Tornado Resistant/Proof Schools and Homes.

[Sourdough]

I read an article on a family that lived on the North Carolina Coast.  They lost their home to a Hurricane Hugo.  So their son who was a contractor built them a Hurricane resistant home.  It's called the "Eye Of The Storm".  And it has since taken a direct hit from a Hurricane with very little damage.  So I started looking into homes that were Hurricane and Tornado proof.  Yes they do exist.  And I think if I had lost my home once, now twice I would be considering building a home that would stand up to a Tornado.  In my search a few years ago I read where a fellow built his mother a small Dome Home.  Shortly after moving her in, the house was hit by a small Tornado.  The only damage was windows, hit by flying debris.
 
My wife and I are considering a move to the lower 48.  When we move I intend on building a Bermed Home.  All the exterior walls are Steel Reinforced Concrete.  The roof is also contrete.  It is set facing away from the prevailing wind, so storms hit it from the back instead of from the front.  The back, sides, and roof are covered with dirt.  The roof has 4 to 6 feet of dirt over it.  Even the most powerful tornado coming in from the back or side will simply blow right over it.
 
I was reading last year where a private school built a new school building.  They chose the Monolithic Dome style.  Mainly for the storm resistance of this kind of construction.  But if I lived in a Tornado prone area, and I had lost my home, I don't think I would rebuild with standard stick construction.  I deffinately would build something that would stand up to a tornado.
 
Here's a link to some of these homes and schools.    http://www.monolithic.com/topics/schools 
This is the style the wife and I have chosen.     http://pinterest.com/pin/146015212888354833/

[Ranger99]

ha-ha-ha!
i'm glad i looked at the link first.
i was gonna p.m. that to you after reading your post.
they're just south and west of here on ih35 in italy.
they've been there a good while, so i guess
the company can be trusted.


some friends close to the gulf have a concrete house
that looks like a regular house with stucco. it has
6" square rafters and beams for the roof. they made
it through the last 2 hurricanes, and watched the
young pines outside bend over almost double, and
some of the tops did touch the ground, while the house
made it unscathed. the carport wasn't as lucky.

[Old Fart]

A lot of the new homes being built are now including this:
http://tornadotough.com/safe_rooms.php
or this:
http://www.flatsafe.com/

[guzzijohn]

I have a safe room but this morning on the news one of the responders was talking about how many people are probably trapped in safe rooms and the rooms are very difficult to locate under the these conditions. Be sure your safe room is well stocked to survive for a few days minimum. It sounds like it may take a while to find everyone. You don't want your safe room to become your tomb.
GuzziJohn

[Old Fart]

They reccommend registering them with the county/city ems where you live so they can find them.

[guzzijohn]

Quote from Old Fart:
"They reccommend registering them with the county/city ems where you live so they can find them."
Excellent idea! Along with GPS location? Without the GPS it looks like it would be difficult to know what was where from the looks of the pictures and videos. I live out in the country so mine should be easier to locate, I think.
GuzziJohn

[Old Fart]

I don't know about anywhere else, but here they already have digital maps with all that info attached.
So when you give them your address they get the gps location also.

[FPH]

As someone who has built on the Texas Gulf coast and lived in Norman.....there are only resistant type homes......nothing proof.  As much as you can put the home at or below ground level, the better.  Reinforced concrete....great.  I would still build a storm shelter.

[guzzijohn]

Buying one of the old missile silos is sounding better all the time.
GuzziJohn

[ChungDoQuan]

My MIL lives in Marlow, OK. Before he died, my FIL had their house remodeled, including a concrete, underground safe room. The house also has a 15000 watt generator that runs on natural gas and is hooked to the gas lines that automatically fires up after power loss for more than just a couple of minutes. The exterior walls are mortared stone. I don't know how much more it cost to build that way, but if you are alive after one of these storms, it was worth it. I once saw a guy on tv, somewhere on the east coast, SC, I think, whose house sat at the end of a point, sticking out into the ocean. He said his walls tapered up from 2 1/2 feet thick to 1 foot thick at the top. He had a concrete roof and steel storm shutters. He was on tv because, after a hurricane, all he had to do was haul away the pieces of houses and boats that were cluttering up his yard. A berm house, or maybe a dome, would be a good idea, too.

[Bob Riebe]

I am in Minn. which is north of tornado alley but even up here the cheap flimsy construction, even of more expensive house nowadays is a guarantee I will never ever buy a new house or one less than sixty to seventy years old.
 
I am right now in one of the very few houses that survived a tornado in Sauk Raipids, Minn. in the late 1800s.
It has granite block foundation and sub-floorings that are made out of rough cut 2 by 12s.

Even the old low buck farm house style that my dad's house was made of, has material that is at minimum has twice the structural integrity that new houses  made with plaster board walls and OSB have.
It was about thirty years ago or so now, but down in Hutchinson when a new high priced housing area was going up, then with plywood, not OSB, a strong straight line wind came through.
The old style houses with one by eight to one by twelve roof boards could lose their shingels but at worst might lose individual boards that were weak.

Basic math makes it easy to see which has greater with resistance, one by eight feet by twelve inches or one by eight feet by four feet.

The old houses, near the new ones, lost shingles and trees, the new ones lost entire roofs. Blown  off a card board lid off of a card-board box.

We have had some nasty tornadoes in the past fifteen years and it is easy to see which houses are the old ones, beyond style, and which are newer construction.
 The old ones, even if fairly damaged are still standing, the new style construciton ones look like a collapsed house of cards.

People do not use plaster because they whine it cost more etc., and carpenters, or worse yet whiny electricians some of whom have fit it they have to work with lathes, moan when they see them but those lathes tie the WHOLE house together similar straps on a trailer keep every thing tied down and in one piece.

People who lose their homes have my absolute sympathy, especially those who have lived their a long time but with the used toilet paper being used for construction material nowadays, it will only get worse.

[blind ear]

For high wind, tornado or hurricane the safest bet is below ground level.  I have seen many conventional slab homes where the only thing above ground post storm is water pipe stubs.
-
Underground is good if there is no storm surge. Facing a hurricane drowning is the larger threat. Add water and you best move inland if you want to survive. Slabs sitting on mounds of dirt are scattered all along the coast.
-
"It isn't that the wind is blowing, it is what the wind is blowing" ,Lumber, buses, barges, ships, a 15 foot storm surge that is hundreds of miles wide.
-
ear

[BAGTIC]

Survivors often comment "At least we are all safe and alive". I want more than that. I want my goodies safe too, the TV, gun collection, furniture, book collection, family memorabilia. I want a house that will double as a  safe room no matter where I happen to be or when the threat arises.
The problem is people have their priorities all screwed up. First they think only in the short or immediate terms. Building a safe durable house costs a little more but it avoids a lot of future risks and it will pay for itself. Insurance savings (fire, wind, etc.) can often offset the additional building costs. There can be reductions in exterior maintenance and in heating/cooling costs. Many people will readily spend more on the appearance of the house than the utility. For them it is a status symbol.
Several years ago Longview (?), Texas built an entire High School underground. The roof was tennis courts and basketball courts. The Oakland, California arts museum at Lake Merritt is completely underground. The HS at Goldendale, WA is heavy masonry with no outside windows. No windows to replace or graffiti to remove. A friend built and earth sheltered house above the Columbia River in WA. In the California delta is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house built elevated on concrete columns so when the levee breaks again, and it will, the house will still be high and dry.

[Conan The Librarian]

I'm amazed that there weren't more casualties in those big tornadoes. Evidently they are doing something very right there. Probably room for improvement, but it will be interesting to learn why they fared as well as they did.

[FPH]

Storm shelters are more affordable and have proven worth the investment ( We lived in Norman for a while).  I'm just upset that it is not mandatory for schools to have safe rooms.  The heck with Fed grants....schools are built primarily with local bond money.........where are our priorities?

[Conan The Librarian]

I'd like to see pictures of shelters that they do have. I'm assuming they're underground. Don't see how anything above ground could withstand such power.

[BAGTIC]

Some communities are building multipurpose communal shelters that serve other purposes in the absence of natural disaster. Those seem good investments. If public venues frequented by large numbers of people were built to disaster standards they would provide shelters for those away from home or unable to provide a private shelter. Sports areas, theater and concert centers, libraries, and even schools would be practical places. Just don't build only one in the center of town. There should be numerous locations scattered like schools, police and fire stations,  libraries, etc. so as to be near places where people congregate. Since most schools are neighborhood centered  schools themselves would seem to be an ideal location.

[Sourdough]

I met some folks while in Arizonia who have a bermed home in Illinois.  While on vacation in Arizona (Snow Birds) they got a call from neighbors.  there had been a Blizzard in Illinois and they had been without power for four days.  Power was expected to be off another week, and temps were plunging.  The Snow Birds needed to come home and take care of their property.  Well this couple drove straight through thinking they would find busted water pipes, and disaster when they got home. 

When they got to their home everything was dark and they had to wade through four feet of drifted snow to get to the front door.  When he opened the front door he was met with a blast of warm air.  They quickly went in and closed the door.  Near the front windows and doors, the only wall not bermed, the temp was a bit lower.  But throughout the house the temp was 57 degrees.

He had five to six feet of dirt over the roof, with gently sloping grades off the sides and back.  That way he could mow it with his lawn tractor.  With all that insulation the house was taking on the temp of the earth around it.  It's like a deep cave, constant temp year round.  Cool in the summer, warm in winter.  This guy had not built his home to prevent freezing.  They had been wiped out by a Tornado some years earlier, and did not want to go through that again.  He built with the house facing away from the prevailing winds.  So any Tornados should run up the slope from behind the house.  Tornados do not tear up the ground.  The front of the house is the only portion unprotected.  While it might break windows, and possably blow in doors, it's not going to blow the house away.  The warm aspect was a side benifit they had not expected.

By the way, they had all the neighbors sleeping there at night.    Thge main problem is most folks just can't get away from the idea that stick homes are the only way to go.  My wife at first said "I'm not living underground like a mole".    I believe every communitee should have a Domed Schools.  They make great shelters, and with no flat surfaces the winds can't cause damage.  Think of the lives that could have been saved if the school was a dome.     

[FPH]

Be careful if and when you build a domed roof structure.  You can get a lifting effect simular to a planes wing and the wind uplift can cause amazing things to occur.

[FPH]

TX use to run an ad about a guy who had survived a hurricane.  He then built a "hurricane proof" home out of concrete.  His whole family was wiped out during the next hurricane.....only a flat slab was left.  Under ground is  the way to go.

[Old Fart]

Several of the smaller communities near where I live (east of OKC)  have built recent classroom buildings underground.
Of course none of them have even seen a tornado.

[nw_hunter]

TX use to run an ad about a guy who had survived a hurricane.  He then built a "hurricane proof" home out of concrete.  His whole family was wiped out during the next hurricane.....only a flat slab was left.  Under ground is  the way to go.

Underground is the best protection from any kind of wind force.Imagine a flat wall being smacked with a car size object at 200 mph.The only problem would be water if in an area that floods.
The cost of building a tornado proof home above ground is too costly for most folks.For new construction in an area subject to twisters I would think a slab floor over a tornado room (say 8x8) would be the way to go. Keep your valuables  in it as well. Also have a  DC sump pump with batteries for back up power.

[dakotashooter2]

One has to keep one thing in mind when going underground....water...... Even on the flat prairie flooding can occur in conjunction with a tornado. also consider your water line. Most people don't think to shut it off in the basement when a tornado comes. If the lines get ripped loose and the house piles up on your access door it's gonna get real wet.

[FPH]

I was told that the kids who perished in the basement of the school in Moore died of drowning.  When I was in Norman, you could buy the metal boxes you installed in the garage under a car for about $2,500.  Say it would cost another $2,000 for the install.  Cheap insurance to me.  Fortunately, we already had a storm cellar.

[Conan The Librarian]

Back to original post, you are wise to consider storms in the construction of a new home. So many people do not.
 
But about that bit tornado last week in OK, I don't know what you could build to withstand something like that. Huge, powerful, slow moving.

[FPH]

Back to original post, you are wise to consider storms in the construction of a new home. So many people do not.
 
But about that bit tornado last week in OK, I don't know what you could build to withstand something like that. Huge, powerful, slow moving.

I don't think you could build any above ground structure that would be "safe".........I have seen above ground safe rooms built with reinforced concrete (or I have seen where they were) that were nothing short of death traps.

Well, it can be done.  We have a Nuclear bomb proof building here at White Sands.....but I hate to think what we paid for it......the doors are 4 foot thick and ride on ball bearings.

[Conan The Librarian]

As for underground, with a storm that big, asphyxia comes to mind. Seems like there'd be quite a vacuum in some places. Do you know if tornadoes have a vacuum that can eliminate breateabe air?

[FPH]

Never has been a concern I have heard mentioned..........these  things last only a few seconds.

[hunt-m-up]

A lot of structures, especially basements, being built with this product.
http://liteform.com/Lite_Deck/safe_room.html
Using the wall blocks in conjunction with the deck product for a ceiling has been offered as one solution for tornado safe rooms. I would prefer to be below grade myself.  When my parents constructed a new house in the 60's they incorporated the old "cave" or root cellar into the design with an entrance from the basement replacing the old surface door.
 

[Ranger99]

basements are a rare thing in this area,
but i'd be loathe to shelter in one for fear of
water and gas lines bursting. if rubble and debris
is stacked on top of your only exit, you'll very
likely drown or suffocate. if one had the presence
of mind or the luxury of the time to shut off
the water and the gas, maybe only then, but i'd
still be worried about being buried. it would
be way better than nothing i guess.