shelter in process
 

I dont normally post work in process ......but im building a saferoom/storm shelter thought i might post a couple of pix prior to pouring the roof

Re: shelter in process
 

is the inside your basement? Or is it an external addition to the house? or is it external, but buried (nothing above ground outside) with the entrance to it in your basement?

Also what are you going to use as a door to secure it? Vault/safe door?

Re: shelter in process
 

It is through a wall in the home into a barn area
Hollow metal door frame was poured with High strength grout Solid
door frame has 3 dead bolt preps accross from hinges
door opens in so hinges are not exposed
i will use a firerated hollow metal door and weld a 1/4inch 304 stainless plate on the inside face of the door and add a baring mechanisum in addition to the dead bolts, will apply expandable fire caulking to door cracks
walls,floor and roof have 5/8 rebar at 8" o/c
the roof shows 6" steel pipe vents

Re: shelter in process
 

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:coolbeer: great video post (maybe i need to add some gun portholes)

main purpose of the room is tornado/fire shelter out at my SHTF place

Re: shelter in process
 

These old Twilight Zones are increasingly becoming more poignant as time progresses - the point of this one = keep your damn mouth shut.

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Nice lookin shelterr!

Twilight Zone was a wake up about keeping your mouth shut

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First rate job , very nice Tazz

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Here is a link to bullet proof and security doors.

http://www.republicdoor.com/doors/bullet.htm

Re: shelter in process
 

First class, man. I did similar for my "root cellar", and parked my bulldozer on top as a test after the concrete had cured a month or so. Rock solid.

I assume the jack posts are just temps, right ?

Also, what's the plan on the air pipes ?

As a tornado shelter, you shouldn't need anything else. As a fire shelter, I'd be wondering out the fire sucking out the air inside ? AND as a "zombie" shelter, I'd be wondering about them pouring gasoline down and threatening to light you up.......

Re: shelter in process
 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's the first thing that came to mind.........

Would there be anyway to run the air pipes outside to a "out of sight area".
Otherwise bravo on the build! I"ve been wanting to do this for a while.......

Re: shelter in process
 

the roof capacity is pretty much off the charts so i know it will exceed 500psf

yes posts are temporary shoring using metal deck i could pull them tommorow but will probably wait 7days or so (poured today)

i have a hvac run with a tap within a few feet of one pipe i will hook it up to, the other will be a wild exhaust to the exterior with a flapper cover, the supply will have a smoke/fire damper both pipes will have interior manual valve assembly cut offs (basicly a large ball valve), i also have the option to draw air should i need it from a pipe under the floor to the exterior

the automatic smoke damper will take care of smoke and fire penetration if we are not their
main concern for being in the building during a fire would be a senerio where after a tornado you were traped inside and something outside caught on fire
the pipes are 90deg to avoid being blocked by falling debris and i guess to make it difficult for zombies to pour things down the pipe

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Never underestimate a zombie with a garden hose and a funnel.

:biggrin:

Re: shelter in process
 

Since you are building a safe room, have you considered how many factors of protection it will provide against fallout? Since it sounds like this is a room inside a structure you will have protection automatically from what they call "geometric protection" which is the distance the fallout resides from your structure itself. Then of course your concrete walls will have a certain protection factor to them as well.

One thought, 18 inches of pact dirt in addition to your walls ought to give you enough fallout protection from even heavy fallout.

Just a thought on the fallout side of things.

Otherwise, great work and a great share. I have a similar construction project coming up but it will be a berm structure not unlike TN_Andy's root cellar.

Dave

Re: shelter in process
 

TnAndy

I would hate to be the zombie that poured gas down the pipe with the ball valve closed and lit it.....might resemble back draft...considering the zombe could find me in these hills and cross the moat dodge bullets and dogs...etc.....i would be more worried about the zombies fireing up one of my dozers and trying to tear the whole place down

Dave

Actually i have considered the fall out rating....and i will share some additional information as to the total construction intent.....this structure is above grade and accessable easily without having to go outside in a storm from a living space.....the working plan it to link through the floor via corrogated pipe "tunnel" to a buried exterior precast concrete vault structure the primary use of the burried concrete vault structure is to to be my root celler/storage battery structure (hope this short version gives you a idea of the total final intent of the project without getting into to many details) that being said the primary purpose is tornado/fire protection i dont consider were i am located to be in a wind distributed fall out area

Re: shelter in process
 

Thought i would do a followup.....the project is still in process...and will have some modifications that i wont post publicly but here is some followup in process pix

always fun to view others projects and post some

Re: shelter in process
 

I see you have the door opening inward! Good. ;) But is there any structure that could collapse and TOTALLY block the door/exit? i.e. a 2 story house?

Re: shelter in process
 

it has protected air vents so could stay inside indefinitely

really not much structure that could block the door but working on a underground tunnel escape

also the entry door will be concealed behind a shelf bookcase system

Re: shelter in process
 

This is awsome.... Thank you for posting this!!!!

Re: shelter in process
 

I am also working on similar plans. We are getting ready to dig foundation for a 18' x 20' room addition off the back of the house, this will be our new much larger kitchen. Full basement below will be 6" poured concrete walls and 4" poured concrete ceiling (also is the kitchen floor above.)

Basement area has no windows, only one door leading in from existing finished basement area. Door will be bullet resistant from Republic, expensive and worth it.

This new basement area will serve as my office, my safe room, private study, gun collection, and will roll my safes in there. It will not be apparent that the room even exists since one must walk through a utility room to get to the second Republic door. From outside the house, it will look like the kitchen is built on a slab since no windows at ground level.

I intend to install a second gas furnace as well as air conditioning unit since the existing furnace and AC will not be able to handle additional 720 square feet of living space.

Later, I will add a wood stove to the basement with a "dumb waiter" to bring wood from outside to the basement without carrying it through the house. The dumb waiter will be hidden beneath the deck which will be built on 2 sides of the kitchen above. The required chimney will look like a fancy vent for the exhaust fan above the gas stove in the kitchen.

Lucky for me, I have a plumber, an electrician, and an HVAC friend that are all preppers and can be trusted to keep their mouth shut. We all trade silver/gold etc and cut each other deals as they arise.

I intend to document everything with photos as things progress.

Re: shelter in process
 

Holy crap, that sounds awsome... I'd really like to do something like that, but now I'm not thinking its going to be worth it as I only want to live here about another 10 years, before trying to move further out..

Re: shelter in process
 

The one thing that comes to mind is fire rating over time. I recall several episodes about the ancients burning out their victims with either pitch or oil mixed with hay. Apparently it would get hot enough to melt bronze doors and cinder blocks. Not that I consider that a likely concern, but still worth pointing out. You might want to scout the local area. Were your house to blaze up, or the shed, would there be anything that burns hot nearby? May or may not be an issue, but at least you can be sure.

Re: shelter in process
 

The Hidden Door Co

Photo Gallery

Re: shelter in process
 

The three key turns required to open or bar that door worry me.

Re: shelter in process
 

as far as my room is concerned i am not concerned by fire...the complete structure has over a UL 3hr fire rating .......and i will have a fire rated secondary escape...

Re: shelter in process
 

i will actually be 4 devices (one on the bookcase cover door)......and yes that could be concerning....one help will be that those 3 locksets are matching key sets and are bump/pick resistant and thumb turn on the inside...

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What brand are those?

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kwikset -smartseries

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I dislike store bought deadbolts so I built my own. The first two are interior and the third is exterior. 9/16 bar stock can be purchased which fits perfectly inside modern 1/2 inch schedule 40 steel pipe. Works great for heavy duty hinges, too.

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unless Kwikset made a new design in the last 2 years, i wouldn't trust Kwikset for anything

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as a contractor/engineer i would 100% agree with that statement.....buttttt....
this is a new design and its my opinion it is a superior product in all ways (based on me taking one apart and looking it over) ...if someone knows of a issue with these locksets i would appreciate knowing it wouldnt bother me one bit to change them out...my main concern with these deadbolts is bump secuity.....

Re: shelter in process
 

Hoarder .....those are certainly beefy components....i have over the years demo'ed a lot of doors and fixed a lot of doors/frames that have been breached ....most of the time the beef of the actual mechanisum is not the issue it is the Beef and strength of the fasteners or the wood facing, that is by far the weakest link.....i would say 90%+ of the time a door lock is breached via the jamb....

the most common method of entry i have seen is the use of a large pry bar at the door lock jamb or hinge area....on metal doors the tendacy is to bend the frame or door enough to render the deadbolt useless...on wood doors they just break the wood in the door or frame out ....

the door/frame i used ...the frame is 100% filled with concrete high strength grout ...so my weakest link is the door itself...but it is filled gypsum and has a welded in 3/8 stainless steel plate...so entry into mine would pretty much be limited to abrasive sawing or core drilling