel prefab shelter and call it a day.
Input is appreciated!
I grew up in West Central Alabama, and if you drive around in the country, you'll see "storm cellars," as we called them back then and there, all over the place.
Now I live in East Tennessee. We have far fewer tornadoes here, but believe it or not, there's a slight downside to this, and the downside is that there's no one within a hundred miles of me selling a decent shelter at a decent price. That's because by the time I had one shipped here, it'll add at least another $1000.00 to the overall cost, plus I'll have to hire a septic company to bury it for me. Between digging the hole and backfilling, that'll be about another grand. The old "price includes installation" thing doesn't apply for me.
I'm not really into the whole indoor "safe room" concept. Even though most say they're rated for 250 mph winds, I can't help but wonder how they'll hold up to the neighbor's tractor hitting them at 250 mph. There's a bit of a difference there. My interest is in strictly underground. Besides, my house is a framed type with a crawlspace, so the only feasible place I could put one of these would be in the garage on the concrete floor, and that takes up apace.
I've considered the storage container idea, but I figure by the time I get welding equipment, learn to weld, buy the scrap steel, and reinforce it, I've spent enough to just buy a prefab steel shelter and have it shipped.
But then again... a properly reinforced buried container would have much more space and be nicer overall than a prefab shelter, plus it could hold more people and I could also use it for storage.
There are several other concepts I've explored:
1. Buy a used dumpster, bury it, and pour concrete (with rebar) around the bottom three feet or so.
2. Just straight-up build a concrete block shelter.
3. Just bite the bullet and finance a steel prefab shelter and call it a day.
Input is appreciated!
