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#122420 - 02/03/08 01:18 AM Re: Big list of tornado shelters [Re: RayW]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
Hmmm... the article didn't mention anything about bathtubs...

Sue

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#122499 - 02/03/08 08:34 PM Re: Big list of tornado shelters [Re: RayW]
OIMO Offline
Opinion Is My Own
Journeyman

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 57
Loc: UK
FEMA's guide to shelters is pretty good and includes some information on the risks and reasons buildings fail, including pressure differentials:

http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1536


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#122506 - 02/03/08 09:33 PM Re: Big list of tornado shelters [Re: OIMO]
MoBOB Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 1219
Loc: here
Build a Monolithic Dome home and you can mitigate alot of your concerns about tornadoes and othr scurrilous activities of nature. You will lose a few windows and myabe a door but the house isn't going anywhere.
_________________________
"Its not a matter of being ready as it is being prepared" -- B. E. J. Taylor

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#122519 - 02/03/08 10:48 PM Re: Big list of tornado shelters [Re: Susan]
Art_in_FL Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 2432
Originally Posted By: Susan
Is it just me, or do most of those shelters closely resemble septic tanks?

Sue


Funny you should mention that.

IMHO a fairly efficient and cost effective way of constructing a shelter against various situations by paying a visit to your local pre-fabricated concrete distributer with an eye toward their larger septic tanks, cisterns and manholes.

A large septic tank can be 10' long, 8' wide and 6'6" high inside. Plant it anywhere from 3' under and half-way exposed with a standard manhole bumped up against one end and you have a workable shelter. If it is half above ground, maybe because of a high water table, you simply berm the exterior.

I'm leaving out a lot of details, like drainage and how to join the main pieces so they stay together and don't leak, but anyone good with their hands and familiar with these materials can do a workmanlike job.

It can be practical DIY job for advanced practitioners. You can rent a backhoe for a weekend at about $200 and dig the hole. If you set it up right gravel cam be poured right into the hole and compacted. Most pre-fabricated concrete manufacturers deliver with a truck that can drop the structures in their final position if they can get close enough to the hole. The key here is to talk it out in detail with the people your buying from and find out what they can, and cannot, do.


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#122556 - 02/04/08 06:40 AM Re: Big list of tornado shelters [Re: Art_in_FL]
Raspy Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 01/08/04
Posts: 351
Loc: Centre Hall Pa
Here is another alternative.
http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar3.html
_________________________
When in danger or in doubt
run in circles scream and shout
RAH

And always remember TANSTAAFL

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