It’s a pretty good idea considering that some rooms have a fair amount of floor to ceiling glass walls. The owner elected not to go that far but other than the foundation, he wanted a viable tornado room … let’s call it a “safe” room. Since the foundation for the house was already poured, the wood floor joists in place, and walls were getting framed into place, my response to his request was “how serious are you about making this a “real” tornado shelter?” Unless you buy pre-made units – like the DuPont™ StormRoom™ with Kevlar® you have to follow certain construction rules – which in our case would have meant ripping out part of the foundation so we could isolate the portion where the tornado room would be built. We didn’t originally design this tornado shelter into the project but after an area not to far from the location of this house was hit by several tornadoes last summer, I received a phone call from the client requesting that we add one to the project. Following up on that, I live in Texas and we have a tornado shelter in the Cottonwood modern project I have been working on. Following up on that, Texas has more tornadoes than any other state. You might be surprised to learn that more tornadoes hit the United States than any other country in the world. Tornadoes are the most violent of all atmospheric storms.

Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris. Growing up on the coast of Florida, I became aware of the real dangers of hurricane season at a young age, and what it meant for my family.A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. Stuff like tossing all our patio furniture into our pool to prevent it from becoming a projectile during hurricane-force winds, waterproofing all of our important documents and most cherished photos, and packing up all of our most important things, our pets, and flying or driving out to a state where we knew we’d be safe, leaving behind a house we just might not come back to.Īs natural homebodies, my parents couldn’t bear the idea of leaving behind their home because of an incoming hurricane. Although evacuation is the best and only option in many circumstances-and you should always follow the emergency directives put out by the National Weather Service-my parents did everything they could to make hunkering down at home as safe as possible for all of us. In 2006, when my parents decided to add on a new addition to the home, they made room for one special room, covered with thick concrete walls and ceiling, and reinforced with rebar steel. This would become our in-house safe room, made to become our safe haven for future hurricanes, tornados, or severe storms. In many cases, there may be a mandatory evacuation issued by your county-in this evacuation, you must leave your home and seek shelter in a safer area as experts have determined your area may experience life-threatening storm conditions. In other cases, evacuations aren’t mandatory, and residents may stay if they feel safe in doing so with what they know about the incoming storm.īut, just like other weather phenomena, hurricanes can be unpredictable.

They can easily turn in direction or pick up more speed, making a once-safe area now in the path of a severe storm. In this case, it’s important to have a safe place to hide in your home, especially if damage has already occurred and evacuating from your area has been deemed too dangerous to do so once the hurricane makes landfall.

Diy metal saferoom