Storm shelters?

531 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by oneotamama, Apr 14, 2006

Mommy&Will

Discussion Starter · Apr 10, 2006

DH and I are looking at a house on a few acres in the country. There are a lot of things to consider before we would take the plunge, but the main issue for me is the house is on a concrete slab, with no basement. We live in the Midwest (tornado alley) and I CANNOT imagine living without a basement or a safe place to go during storms (I've seen tornados and I've seen neighbors houses demolished by them). For peace of mind, we would have to have immediate plans of building a storm shelter. I have not researched this at all yet - don't even know where to start.

Any suggestions or ideas for us?

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UlrikeDG

· #2 · Apr 10, 2006

The farms I've been on (my dad's family are farmers in Iowa) had "storm cellars" as well as basements. The storm cellars are external to the house and usually built into the side of a hill, digging down slightly (about 1/2 story or less). They were wired with electricity and used mostly for storing canned fruits & veggies.

Wiki on storm cellars
My local extention office talks about storm cellars & rooms

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lovelee

· #3 · Apr 11, 2006

I recently bought this book: http://www.undergroundhousing.com/book.html
it talks about building a storm shelter your self for pretty cheap...

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oneotamama

· #4 · Apr 14, 2006

Great ideas!! We're living in a mobile home in NE Iowa and sometimes when the wind is howlin' or there's a storm I get plenty nervous. We've got a neighbor right across the road that we could run to his basement if there were time, but having our own storm shelter would be great.

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