Has anyone built an above ground safe room/storm shelter? We are planning on building one right off the master bedroom and wanted to know if anyone has built one.

What things did you integrate or wish you had put in it? Ours will be very simple, but I think we want to put some electrical plugs in it and a bench/bed or something similar.

In that kind of storm - I believe your electric plugs would be dead.
Might be useful in a "man-cave,or dog-house" however.

True, after the storm hit it may kill all the power. But it would give light and keep the back up batteries on the emergency lighting charged until that point. Plus we may put a little fridge in there for cold drinks until they ran out. A little camping toilet might be handy.

Good point!

Two exits on opposite sides might be useful, wouldn't want the safe room to become the safe tomb if the door is blocked by debris.

Or have a door that swings in

Signaling method if you get trapped in there. Remote actuated air horn or something.

It will have a swing in door with steel drop in cross braces to keep it secure. Also plan on putting a battery back up beacon under the eaves to draw attention to it if needed.

I saw one that had a second exit that bolts in from the inside. Thought that might be a good idea. It was more of a porthole, but it would be a good last gasp option to get out.

That would be a given. A fire, collapsed roof or other debris could still block the exit. Nothing to say both exits couldn't be blocked but the chances are cut in half.

An old fashioned bumper jack may help the odds a bit more.

Sure. Bumper jack, crowbar, just something to move a piece of wood or other debris too heavy to lift.

This is 18 or so years ago... Our home outside Wichita Kansas, with a walkout basement, was built with a shelter under the front porch with all sides and roof of 6" well reinforced concrete. The door did, in fact, fold inward. We kept a full supply of food, water and such as well as a solid radio and batteries. We did have to hit it once when one came through NW of us killing 19 IIRC. We drove through the area weeks later to get to a nursery and the devastation was unreal.

Couple of yards of det cord, some c4, bunch of sand bags for tamping....lol

Did it have anything feeding fresh air inside it?

EPIRB

Yes, clearly from the door way but there were small "slitted" and screened openings in the rise of the steps that led up the porch to the front door.

I had one built and installed - 6' x 4' . . . I wish I had made it longer like 8'. It is bolted to the concrete slab. Opens in my front hallway closet door. I keep all my guns and ammo in there.

I have a hot tub enclosed patio outside our master bedroom door. It is 10' X 18'. . . We are thinking about building an insulated saferoom out there and put a roof over it, with HVAC, wet bar, and color TV. Also would have room to build a gun rack around the perimeter to hold all my rifles in plain site. This is the company that custom builds these rooms: Bear Safe Oklahoma City

I built an all concrete safe room last year in our basement of our new home, under the porch. Love it except air is stagnant inside it ... I leave a dehumidifier running in it but it doesn't 100% solve the problem. Trying to figure out a way to feed it with fresh air without losing the fire resistance.

I'd hate to be inside it for a long period of time .... doesn't have the best quality of air

Commercial buildings have fire dampers in the ventilation ducts usually at a fire break wall. Drop closed when lead link melts.

I would punch whatever size holes that the risers of the steps, if they exist, allow. If no risers then I would hole saw the walk/porch covered area with high vertical vents (pipes above snow level) with a 180 bend not letting snow/rain to get in. Hard to solve without being there.

They are getting more common in these parts. The folks at the coast are building a lot of them and they are also putting them in mobile home parks as well. The masonry industry has really been promoting them, as well as masonry frame homes.

Pretend it's an RV. Install 12v LED lights. Use 2 heavy duty 6v golf cart batteries in series and keep them on a trickle charger at all times so they're always full. If you get good ones, 2 will pack more juice than 3 12V marine type batteries. For best battery life, use a step down charger made for RV battery maintenance (about $100). Install a couple power outlets like those in your car to charge phones, etc.

A ham radio would be better than an EPIRB.
A land line phone would be just as good in most cases

Batteries would need a good container, vented to the outside so Hydrogen gas can't build up inside.

A refrigerator isn't a good idea when a cooler can keep things cold up to a week.

I don't plan on being in there a week. If I am then cold drinks are the least of my worries. Besides, I don't want to keep refilling the cooler with ice all the time and dumping it.

It would be nice to step in there periodically to get a bottle of water when I am thirsty rather than walk all the way to the kitchen.

For storms lasting long enough you'd need drinks, it's likely you'll have plenty of time to prepare.

I wouldn't waste space in a "safe room/ storm shelter" when you can put a small refrigerator in any room you like and run it off house current.

If you're actually talking about a "bomb shelter", then a 12 volt refrigerator might be worth the investment since you could spend weeks inside.

The battery part is easy. Just use plastic battery boxes ($12 each) and build a box for them on an outside wall with an opening through the wall. He says he figures he'd only be in it a day or 2 at the most so a single 12v would work nicely to run the lights.

A couple 5 gal water jugs would be very handy, too. It's necessary to replace the water occasionally, though, like at least once a month.

Thanks for all the ideas. One of the ones that is intriguing me is the peep hole for viewing. Especially since it wouldn't require any kind of power to function during or post aftermath. I know I can install one in the door, but I wonder how thick of a wall you can install them. I think 8" is about the limit.

I would suggest that you contemplate a couple things. Chances are that if you are heading into a storm shelter/safe room, that you probably had to do so in a hurry.

So, with that in mind, I would suggest a few things.

Tools to egress. If you get structural damage, you may be stuck for a while. So a pry bar, hammer, even a small bottle jack may all be of value.

Spare items that may get lost in a storm/emergency event.

Spare prescription glasses, prescription medicines, a small container of basic meds like tylenol, aspirin, immodium, heartburn meds, etc.

A flat or 2 of bottled water and enough easily some food that stores easy and does not require cooking. Nothing major, just enough for X amount of people for a few days.

Medium sized trauma kit. Blood stoppers, gauze, med shears, etc.

Every person should have a spare pair of shoes/boots and sock, plus a change of clothes.

Handgun, holster, and a couple spare mags. You never know what you will be dealing with in an event/aftermath.

A small amount of cash, since C.C. machines may not be working.


Anyways, I would think along those lines.

Cheers!

Snyper: I would question the reliability of a land line. In the case of a tornado, the first switching center would possibly be taken out by the same storm that hit your location. I've kept a land line because of poor cell reception. Numerous outages due to non-existence of preventative maintenance and expensive - $50/month.

I am thinking about throwing a megaphone in there along with a couple of shooting ear muffs.

A land line will work when normal power goes out. Cell towers are powered by normal power. At least here.

I like the idea of a small fridge, it assures that you check the room. If it is not checked occasionally, you will not know of problems that come up, leaks or the wife has I piled full of junk.

I worked in a underground safe room for two years. There had two sets of blast doors and you could only open one set at a time. The entrance to the building dad an air lock because the inside was kept undrt pressure so any leaks the air was exiting and could not bring in contamination. Wet air filters were impervious to all NBC agents and were in an automatic loop to keep them clean. Waterways supplied be deep, real deep wells. Generator with enough fuel to last two years with two backup generators. Full medical facility. Food for two years. NBC surface monitors and in case of attack a reserve antenna field would come up from underground. If the bombs started dropping I would rather be above ground with my family.

That's impressive!

I've been through both tornadoes and hurricanes over several decades, and only once has my land line failed to work.

I even have an old rotary dial phone that still works.

An EPIRB inside a concrete shelter probably won't work at all and doesn't allow real communication, and even a 2-way radio needs an outside antenna to get any distance.

Dialing 911 on a land line can get a response to your address even if you don't say a word.

If yours is costing $50, you should see about dropping things you don't need like Caller ID, call waiting, long distance, etc.

Mine is closer to $25 a month

Portable radio would be good to be able to listen to storm news.

We have a limited use land line that's tied to our internet service through a small local phone company. We pay $50/mo for DSL and an emergency land line. It doesn't have long distance or any other extra service. We're limited to 30 min/month outgoing calls and 300 min/month incoming. Since we use cells all the time, that's way more than we need.

Our phone line's underground so it's pretty much storm proof. High wires would be very susceptible to tornadoes.

Glad we don't have many twisters here.