Has anyone made or considered a very low cost Underground Storm Shelter ? Need some advice.

[Pete C.]

Sitting in a soggy bunker is still preferable to being ballistically extruded through a chain link fence...

[Nate Nagel]

right, but if I lived somewhere where I felt I needed a bunker, I'd try to make it somewhat habitable.

Actually, what I would probably do is build the bunker right behind the house under a patio so it could be accessed from a door through the basement wall... then when not in use as a bunker it could be an office, workroom, emergency bedroom, whatever. that way it gets cleaned regularly, doesn't get musty, etc.

nate

[Douglas Johnson]

Actually, fire insurance is pretty cheap for what you are insuring because the odds of collecting are low. Besides, it is required by mortgage companies and is bundled with homeowner's insurance, which, at least for me, has paid off pretty well.

But that's not my point. If you are going to spend money reducing your risk of death, you should spend on the high risks, not the low ones. The risk of death from heart attacks is about 5000 times that of tornadoes.

-- Doug

[aemeijers]

Earth-berm it, and tie it down with steel beams bolted to telephone poles stuck in the ground on both sides, like they do with trailers near the 'beach' in Louisiana. Basically a prefab storm cellar, just above ground. Put an 'L' berm in front of the door end. with the opening away from the prevailing wind. Google the Army tech manual for mortar-attack bunkers in forward areas- that is basically what you are looking for. They do it with prefab concrete panels and sandbags, and half-bury it.

-- aem sends...

aem sends...

[Pete C.]

In tornado alley we don't typically have basements (no frost line, high water table). In my case, I've got enough of a hill that I can bury a container behind the house and do a perimeter drain at the base with a drain sloped to come out down by my pond. Common around here are pre-fab mostly buried concrete bunkers, but they're small and I want a comfortable one I can proactively retreat to. The excuse to rent a big excavator is a plus too.

[Pete C.]

The problem is you are comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Heart attacks are a risk for the entire country, while tornadoes, while technically possible anywhere, are primarily a risk in tornado alley. Find the population of tornado alley and adjust your heart attack numbers to that population and then you might have a valid comparison.

[Douglas Johnson]

Well, there are clusters for other risks, too. I agree tornado risks are higher in "tornado alley". But if as little as 10% of the population lives in tornado alley and all the tornados are in tornado alley, then heart attacks are still

500 times more likely than tornados.

Here

is the National Vital Statistics Report on Deaths in 2002. It includes numbers of deaths caused by everything from malignant neoplasms (557,271) to accidental discharge of a firearm (762). Tornados do not even make the list.

-- Doug

[LouB]

The difference between men and boys is the size of their toys!

Have fun.

Lou

[Tom G]

And with the addition of a bullet proof door and a phone line, you've got what is more likely to be needed, "a safe room" to guard against a home invasion. Easier to get to in a hurry than a room buried in the back yard.

Tom G

[Pete C.]

There was a home invasion up in Oklahoma late last year. The invader burst in with the dreaded "AK47" (AKM or SKS really) assault rifle... and was shot and killed by the occupants of the home. It of course didn't make the national media since it doesn't support the agenda of most of the media.

[HeyBub]

Heh! If you follow the national news (as is done on the tx.guns newsgroup or in NRA publications), you'll see at least one episode a week of the exact same thing that happened in Oklahoma.

Here's a defensive gun use from Tuesday:

Here's a home invasion from yesterday where the perp was shot Here's another from the week before: Home invaders are shot with some regularity by the residents. Sadly, there are many more successful "kick and rob" events than there are those that are foiled by gunfire. This ratio may change as more and more folks embrace firearms. Remember the adage:

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!"

And my personal motto: "If you don't know what it is, kill it." (which works equally well for both weeds in the yard and strangers in my bedroom)

[Too_Many_Tools]

Do you have an underground basement?

If so I recall that some people will build a safe room in one corner using concrete block.

TMT

[LouB]

LOL

[nielloeb]

I didn't read all 53 replies, so I hope I'm not repeating anything.

For the first poster, don't forget air holes so you don't suffocate. Then again, that would defeat the waterproof aspect for which you ask.

For all posters, don't forget to tell others ahead of time what you have so they know to look for you when you can't get out after the storm because of the car that was blown onto your shelter door.