# Tornado-proof construction?



## cowkeeper (Feb 17, 2007)

Let me start by saying I dont live in Tornado country, and not American. It appears that many in your country live in very vulnerabletrailer homes. Why cannot small homes be built to replace trailer homes, or to be modular units in houses without basements, that would be tornado-proof? I'm thinking of a small reinforced concrete home very well secured into the ground. This type of construction should be very affordable.ck


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I am discussing ferocement houseing with my Aunt Peg's oldest boy. It's something he wants to do for the F5 reasons.

BUT, mobile homes and others homes are movable and inexpensive for those of us that do not have land. Or older hoses, etc. A person would have to tear down a lot of existing, reasonably solid housing to bet that the tornado will come. As it is, there will be a large rash of tornado shelters going in all over.

And this has been a particularly active tornado season. Where I am we were dreadfully effected, mid-town and south part of town, nothing happened except heavy rain.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Respectfully in reply to your observation....

I offer the thoughts that you likely have not looked at many tornado aftermath pictures...cars in trees...pieces of wood driven through sidewalks...brick homes flattened.


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

Reinforced poured concrete. 1 foot thick. Sidewalks generally are about 4". Concrete blocks and bricks, are not a viable option, as they become missiles.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

There is a world of difference between tornadoes and hurricanes. As was pointed out, a strong tornado will take out even the strongest homes. It isn't just the wind, it is the battering by trees and cars and anything else that gets picked up. Strong tornadoes literally can rip the asphalt off a road.

Couple that with the fact that the chances of being struck directly by a tornado are very small (I computed the risk in this county at about 1 in 6,000 during any given year) and the risk/reward benefit just isn't there.

In south Florida, EVERY house not only has a strong chance of being hit by a hurricane, but many of them will be hit multiple times, so they are constructed to withstand them. Unless it is unlucky enough to be hit with a tornado embedded in the hurricane, the concrete block/ stucco (CBS) home will usually resist wind up to around 130 mph, which is where most of the hurricanes top out near ground level. (The roof will need replacing except in the Cuban style, which has a concrete roof.) Tornadoes regularly _start out_ that strong and hit 200 mph and above.

There are other construction issues as well. CBS houses rarely are well insulated and can be nasty in cold weather. Wood is not used as much in south Florida because the moisture, termites, ants, and winds conspire to damage the structure and make it vulnerable. Each area has a general routine for construction that contractors know. In south Florida, the contractors know CBS and are less familiar with wood. Further north, most contractors have no clue how to properly construct a CBS home.

The safest place to be in a tornado is underground. Period. Everything else is a calculated risk.

As for practicality - first, manufactured housing is a lot more sturdy than the older "trailers." 2" x 3" studs were common on trailers. Our home has 2" x 6" studs - stronger than many stick-builts. A lot of the "tornadoes find and destroy trailer parks" is simply a tired old deprecation of trailer parks. Second - a home that is severely damaged but not totaled in a storm is a royal P.I.T.A. to deal with. It will have continuing water damage and problems, take forever to get repaired, and be a physical and financial drain on the homeowner as he fights with contractors, fights with inspectors, and fights with his insurance company. I saw this firsthand in south Florida _numerous_ times, and the shellshock of some of the homeowners from the ongoing hassles was enough to damage their health. In contrast, the manufactured home owner bulldozes out the damaged home, finds the utility lines, selects and has a new home delivered to the site, complete with new appliances and fresh interior, often within days, and skips all the surris. AND... he doesn't have to live in a claustrophobic bunker prison all the time.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

cowkeeper said:


> Let me start by saying I dont live in Tornado country, and not American. It appears that many in your country live in very vulnerabletrailer homes. Why cannot small homes be built to replace trailer homes, or to be modular units in houses without basements, that would be tornado-proof? I'm thinking of a small reinforced concrete home very well secured into the ground. This type of construction should be very affordable.ck


Mostly it's a question of money. I know of one area where the contractor after the code inspector signed off on the rebar for the footing, pulled the rebar out of the trench before he poured the concrete. Building codes are non-existent in many areas. The United States does not have uniform laws from state to state. 

An improperly built reinforced concrete structure could be a death trap. If not built as designed, any projectile hitting the outside could possible cause spalling on the inside leading to deaths from the pieces of concrete flying through the interior. 

I'm sure it could be done. Many can't afford it simply because they build incrementally. Buy the land. Later buy the trailer. Or in some cases a used trailer that no one wants to move becsause they are afraid it will fall apart while being towed down the highway. Later some add to the trailer for more room.

Most home builders don't have the equipment and forms needed. The exception being in some areas where basements are formed concrete. Even in those areas, it's common for contractors to not use waterstops.

The United States is a hodge-podge nation. There are places with regulations to the N-th degree and people to enforce them. In other areas, the game warden can't go some places for fear they will be killed.

There are several issues with building a tornado proof concrete house. An impartial inspector would have to be onsite at critical times. The rebar sizes and installation would have to be checked thoroughly. I'd insist on testing every truckload of concrete because of life safety issues. That includes making test cylinders. Plus I'd insist on proper curing of the concrete unlike much of the work that's done. Afterwards any work that fastens to the concrete would have to meet certain requirement so that the structure is not compromised.

We have a lot of concrete experts in this country whose work does not stand the test of time.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

It would basically need to be a dome to resist wind. Even then you would have the problem of objects flying thru the air that could cause point damage. Wonder what the neighbor's flying SUV would do to one? So you'd need to go underground to protect against that. Most people aren't real thrilled about either domes or living underground.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

It's a money problem. Moble homes are inexpensive. But honestly - a tornado will explode a brick building. It would have to be pour concrete REALLY thick to stop the damage - which goes back to the $$. And if every other house in the neighborhood is condemned - yours will be too even if it received no damage. It's easier to rebuild a neighborhood from scratch than leave one home. You would have to leave the area also due to possible damamge to gas lines, etc.


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## time (Jan 30, 2011)

I supose it's possible to build a tornado resistant or flood resistant or earthquake resistant and so on, home.

I don't supose it's financially viable for most people.

For those that can afford such things, the vast majority opt for large mansions without the safety.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

If I ever have to rebuild I figure on going with an earth bermed and fiberous concrete topped steel quonset hut on the existing foundation footprint.


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## wottahuzzee (Jul 7, 2006)

Here are some links to homes that appear to be storm safe. They may appear to be expensive per square foot right now compared to all the cheap homes hitting the market (foreclosures, short sales), but the safety, reduced utility cost, and lower insurance rates may make up for the initial cost. 

http://www.monolithic.com/topics/homes 

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/monolithic-dome-home-survives-missouri-tornado

http://armourh.com/ 



Here are some links to storm shelters: 

http://www.safesheds.com/id30.html

http://www.steelstormshelters.com/SafeShed.html


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## wottahuzzee (Jul 7, 2006)

BTW, I live in the Florida Keys in a wood-frame house. In the 2005 hurricane season, it was our turn. The Weather Service retired five hurricane names that year -- we got four: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Wilma. 

Wilma was the worst, it came across as a very strong 3 by the time it got to us, and we caught the dirty side as well as the storm surge that followed the storm. By the time Wilma left Cozumel and hit South Florida, she was going pretty fast and the surge followed the storm instead of being pushed in front of it. We had some minor roof damage which my husband was able to repair and our house sat about two to three feet above the flood, so we were okay there. 

Many of the CBS houses that sit on a concrete slab were flooded, some up to and over the kitchen counters, so they lost all their appliances and furniture. The main street through the island was a sea of washers, driers, stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, freezers waiting for pickup, to say nothing of the cars that were hauled out of here which had been covered in salt water. 

It seems that after Wilma, homes were damaged but not totalled, some needed extensive repairs like wallboard, flooring, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, that kind of thing. There were not a lot of homes totalled at all and the ones that were seemed to be buildings that were rundown, not maintained, or not occupied for a while. So the folks who think that the people in the Florida Keys keep rebuilding every year (yes, I have heard that one) are very wrong. Even the mobile homes down here seemed to do okay, at least I see the same ones still in the MH parks and occupied. 

I'm in that group of people who does not usually evacuate for a storm because it is such a hassle to get back in afterwards (we are in a one road in, same road out situation), with the exception of a storm like Ike. The Weather Service had it going right across us, our house, at a cat 5. When we saw that, my husband said he would board up the house, and I told him to forget it, the house is gone, let's just get ready to load up our papers/pictures, guns, and gold, as much personal stuff as we can pack and get out. Fortunately, we did not have to go. 

You just have to learn your area and what you are at risk for. Have your plan and know how to protect yourself or how to get out if you have to. I mean that is why we are on this forum, right?


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I know tornadoes can "suck" up whatever it comes across and is loose enough to move. When I was a child, we lived in tornado alley. Grandmother had a storm shelter "in" the ground (nothing on top but a slanted wooden/metal combination door). The door had a chain on it and we always felt safer (even though maybe we werenot) if we held onto that chain behind the walls that were beside the entrance.

David is constructing a cellar "into" the ground with stairs that go around into the safe room. I have also considered burying a couple of old porcelain tubs in such a way as to create a shelter surrounded by "poured" concrete. At the present we live in a trailer; and, though it is embedded into a rock foundation, it is still quite vulnerable. 

I just don't believe anything created "on top" of the ground can be tornado proof.


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

I live in a trailer because it cost 17K. Can't build a house for that. Like others have said, this tornado "season" has been horrible compared to usual.


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## Rourke (Jul 15, 2010)

Good topic.

I live in SC and I am concerned with the possibility of hurricanes as well as tornado's. I have been considering building a safe room in my garage.

Rourke
ModernSurvivalOnline.com


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

No home is safe. Your best survival rate will be to hide in a root/storm cellar. We just happen to live next to my Grandma and Grandpa's old place and it's got a root cellar that we can hide in if we have to. The other night we hide in it for the first time in years. Luckily we didn't get hit by anything. 

What I worry about is what am I going to do if a tornado or fire does destroy my home. We don't have insurance so will be sleeping in a tent till we get a good old loan from somebody.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Two things about tornados. One has been talked about, the winds. Most people have no idea how strong wind can be. Let's look at some numbers. 

Here's the formula for getting the force (pounds/ft^2) applied to an wall.


Force, F = A x P x Cd

A = The projected area of the item

P , Wind pressure (Psf), = 0.00256 x V^2 (V= wind speed in Mph)

Cd , Drag coefficient, = 2.0 for flat plates


So if you have 100 mph winds hitting a flat wall that is 10 feet tall and 30 feet long you have

A = 10 X 30 = 300 sq ft

P = 100 X 100 X 0.00256 = 25.6 psf

Cd = 2

That gives us a total force on the wall of 15,360 pounds or about 7,000 kg. Look at another way its about 130 kg/m^2. What kind of wall would it take to hold up that much weight and this is only 100 mph, wind speed in tornado can reach 300+ mph. (FYI, at 300 mph the pressure on the wall is 230 psf [1100 kg/m^] or almost 70,000 pounds [32,000 kg])

Then thing most people forget about tornadoes is the fact they create a vacuum. An F5 can, and they have, literally suck the pavement off the ground when it crosses a road. I don't have the numbers handy but if it can do this think of what kind of roof you'd have to have to keep it on a house.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

watcher said:


> What kind of wall would it take to hold up that much weight and this is only 100 mph, wind speed in tornado can reach 300+ mph. (FYI, at 300 mph the pressure on the wall is 230 psf [1100 kg/m^] or almost 70,000 pounds [32,000 kg])


A concrete one. Not a block kinda concrete one. No solid concrete cast walls.

I'm a big advocate of concrete of housing as opposed to tooth picks and sticks. Imagine if you will a house that can withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, earth slides, nuclear war (not direct), asteroid impact (not direct), fire will only burn what's in it, even flooding without rot, mold and mildew.

I don't like the domes, round things, or other such oddities. A simple standard house is cheap and possible.

Which is the concrete structure?


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## kvr28 (Feb 15, 2009)

good topic, I've been thinking about it the last couple weeks, it's made me wonder if my house can withstand a direct hit


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## cowkeeper (Feb 17, 2007)

Thanks StanB, Your pic and comments show that it is possible. People need to think outside the box..pun not intended  An affordable reinforced concrete house need not be a damp dark hole.ck


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

The simple answer is money, yes, but all the OTHER issues your particular spot has to deal with. 

We get feet of snow, so peaked roofs are important here. The best materials aren't the same materials everywhere.

It's the same across the whole world...

What is your house made of cowkeeper?


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

cowkeeper said:


> An affordable reinforced concrete house need not be a damp dark hole.ck


 I'm hoping to build a concrete underground home. :ashamed:

But my point above stands. Concrete doesn't have to be expensive... Heck they pave with it. Issues come into play when you add a second story. Not the concrete, but the methods often used by your average contractor.


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## cowkeeper (Feb 17, 2007)

I'm not in an area that gets tornados. I am replacing the shingle roof this year with steel. Mine..owner built by us two middle-aged people on a shoestring, did all our own plumbing/wiring as well. (I spent years gathering materials, salvaged solid wood doors, 130 yr old t&g flooring, used sinks, counters/cupboards, clawfoot bathtub), full cellar of surface-bonded block (portland laced with fiberglass threads, six times stronger than standard mortared block and much more waterproof) with rebar/cement-filled cavities, pilasters mid way on cellar walls, also filled/rebared. Sill bolts concreted into foundation. Standard construction 1 3/4 storey, overlapped sheathing between floors, and some hurricane ties. 2X6 walls, 2X10 floor joists, 2X10 rafters with 2X8 ceiling joists/rafter ties. Sub-floor 3/4" plywood, outer walls sheathed in 1/2" plywood. Also, steel hurricane ties rafters to top plates. Nailed throughout with ardox galvanized nails. Got a house-lot of new windows @ 5% over cost, plus other odd but new windows. Still have a dirt floor in cellar due to lack of $$ Board and batten siding as it was cheap.
If I lived in a tornado/hurricane threatened place, I would have built reinforced concrete  .ck


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

seedspreader said:


> The simple answer is money, yes, but all the OTHER issues your particular spot has to deal with.
> 
> We get feet of snow, so peaked roofs are important here. The best materials aren't the same materials everywhere.
> 
> ...


With a concrete house the pitch wouldn't mean anything. You could make 8" of concrete hold up 120,000 pounds on 30 foot spans. The state does it and you drive on those bridges. For an example...

Lets say your house is 1000 sqFT.
1 cubic foot of snow is 1" of water. 
that 1" tall square of water weighs 5.12 pounds
So you have 5000 pounds from each Sq foot of snow on your roof.

Do you get 60 feet of snow? I mean with out shovelling a bit off. :happy0035:


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

stanb999 said:


> With a concrete house the pitch wouldn't mean anything. You could make 8" of concrete hold up 120,000 pounds on 30 foot spans. The state does it and you drive on those bridges. For an example...
> 
> Lets say your house is 1000 sqFT.
> 1 cubic foot of snow is 1" of water.
> ...


I know it can hold it Stan but there would be a plethora of other issues, ice build up, heave, cracking, leaking... They don't chose to build with wood and steel for no reason. That's my only point.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

seedspreader said:


> I know it can hold it Stan but there would be a plethora of other issues, ice build up, heave, cracking, leaking... They don't chose to build with wood and steel for no reason. That's my only point.


The reason I believe we build with wood is the wide availability and habit..

I mean we kinda got into the habit due to the limitless forests that were here at one time. Imagine the horror in England of making log cabins . When heating fuel was expensive. Most of the world builds as we do with what is available and cheap. Not what is best or even most practical.


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

I am in SC and there isn't a stick built house near me. I have a doublewide on four very flat acres that borders 100's of acres of flat land. We had three tornadoes come too close for comfort already this spring. I have been beating my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get some sort of a shelter for my family. I asked a neighbor what they do when a storm comes and he told me they pray for safety. Well, I pray for safety too but I would like to be doing it from a strong shelter. Commercial shelters are way out of my budget. I might be burying a cast iron tub for us to sit in lol..


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

stanb999 said:


> A concrete one. Not a block kinda concrete one. No solid concrete cast walls.
> 
> I'm a big advocate of concrete of housing as opposed to tooth picks and sticks. Imagine if you will a house that can withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, earth slides, nuclear war (not direct), asteroid impact (not direct), fire will only burn what's in it, even flooding without rot, mold and mildew.
> 
> ...


The pic is a bit deceptive.

One thing to note is the shape of the structure. Changing the shape from a flat wall to an arched shape can cut the wind load by more than half.

Also notice the buildings next to the silo and in the lower left of the pic. They are also still standing, damaged but standing. The one near the silo seems to be a flat roof brick building which from the pic seems to have suffered no structural damage, at least no major damage. Diagonally from it you can see the brick walls of a roofless house. Then there is what appears to be a wood framed building in the lower center of the pic which is damaged but standing and seems to be repairable. This shows us a couple of things. 

First off it shows how much roof design plays in wind damage. Studies have shown there is a "good" range of pitch for roofs. Too much pitch and the wind load damages it, too little and the roof acts like a wing where the wind flow causes it to lift off the house.

Second, it shows that stronger walls survive better than weak ones (DUH!)

And thirdly it shows us how the damage from a tornado is limited to a path and can be almost random. I was showing the wife some pics from the Joplin tornado. In them you can see a house standing with what looks just a bit of roof damage right next or across the street from what used to be a house but is not a pile of sticks. 

FYI, we are planning building on a concrete dome home. Partly due to the fact it is as wind proof as you can get (we live in a hurricane area) but there are other factors.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Jakk said:


> I am in SC and there isn't a stick built house near me. I have a doublewide on four very flat acres that borders 100's of acres of flat land. We had three tornadoes come too close for comfort already this spring. I have been beating my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get some sort of a shelter for my family. I asked a neighbor what they do when a storm comes and he told me they pray for safety. Well, I pray for safety too but I would like to be doing it from a strong shelter. Commercial shelters are way out of my budget. I might be burying a cast iron tub for us to sit in lol..


I read a story years ago about a guy who bought an piece of old concrete culvert. He partly buried it right next to his trailer and put some kind of door on it. When a tornado hit he went out his bedroom window into the culvert with just seconds to spare.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Good processing Watcher. On the elevators, circles, cylinders and domes are about the strongest structural shape, because no matter what direction the stress comes from, the load is transferred through the structure. An egg is remarkably strong for the thinness of the shell.

Also, if the elevators were filled with grain, the grain would act as a beautiful damper to absorb and distribute forces.


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

watcher said:


> I read a story years ago about a guy who bought an piece of old concrete culvert. He partly buried it right next to his trailer and put some kind of door on it. When a tornado hit he went out his bedroom window into the culvert with just seconds to spare.


That's a good idea. How do you keep water from seeping into it though? Could you damm up the back end with cement? I'm wondering if I could lay one on top of the ground and then berm it up with earth on the sides.


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## yailukmuu (Mar 24, 2011)

I'm amazed at seeing the tornadoes rip an entire bank apart leaving just the vault. Or the photo of the Tornado shelter built into the cellar of a house with the 4" concrete ~6x10' slab ripped right off! (Had they put a couple of anchor bolts through it would have been fine.

If one of those multi-vortex twisters hit you, nothing you can make short of an anchored reinforced concrete house would survive and even there, the doors, and windows and probably contents would be gone.

I remember in Fine Homebuilding magazine a photo of a high quality housing development in NC--every single house was flattened by hurricane Hugo except one, which was almost entirely intact.

The writer, curious--interviewed the owner. Seems that the fellow got indignant and refused to let them use 3/8" plywood, or to staple such plywood to the roof and paid extra to use 5/8" and use nails instead of staples. Further the old fart did not think that the soffit vent was big enough so he paid to have an oversized vent put in on each peak end. 

His house survived because the rapid pressure drop of Hugo literally blew "up" the other houses, essentially popping the roof off--once started Hugo ripped them to shreds.

Good engineering won't help if you're in the path of a multi-vortex twister but if you're a bit to one side--it might help tremendously. I read about many mobile homes that survived because of screw in anchors, when their neighbors homes did not.


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## sticky_burr (Dec 10, 2010)

concrete monolithic dome ftw lol they are very sturdy


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

sticky_burr said:


> concrete monolithic dome ftw lol they are very sturdy



gumdrop houses, depending on the coloring! 

a cousin and I are talking about ferocement/rebar domed houses - pretty much the same thing.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

you do realize that any house that has openings has the possibility of being blown apart via the weakness of the openings?
And if you don't have the window openings and various doors, you have the potential of burning if a house fire occurs.

balance the pro's and con's/ the plus's and minus's of any building plan to make it work for your area.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Does an earth-bermed home suffer from the same weakening?

I guess though you do have the possibility of suction forming and it pulling you out of a doorway or window. The house might stay standing but you might never be found.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Ernie said:


> Does an earth-bermed home suffer from the same weakening?
> 
> I guess though you do have the possibility of suction forming and it pulling you out of a doorway or window. The house might stay standing but you might never be found.


Out of the meat locker at a blown apart grocery store 4-27-11. They had to hold one guy to keep the tornado from pulling him out.
And the suction can pull the breath out of a person. Earth-bermed home is pretty good as long as the earth side faces the way the tornadoes come from.

I've always thought one with the back to south west, and the front to NE, with the glass and a metal garage door that can pull down (similar to hurricane shutters) would be a fairly safe home, with bedrooms in the back - so you could almost go to sleep in that kind of weather.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

Ernie said:


> Does an earth-bermed home suffer from the same weakening?
> 
> I guess though you do have the possibility of suction forming and it pulling you out of a doorway or window. The house might stay standing but you might never be found.


if the home is even with the existing grade largely yes.

If it's one of those where they half dig and put the soil excavated on top. I don't believe you would get the same protection.


When we get rich. As if. :hysterical: Gotta dream tho.
We will build an underground home with a root cellar that wont be exposed to anything. It will be more than 3 feet under ground and only accessible by a hallway.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

A hip roof is much more resistant to wind damage than a gable roof though it is a little more difficult to frame and roof, but well worth it, IMHO.

All houses need hurricane ties. Some builders are negligent about this. The homeowner should personally check to make sure that all the ties have been placed and fastened securely. I'd want screws everywhere, not nails and certainly not staples.


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## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

Texas Tech has been involved with this stuff for some time.

I'd say the best above ground option would be a poured reinforced concrete storm room (most likely doubling as an interior bathroom).

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/weweb/Shelters/InResShelter.php


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That's what Uncle David (the one that died of heart attack last summer) kept wanting to build. But he had a thing about being in it without a window. He contacted PPG about their aircraft windows and found out one of those would take the F5 winds. But he never got to make it.

And those Texas plans may be the plans he had, I know they were from a university.


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## sticky_burr (Dec 10, 2010)

i have it .. the ultimate answer to everything .. 42! lol jk .. how about one those missle silo homes 

and as far as checking ties and such its almost impossible to find a 'good one' you should consider being the general contractor. learn learn learn lay out your chosen subs WELL in advance as if they are good they are probally booked solid


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

> I'd want screws everywhere, not nails and certainly not staples.


Actually, nails are preferable. 
Screws tend to be more brittle and are therefore more likely to snap whereas nails flex a little.


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## jlrbhjmnc (May 2, 2010)

Kevlar storm shelter?

_Diana Swenson came within just minutes of becoming a tornado casualty when a vicious twister swept into her hometown of Joplin, Mo. 

Instead, she survived to tell her story thanks to a shelter constructed of Kevlar, the same material used to make the life-saving bulletproof vests worn by police officers..._

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/0...des-safehouse-tornado-survivor/#ixzz1OKvLnpuy


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