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DIY safe room project that doubles as work bench you can build airplane parts on

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
(from the front page of VAF this morning. duplicated here for discussion.)

Randy, Clayton and I were talking yesterday about tornadoes and what they do to our part of the country. I found a safe room design online for $3K-$5K that could double as a family tornado shelter (another design). Since I don't have that kind of money laying around, we thought maybe you could buy steel 3/16 C-channel locally cut to a specific length, maybe workbench height, and then weld them together with the stick welder here in the hangar.

Unlike the online version this would have the rough stuff pointing outward - smooth interior walls. You could tie the four walls together in the corners with some angle iron and bolts. Use a hammer drill, more angle, twenty HILTI expansion bolts and more to tie it into the garage slab. Bolt on a work surface made out of thicker steel C-channel welded together and then cover that with wood to become a workbench. Cut in a door with some bad boy welded-on hinges and we're good. Paint it safety red and put a RESCUE arrow on the door pointing to the knob.

I'm guessing something like this might support the weight of a car, and might even stay attached to the slab if an EF5 decided on us. Maybe there is an engineering type out there w/something better than MS Paint that finds this interesting, too.

We're thinking about things like this with a renewed vigor around here. Anywho, if it comes to fruition, we'll keep you in the loop.

v/r,
dr

PS: If you moved....you could unbolt it and take it with you.

saferoom.jpg




Pic of 'tornado alley' 1950-2010
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Pic of where some VAF Forum users say they live (area codes overlay on GoogleEarth):
vafcoverage.jpg




Pic of a safe room bolted to the slab...
VAF_34%20May.%2021%2020.16.jpg
 
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The less wind load you have, the safer you will be. A flying car or roof will take out pretty much any light steel structure bolted to concrete. It isn't the wind that will get you, it's the inertia of what the wind is throwing around. If I lived in tornado alley, the safe room would be under the slab which really isn't that hard to do compared to building a plane...and makes a great wine cellar (something to do while listening to your house come apart...white or red sweetheart?) If that isn't possible due to water table (like Florida where I'm from), then I would keep the structure as low as possible and probably slope the sides bit. Filled cell concrete block is cheap and easy. Rebar pinned to the slab of course.

Naturally, anything is better than hiding in a closet surrounded by half inch drywall and wood studs. Just remember, a tornado can put a drinking straw into a tree....make sure the sides are as projectile proof as the framing and the door is going to be a weak point. Be safe out there.
 
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Alernative

The other option might be to migrate and join us here in Australia.... we only have cyclones, raging bushfires, devastating floods and the most poisonous snakes in the world..... take your pick:(
 
addendum to alernative message above

....must also say that we in Australia feel very sorry for your loss of lives and destruction of lives / infrastructure..... we are very much aware of what happened in Oklahoma yesterday ....and Texas last week. Our prayers are with you
 
A rectangular section of precast drainage culvert turned on its side with a hinged steel top would make a nice storm shelter/workbench.
 
Remember to add vents to equalize pressure. I was reading the FEMA standard several weeks ago, and they certify various manufacturers at Texas Tech by firing 2x4 projectiles at the room at 200 mph.

Jerry Folkerts
 
....must also say that we in Australia feel very sorry for your loss of lives and destruction of lives / infrastructure..... we are very much aware of what happened in Oklahoma yesterday ....and Texas last week. Our prayers are with you

We appreciate your thought's and prayers, VH-VRN. I live just South of Moore, Oklahoma. Good news is the death toll is half of what was originally believed (in the mid 20s vs. 51). They are receiving so many volunteers that they are being asked to not come due to fact that they have too many already. I know several people who lost their houses. I'll be up there working the scene this weekend via the Civil Air Patrol.
~J~
PS: I had a FlatSafe installed in my garage for only 2800 USD. It took a little less that four hours. I'd save the energy you would spend on building a shelter for building your RV. Just my .02 [ed. Glad you're OK! Since my RV is finish and the daughter starts college in four months, spending $400 instead of $3000 is my biggest motivation for the method I chose. That FlatSafe looks cool, but I'd be too nervous with car gas tanks right above me! dr]
~JJ~
 
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We appreciate your thought's and prayers, VH-VRN. I live just South of Moore, Oklahoma. Good news is the death toll is half of what was originally believed (in the mid 20s vs. 51). They are receiving so many volunteers that they are being asked to not come due to fact that they have too many already. I know several people who lost their houses. I'll be up there working the scene this weekend via the Civil Air Patrol.
~J~
PS: I had a FlatSafe installed in my garage for only 2800 USD. It took a little less that four hours. I'd save the energy you would spend on building a shelter for building your RV. Just my .02 [ed. Glad you're OK! Since my RV is finish and the daughter starts college in four months, spending $400 instead of $3000 is my biggest motivation for the method I chose. That FlatSafe looks cool, but I'd be too nervous with car gas tanks right above me! dr]
~JJ~
Understood. ;-)
~J~
 
A tornado shelter

I'm not saying this is the best way to build a tornado shelter, just one way.

A neighbor in our old neighborhood decided to cut through his garage concrete floor and dig out a tornado shelter. It took him several weeks, and I believe he lined it with concrete blocks and mortar. I do know he had a rather heavy steel door which covered it. His plan was to sacrifice the car by backing it out of the garage and into the driveway (solves the gas tank problem, DR!). IIRC, it was probably three feet by eight feet with steps going down into it.

I moved out of the neighborhood and never found out if he used it during a storm. But I can tell you no tornado has hit that neighborhood in the last 30 years.

While this wouldn't provide a work table as DR's design shows, it does preserve the floor space (except during a storm when the door would have to open). After seeing the Oklahoma photos, I'd prefer having my underground shelter out in the yard. I'd hate to get trapped by a bunch of lumber!

I have no idea how much it cost him or how much it would cost today. I do know it was a lot of work, and I'm not sure he got the building department to approve it.
 
v1.0 plans (courtesy Eric)

http://www.vansairforce.net/Graphics/ERICSSIMPLESHELTER.pdf

With parts list.

VAF_06%20May.%2023%2020.05.jpg


(from Eric) "It is sized to easily hold a family of 4 for the duration of a nasty storm. Note the focus is on survival, not comfort. Length and width can be added or removed by adding or taking away C-Channel. All material can be had from Discount Steel and McMaster-Carr, part numbers are on the drawing. One addition may be to run 3X3 tube under the top to give it a little more strength. Another option would be adding more angle to bolt the top to the vertical supports instead of welding. I would recommend using 1/2 inch Grade 8 bolts to secure the shelter to a concrete floor. As drawn, with full welds and A36 steel, a quick FEA analysis shows that the top surface can take an DISTRIBUTED load of over 10,000 lbs."​
 
shelter doors

One likely survival outcome would be with the shelter intact, but covered in collapsed house debris. A door that swings into the safe space might be less likely to trap occupants in this situation. It would need a strong latch/hinge system. Perhaps two methods of ingress/egress would be good.
 
Storm Shelter

I have thought about this project as well.

My thoughts:

1) In the world of steel, for the most part you are paying for weight. If it weighs twice as much, you pay twice as much. Explore different channel shapes and compare price. An MC12x10.6 will be less expensive than a C12x20.7, even though each are 12" deep.

2) When building the box, one of the goals is to delevop diaphragm. Even though each side is made from many small parts, that side needs to act as one unit. I would consider attaching the channels to a larger 3/16" or 1/4" plate on the inside of the box. The plate would help the channels act as one unit. The plate could be drilled and plug welded to the back of the channels.

3) In my mind a major consideration is the attachment of the box to the concrete slab and the security of the slab. The strength of the box won't matter if it is torn free from the slab. At a minimum I would think a continuous base angle anchored to the slab would be required. Additionally, I would think it might be appropriate to auger some mini piles into the soil below the slab to mitigate uplift.
 
3) In my mind a major consideration is the attachment of the box to the concrete slab and the security of the slab. The strength of the box won't matter if it is torn free from the slab. At a minimum I would think a continuous base angle anchored to the slab would be required. Additionally, I would think it might be appropriate to auger some mini piles into the soil below the slab to mitigate uplift.

This item has been floating around in my mind as I have been following this thread.

As a point of information, I would take the above idea of piles just a bit farther, make them larger at the bottom, so they will not pull up through the slab, and use "J" bolts in the piles to anchor the unit.

Or, if you really want to go heavy duty, cut out a rectangular chunk out of the slab a foot each direction larger than the shelter, dig it down a foot or more, and pour a monoblock to anchor the "J" bolts.

Or, move to somewhere that does not have 'naders :)
 
Belated wishes

I've been watching the news reports out of OK closely. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you up there. I lived in Moore in the 80's for a couple of years while stationed at Tinker (AWACS).
The shelters shown in the FEMA docs look good...and anyone in OK or Tx probably should have something like that. Here, we have hurricanes, but we have plenty of time to get out of the way. Out there, man, 30 min. is about the best you get...:eek: I still remember the sirens going off several times a week and we had to shut down maintenance on the jet and head for cover.
 
Just a thought

How do you think a container truck freight box that was anchored to the slab or otherwise anchored to sub structure concrete foundation would withstand the forces? Guess the answer is how strong is the tornado? Some of those are built rather strong looking. A 40X 9 can be purchases for around 2K. complete with doors and hardwood floor!
 
Container idea

I was going to bring that up too!

Having shipped a lot of product around the world in them they are stronger than what you probably can build AND you can buy a used full semi size or a half length one very cheap!

Then the best place is under the garage floor as was mentioned or in the back yard which has been done since the settlers days.

Steel door, air vents all need to be dealt with but a ready made dig a hole and drop it in the dirt root cellar is still the safest compared to any above ground structure.

Concrete bunkers aside;-)
 
A few months ago I seen this DIY youtube safe room that was made out of ¼” steel. He did a great job. I would do a few modifications. Haven’t priced ¼” sheet metal lately, but I believe you should come out less than $1,000 for everything, and a plasma cutter would make short work of it. Some metal places can shear cut ¼” steel too, so if you had your exact sizes, this could be just a week long project. I’ve got a million and one projects ahead of this one, but would love to do one of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0pTSNmLHpQ
 
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A few months ago I seen this DIY youtube safe room that was made out of ?? steel. He did a great job. I would do a few modifications. Haven?t priced ?? sheet metal lately, but I believe you should come out less than $1,000 for everything, and a plasma cutter would make short work of it. Some metal places can shear cut ?? steel too, so if you had your exact sizes, this could be just a week long project. I?ve got a million and one projects ahead of this one, but would love to do one of these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0pTSNmLHpQ

You live in Wichita Falls and this isn't your top priority? If I lived there, I would have started last week! From my years in Houston, it seem like your area has been hit pretty regularly.

Karl
 
I see a lot of talk about cutting into slabs.
Be very careful doing this. Most slabs around here, where we have class 5 soil, are post tensioned with steel cable. If you cut one of those cables, it will go off like a shotgun and can cause damage for hundreds of feet.

PLEASE don't go cutting into slabs without knowing exactly what you have.
 
How do you think a container truck freight box that was anchored to the slab or otherwise anchored to sub structure concrete foundation would withstand the forces? Guess the answer is how strong is the tornado? Some of those are built rather strong looking. A 40X 9 can be purchases for around 2K. complete with doors and hardwood floor!

I was buying these at that price in the north TX a few years ago, but not anymore. Nowadays, that same container runs about $3,400-$3,800 where I'm at. Have you priced one recently? If not beat up too bad, 2K for one that size would be a great price today.
 
You live in Wichita Falls and this isn't your top priority? If I lived there, I would have started last week! From my years in Houston, it seem like your area has been hit pretty regularly.

Karl

We haven't been hit since the big one in '79 in the Falls, so we've been lucky. I'm in a rural area where I'm at just outside of the Falls, and have several options on what to do. I have a storage container as one option, but it's further away from the house than what I would like. I know some people say not to get in your car, but where I'm at it makes sense. Almost no traffic, and have easy access to main highways north and south of me less than a mile away going in whatever direction I would want to go in.

But yeah, I would still like to build one of these, and place it just outside the back door. Just not going to make it happen this year though.
 
Most slabs around here, where we have class 5 soil, are post tensioned with steel cable.

For a garage slab??? Instead of welded wire mesh or 3/8" re-bar grid?

Seems kinda overkill to me, but then I am not in your area. Here Post Tensioning is mainly used for things that see much more stress.
 
For a garage slab??? Instead of welded wire mesh or 3/8" re-bar grid?

Seems kinda overkill to me, but then I am not in your area. Here Post Tensioning is mainly used for things that see much more stress.

The garage slab is usually part of the house slab.
Believe me, with class 5 soil, there's no such thing as overkill.
The post-tensioning cables are not instead of mesh and rebar. It's in addition to!
Class 5 soil can easily move several inches between wet and dry.
 
Class 5 soil

I used to live down there and also drove on a 1/4 mile banked oval Clay track in Kennedale TX.

I can attest to Caleechee Mud (forgive if I spelled it wrong it's been a while).

It's like grease when wet and sticky like quick sand. When dry, red nasty, dusty and usually full of fire ants!

Hard to stay on your feet at times let alone run a race car on it. Funny watching a car slide down the hill though.

Seriously that's why the good old hole in the back yard they used to call a root cellar is still the best I think.

(Mel - I forgot about the cables;-/)
 
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