[lasers]

One thing to keep in mind with an outdoor tornado shelter. When do you decide the storm is bad enough to go to it? If you decide to go out there early you may be spending hours and hours in there, with kids if you have them. How many times will you do that (without the storm causing major damage) before you decide to not go until the storm is actually one you.

If you wait until the storm is there. Now you and possibly your kids are running to the storm shelter in the dark, with debris blowing all around, and cold rain and lightning. How many times will you do that without the storm causing major damage before you decide to just ride it out in the house?

In my opinion it is best for safety(but not always possible) to have the storm shelter in or attached to the house and set up as just another room. That way if bad storms are coming you can already have have a TV and couch and beds in there. You can have a family movie night to distract the kids, it can be set up to comfortably sleep in there so if a storm comes in the middle of the night you are already in the safer room.

With that said our current home has the storm shelter in the basement set up with a couch and the kids video games so it is easy to get them down there any time the weather is bad.

But the house we are building isn't going to have a basement so I have a cattle pass culvert I intend to bury as a storm shelter that is accessable on one end from inside our north porch and daylights out the side of the hill on the other end. The side that comes out the hill will have a block wall and a heavy door.

 

[SpringerXD]

One thing to keep in mind with an outdoor tornado shelter. When do you decide the storm is bad enough to go to it? If you decide to go out there early you may be spending hours and hours in there, with kids if you have them. How many times will you do that (without the storm causing major damage) before you decide to not go until the storm is actually one you.

If you wait until the storm is there. Now you and possibly your kids are running to the storm shelter in the dark, with debris blowing all around, and cold rain and lightning. How many times will you do that without the storm causing major damage before you decide to just ride it out in the house?

In my opinion it is best for safety(but not always possible) to have the storm shelter in or attached to the house and set up as just another room. That way if bad storms are coming you can already have have a TV and couch and beds in there. You can have a family movie night to distract the kids, it can be set up to comfortably sleep in there so if a storm comes in the middle of the night you are already in the safer room.

With that said our current home has the storm shelter in the basement set up with a couch and the kids video games so it is easy to get them down there any time the weather is bad.

But the house we are building isn't going to have a basement so I have a cattle pass culvert I intend to bury as a storm shelter that is accessable on one end from inside our north porch and daylights out the side of the hill on the other end. The side that comes out the hill will have a block wall and a heavy door.

Yeah. I can relate to this dilemma. Where I grew up, if the weather was threatening we went on out to the shelter. More than once I spent most of a night in one.

Speaking of which, I learned back in 2011 that they've changed the criteria for a watch vs. a warning. When I was growing up, a watch meant that conditions were favorable, while a warning meant that a funnel had actually been spotted. Well, there were warnings issued here at the time (2011), and I thought that a funnel had been spotted. No, a warning is now based on a high probability, not necessarily an actual funnel spotted. I assume that this is an effort to get earlier warnings out.

So I guess it comes down to a judgment call. Growing up, we sometimes went to the shelter when there was only a watch issued if things started looking rough. Other times, we didn't go during an actual warning if things were calm where we were (a county is a pretty big area).

 

[arleigh]

I have seen pictures of a bus partially buried that worked as a storm shelter.

 

[SpringerXD]

I have seen pictures of a bus partially buried that worked as a storm shelter.

Here's one that's buried completely. This went somewhat viral after the tornado outbreak in Alabama back in 2011.

Underground school bus storm shelter

Call it 'riding out the storm', literally. "It's the whole bus underground," Autauga County resident James Hunter explained. He and his wife buried an old school bus to make a creative storm shelter.

www.wsfa.com

 

[Exarmyguy]

If you get real ambitious .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_Two_Shelter

 

[mtnairkin]

I've thought about just driving around and looking for dirt construction sites.

"Hey, I'll give you $500.00 for this and another $500.00 if you'll haul it to my backyard."

I looked at the Columbia website and they gave no prices and I'm guessing they are quite expensive but the precast culvert looks better to me because they are square and expandable (end to end) for any size you want. I would wager they are reasonably available nationwide because of the universal need for these products.

This is an interest I have and have been looking at various alternatives. I recently got an estimate from a contractor friend who normally gives me good prices. For an approximately 12 x 20 reinforced concrete box (concrete roof), the estimate was $70,000 and I was doing all the dirt work, he was estimating only the concrete work. Finished price for what I envisioned would likely approach double that. This pretty much puts it out of my price range so still thinking of alternatives.

I was thinking more on the lines of a fallout type shelter where one might be in it for several weeks (and several people). In the case of a storm shelter where one is thinking of a few hours or overnight, you can do with much less.

I have in the past thought (and rethinking it) of a concrete septic tank buried underground with entrance doors cut into the end or just use the access hole already in the top. The last time I checked the price (at the plant) was about $1500. I don't remember the exact dimensions but somewhere in the vicinity of 4'wd X 8'lg X 6'hi. enough room for 3 or 4 people to crowd in and spend a reasonable few hours or overnight.

I've seen a number of posts and Youtube features on this idea. Many people using this idea as a root cellar also.

 

[lasers]

If a person wants to keep costs down: the narrower the space is makes it easier and most likely cheaper to build. It is much harder to support a 8 foot wide span that is covered with dirt than it is to support a 4 foot wide span.

If a person really wanted to do it cheap you could build it log cabin style out of stacked log, then cover the entire thing(roof and walls) with rubber roofing to keep it dry then fill what is left of the hole with sand or washed gravel to allow for drainage. Then cover the top with a small mound of black dirt to plant grass in. If the dirt is slightly mounded it will help shed water.

If built with pine and kept dry you may get couple decades out of it. If you build it with white oak, ceder, locust or some other rot resistant wood it could last a life time.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Glad I saw this thread since I have a cheap and very Unique underground shelter and after using it as a storm / storage shelter for at least 20 years now It has been great. I have slept inside of it several times over the past 20 years although mostly in tents and a camper.

So to answer the title of this thread:
Cheap/Unique storm shelter ideas? Very few if anyone else has or can answer your question.

Here are the small pole shelter plans I used when I built my 20 x10 x 9 foot deep shelter. It was tested in the 1960's nuke tests in Nevada so it is very strong. I used about 100 small pine log poles when I built mine but any lumber such as used 2 x 4's are good. Here is the link many should at Least look at and diagrams at the bottom of the page > App. A.3: Small-Pole Shelter - Nuclear War Survival Skills

One of the first pic threads I made years ago and beginning in pic #8 shows exactly how I built mine. >

The Everything about a Bunker thread - Pic heavy

There are many threads about root cellars, fallout shelters, underground shelters etc. even Bunkers. This thread can discuss them all if people wish to contribute any of their ideas and links. A defensible bunker and an NBC shelter are different. A shelter must be a buttoned-up, closed-in...

www.survivalistboards.com

Before I added 250 eighty pound bags of concrete and I built it out of rocks and log poles from my land it cost me around $100 mainly for nails, spikes etc. After I added the concrete cost me about $2000

I have no idea if anyone has ever built anything similar to this but all I know is that it has worked real well for my wants and needs. A bear tried to get inside more than once over the years but only left muddy paw prints on the black steel door.

Ask me anything and I will answer although after June first to Nov. or so I will be unavailable and very off grid like I have been for 27 summers so far possibly year round soon.

A few photos of mine in case any will not look at the links I gave. Back trap door although I have improved this also over the years.

My front black steel door I salvaged from a factory made from two sheets of heavy metal although any door would be ok especially a steel door.

Here is one more although I have dozens of pics. This is the well camoflaged roof with a black stove pipe sticking up from a wood stove 9 feet below. It is in an L shape underground.

 

[lasers]

Glad I saw this thread since I have a cheap and very Unique underground shelter and after using it as a storm / storage shelter for at least 20 years now It has been great. I have slept inside of it several times over the past 20 years although mostly in tents and a camper.

So to answer the title of this thread:
Cheap/Unique storm shelter ideas? Very few if anyone else has or can answer your question.

Here are the small pole shelter plans I used when I built my 20 x10 x 9 foot deep shelter. It was tested in the 1960's nuke tests in Nevada so it is very strong. I used about 100 small pine log poles when I built mine but any lumber such as used 2 x 4's are good. Here is the link many should at Least look at and diagrams at the bottom of the page > App. A.3: Small-Pole Shelter - Nuclear War Survival Skills

One of the first pic threads I made years ago and beginning in pic #8 shows exactly how I built mine. >

The Everything about a Bunker thread - Pic heavy

There are many threads about root cellars, fallout shelters, underground shelters etc. even Bunkers. This thread can discuss them all if people wish to contribute any of their ideas and links. A defensible bunker and an NBC shelter are different. A shelter must be a buttoned-up, closed-in...

www.survivalistboards.com

Before I added 250 eighty pound bags of concrete and I built it out of rocks and log poles from my land it cost me around $100 mainly for nails, spikes etc. After I added the concrete cost me about $2000

I have no idea if anyone has ever built anything similar to this but all I know is that it has worked real well for my wants and needs. A bear tried to get inside more than once over the years but only left muddy paw prints on the black steel door.

Ask me anything and I will answer although after June first to Nov. or so I will be unavailable and very off grid like I have been for 27 summers so far possibly year round soon.

A few photos of mine in case any will not look at the links I gave. Back trap door although I have improved this also over the years.

View attachment 507798


My front black steel door I salvaged from a factory made from two sheets of heavy metal although any door would be ok especially a steel door.

View attachment 507799

Here is one more although I have dozens of pics. This is the well camoflaged roof with a black stove pipe sticking up from a wood stove 9 feet below. It is in an L shape underground.

View attachment 507800

Have you had issues with the poles rotting?

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Have you had issues with the poles rotting?

No rotting in or on the roof poles since I have 3 layers of logs and 5 sheets of plywood on top plus several tarps, sheets of plastic, newspaper then all of the old saw dust I could get from an old sawmill site and then I put 3 feet of dirt rocks and had 4 kinds of grasses and some bushes and a lot of stinging nettles which are still doing great after 20 years. Deer and all do not touch the stinging nettles.

To tell more is that I have and still have some mold around the bottom of the back trap door where with heavy rains and the 8 foot deep snow pack melting some water still gets down there in the back under that back door. I use a couple gallons of bleach sometimes to get rid of the mold.

Otherwise my underground shelter / bunker still looks as good as it did in 2005 when I completely finished it. I have slept inside of it since 2001 quite a few times when there were blizzards and high winds in October and Nov. I am getting a new cabin built that is maybe 2/3rds done and I plan to have an above ground tunnel running 30 feet from my new cabin to the back door. If any don't like what I build then too bad since I never go into debt and pay as I go such as I buy five or so eighty pound bags of concrete even for the poles in my new 20 x 10 foot cabin. Total cost of my new cabin will be about $2000 for lumber etc. and camo paint and varnish for the log poles.

Here is my 2/3rds built cabin about 30 feet from the back door of my bunker and I am going to add a greenhouse and huge wood shed The back trap door is 30 feet to the left as shown in this pic >

 

[Hammerstrike]

Since you only need it for very short times, why not just dig a storm cellar like they used to (and add a few modern safety things)? Shovel-dug hole in the dirt under the house with an angled door and a latch inside. Keep wipes, TP, plastic bags, case of water, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flashlight, weather radio with power output capability, batteries, axe, air horn, whistle, and a couple bottle jacks inside. Maybe an old cell phone (911 only capability). All fits in a milk crate.

Garden-type back-hoe with long-reach, you could do it in an afternoon (unless bedrock too close to the surface).

For those that don't know what 'm talking about, first part of Wizard of Oz.
[/QUOTE
Thats was back in my Pink Floyd days

 

[phoenixx]

I'm very interested in the culvert idea, but with a slight twist. Rather than laying it horizontally, as most people do, I would love to find a piece that's 10-foot diameter by about nine or ten feet long, then pour a round concrete base and set it in vertically. I assume there are pre-made caps for these? If so, I could get a cap and cut an opening for the entrance and a smaller one for an air vent.

But so far I've had very little luck finding anything less than about 30 feet long for $10k or more.

"TINHORN CULVERT CORRUGATED METAL PIPE PLASTIC STEEL" bridge Culvert (largeculvert.com)

 

[SpringerXD]

"TINHORN CULVERT CORRUGATED METAL PIPE PLASTIC STEEL" bridge Culvert (largeculvert.com)

Yeah. I need to give these folks a call.

 

[chuk101]

Is there a Lowes close by? We got a standard model they offered, they installed, put some down and got credit card from them for balance, monthly payments, paid it off 2 1/2 to 3 yrs time. Still holding up good.

 

[SpringerXD]

Is there a Lowes close by? We got a standard model they offered, they installed, put some down and got credit card from them for balance, monthly payments, paid it off 2 1/2 to 3 yrs time. Still holding up good.

But that's an indoor safe room, right? The only place I could install one of those is in the garage, since that's my only concrete slab. My garage isn't small, but it's cluttered a bit.

I'm pretty sold on being underground. If I had a basement, I would love one of the indoor types to put in it.

 

[SpringerXD]

Ready for the shock of the day? I looked at the Granger ISS Storm Shelter:

Storm Shelters Tornado Shelter Underground Shelters Granger ISS

America's leading Tornado Shelter, The Granger ISS. The only double wall, foam filled Rotomolded Tornado Shelter in the industry. Built to protect generations!

www.grangeriss.com

The last price I saw posted was $5995.00. I emailed them yesterday to get the current price and to see if they would ship to my address.

Price is now $9995.00.
Shipping would be $1500.00 to $1700.00 (does NOT include installation, digging burying).
Wait time is 26 to 30 weeks.

So they're officially off my radar.

 

[lasers]

No rotting in or on the roof poles since I have 3 layers of logs and 5 sheets of plywood on top plus several tarps, sheets of plastic, newspaper then all of the old saw dust I could get from an old sawmill site and then I put 3 feet of dirt rocks and had 4 kinds of grasses and some bushes and a lot of stinging nettles which are still doing great after 20 years. Deer and all do not touch the stinging nettles.

To tell more is that I have and still have some mold around the bottom of the back trap door where with heavy rains and the 8 foot deep snow pack melting some water still gets down there in the back under that back door. I use a couple gallons of bleach sometimes to get rid of the mold.

Otherwise my underground shelter / bunker still looks as good as it did in 2005 when I completely finished it. I have slept inside of it since 2001 quite a few times when there were blizzards and high winds in October and Nov. I am getting a new cabin built that is maybe 2/3rds done and I plan to have an above ground tunnel running 30 feet from my new cabin to the back door. If any don't like what I build then too bad since I never go into debt and pay as I go such as I buy five or so eighty pound bags of concrete even for the poles in my new 20 x 10 foot cabin. Total cost of my new cabin will be about $2000 for lumber etc. and camo paint and varnish for the log poles.

Here is my 2/3rds built cabin about 30 feet from the back door of my bunker and I am going to add a greenhouse and huge wood shed The back trap door is 30 feet to the left as shown in this pic >

View attachment 507802

Your walls are made of poles/wood?

If so what do you have between the wood that makes up the walls and the dirt?

I am interested in how you did it and dealt with moisture in the ground and prevented rot.

 

[Mtnman Mike]

Your walls are made of poles/wood?

If so what do you have between the wood that makes up the walls and the dirt?

I am interested in how you did it and dealt with moisture in the ground and prevented rot.

Yes since I fortunately had more than 100 log poles on my land and a neighbors land also. These were 4 to 5 inch diameter poles. I made the main room which is 8 x 12 feet completely out of these poles which were standing dead trees. Once underground and no sun light hitting the poles or the plastic sheeting etc they should last a hundred years or more.

Between the log pole wall and the dirt I used as much plastic sheeting as I had which was a Lot. I had a special very strong and thick plastic sheets I obtained at a salvage yard. Never have seen such strong thick plastic sheeting since. It is gray thick plastic and difficult to cut even with sharp cutters. I cut little of it and just placed those strong thick plastic sheets which were 4 x 6 feet and placed 5 layers of them since I had plenty. I also placed those on the roof with more plastic tarps, even a truck tarp on the top of the bunker plus newspapers, much saw dust, 3 feet of dirt etc.

I also put sheets of plywood inside and out before I placed all of those plastic sheets. If any cannot find what I had and I doubt many if any could find those thick strong plastic sheets then 6 or 8 mil thick plastic sheeting should work well.

The floor was actually more difficult but I had plenty of pallets, then plywood on top then the thick plastc sheeting and I placed those on the ceiling also and here is a photo showing the gray plastic sheeting on the ceiling and wall. I have five layers of those gray plastic sheets on the outside of the walls etc. This is inside of the main room where I have a bunk bed as seen part of the bed on the right.

I keep planning to varnish those log poles but after 20 years they are still dry and mold free. I might varnish them anyway The log poles across also are like that in the floor and this diagram from this link = great book shows more. > App. A.3: Small-Pole Shelter - Nuclear War Survival Skills There is a free pdf or buy the book Nuclear War Survival Skills for clear diagrams etc www.oism.org/nwss

Not all of my walls in the 9 foot deep bunker are log poles. I used at least 40 eighty pound bags making this concrete wall behind my main wood stove which is by the black steel front door. I also have a large metal plate behind the wood stove. The boards shown to the left of this stove are strong Oak boards and wish I had more oak. I use what I have available and can afford.
A neighbor guy who is an engineer electrical etc told me I over built the bunker. I should ask him "How is it possible to Over build a protective shelter / bunker ?

Any more questions just ask even in a private message

 

[hua man]

Is there a cave? They can be fitted with a door to keep out critters.

 

[broncoII]

I'm very interested in the culvert idea, but with a slight twist. Rather than laying it horizontally, as most people do, I would love to find a piece that's 10-foot diameter by about nine or ten feet long, then pour a round concrete base and set it in vertically. I assume there are pre-made caps for these? If so, I could get a cap and cut an opening for the entrance and a smaller one for an air vent.

But so far I've had very little luck finding anything less than about 30 feet long for $10k or more.

One of my uncles (west Texas rancher) had one of these about 30' long. It was excavated into a hill side & covered with soil. It had framed seats that doubled as beds. The back part of it was their root cellar & had a door between it & the shelter portion. The shelter had a camping stove and small sink. Just in case the house got blown away.