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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:41:30 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just keep your insurance paid up and keep it 50-100k over the value of your home. Have a shelter built, have your important documents ready to go. Honestly losing everything is not bad. Guns will survive just fine in a safe. I can’t think of anything I miss that we lost. Tell more please |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:45:03 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had a former member here that had convinced everyone that he was a genius. He decreed that tornados wouldn't affect the portion of Texas he lived in because he lived in the Hill Country area of Texas. I mentioned the Waco tornado; nobody thought it could/would happen there because Waco is surrounded by hills. That tornado didnt seem to give a damn about those hills. Anyways he went to college, I didn't, what do I know, he's smarter than me. Damned shame this map wasn't around when ol' Keith was bloviating here. Tornadoes, EF-scale, and Tracks Since 1950 And what about all those tornadoes in the west Texas mountain chains... Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Are there even tornados in very hilly areas like east TN? Put a house on the NE side of a hill? We had a former member here that had convinced everyone that he was a genius. He decreed that tornados wouldn't affect the portion of Texas he lived in because he lived in the Hill Country area of Texas. I mentioned the Waco tornado; nobody thought it could/would happen there because Waco is surrounded by hills. That tornado didnt seem to give a damn about those hills. Anyways he went to college, I didn't, what do I know, he's smarter than me. Damned shame this map wasn't around when ol' Keith was bloviating here. Tornadoes, EF-scale, and Tracks Since 1950 And what about all those tornadoes in the west Texas mountain chains... All those tornadoes in the west Texas mountain chains are EF0's which is 65-85 mph winds...which is to say, not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:46:24 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryJarrell was a pretty unusual tornado. Usually there's a debris field when a tornado rips into a subdivision. With Jarrell, the subdivision was just...gone. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:54:25 PM EDT
[#4]
Quoted: Is it possible to build a tornado proof home? I am considering escaping the mitten when my wife loses her battle with cancer and I'd like to move into the TN,KY,MO,OK area, but I hate thunderstorms and tornados. Now I understand tornado shelters are fairly easy, but I'd like to be able to roll down the steel shutters and hunker down. Does such construction exist for under say 400K for 1200 sqf or so.. I have been within visual range of three tornados in my 59 years. 11 years ago, I built an ICF house, anchored into solid rock, with an all-ICF, reinforced concrete-roofed utility room nestled in the back between house and garage. It's a concrete box inside a concrete box. You could likely do what you want using ICF construction. It might not survive a direct hit by an EF5, but that is incredibly rare, and it will survive almost anything else. Bonus - We can't hear the washing machine or dryer at night, even though the utility room is very close to our bedroom. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:54:40 PM EDT
[#5]
Texas will subsidise you building a "community storm shelter" on your property.
This usually amounts to a hole in the ground with a hydraulically operated steel door. Buy a nice doublewide. Get insurance that covers flood and storm damage. Get a shelter. All set for less than a new truck will cost you.  (I skipped the doublewide and built an A Frame. I'm sure there's downsides. I haven't found them yet) |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:01:48 AM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: All those tornadoes in the west Texas mountain chains are EF0's which is 65-85 mph winds...which is to say, not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Most tornadoes are EF-0s and -1s. But if you look from Van Horn - Fort Stockton - Sanderson there are plenty of EF-2s, -3s, and a pair of -4s. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:09:50 AM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had a former member here that had convinced everyone that he was a genius. He decreed that tornados wouldn't affect the portion of Texas he lived in because he lived in the Hill Country area of Texas. I mentioned the Waco tornado; nobody thought it could/would happen there because Waco is surrounded by hills. That tornado didnt seem to give a damn about those hills. Anyways he went to college, I didn't, what do I know, he's smarter than me. Damned shame this map wasn't around when ol' Keith was bloviating here. Tornadoes, EF-scale, and Tracks Since 1950 And what about all those tornadoes in the west Texas mountain chains... Very interesting data Fail. I hate to tell you, but if you really know where the hilly parts of the Hill Country are and zoom in, you will find that the tracks are very short to nonexistent around Austin. Everywhere a track is long in this area, it's pretty flat. The terrain varies quite a bit here. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:21:29 AM EDT
[#8]
Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, just get a shelter installed in your house as its built and make sure to read the fine print on your insurance. East Central MS/ West Central AL gets a lot of tornados every year, and living there I can say you're much more likely to get fucked by your insurance over repair/ water damage than to experience total home loss (knock on wood)
My condolences for you and your wife. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:21:34 AM EDT
[#9]
Paging ONEBIGBUNKER and Monolithic Dome Homes
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:21:37 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Jarrell was a pretty unusual tornado. Usually there's a debris field when a tornado rips into a subdivision. With Jarrell, the subdivision was just...gone. Quote HistoryQuoted: Jarrell was a pretty unusual tornado. Usually there's a debris field when a tornado rips into a subdivision. With Jarrell, the subdivision was just...gone. A 300 MPH tornado came in and sat on a neighborhood for a while. It was powerful, but it also didn't move. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:21:43 AM EDT
[#11]
Didn’t we have a member that built a house with filled cinder block walls … minimal windows that were 5-6 feet off the ground and maybe 24” tall. Think he was trying to build a tornado resistant home. Can’t remember username, but recall him posting pics for feedback.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:24:10 AM EDT
[#12]
Of course it can be done - but I imagine it ain't cheap to do.
 How one man built a home that can withstand the strongest hurricanes |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:28:20 AM EDT
[#13]
I have engineering experience with working on the aftermath of a EF-4 almost EF-5.......if in direct path.....you better be low to the ground or in it.
The problem becomes big ones roll cars, trucks, equipment.....hard to engineer a structure to take a hit from a Dually Superduty. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:31:37 AM EDT
[#14]
My parents live in southeast Missouri near the Mark Twain National Forest and where the Ozarks meet the cotton fields that lead up to the Mississippi River. They have a large walk out basement with high ceilings that could be built out for a second living area. It serves as a place to shelter from the storms and as well as place for their lawn mowers, tools, etc.
The storm paths seem to be affected by the terrain and my folks have prob only taken shelter once in the last 20 years. Three hours north, in St. Louis, I prob took shelter in my basement about 10 times in 20 years. The area where my house was located seemed to be a magnet for funnel clouds. Before you buy a place, you might consider researching the past tornado storm paths. I live in AL now and have a house on a slab. A few folks in the neighborhood have storm shelters. There’s also a public one up the road, built into the hillside at a local church. My house was built in 2019 and stands on the path that the 2011 tornado took. If I were to build a new home that was on a slab, I would fortify my bedroom or at a minimum, walk-in closet or under stair area to withstand a tornado. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:40:43 AM EDT
[#15]
Dome house made out of concrete
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:44:39 AM EDT
[#16]
ICF construction. Concrete walls.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:58:41 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Are there even tornados in very hilly areas like east TN? Put a house on the NE side of a hill? |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 1:03:49 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Probably best to stay where you are. I saw the May 3rd 1999 tornado take close to a foot of topsoil up. The 2013 tornado killed one of my friends, and wiped my cousins house down to the slab. Plus the weather is incredibly erratic. We normally get about 10 really nice days a year. I had flown into OKC to interview at Seagate for a position, and the man who interviewed me lost his home the next week to that 1999 tornado. Fortunately he and his wife were fine. I have been under too many tornadoes in my lifetime to think there is any above ground house that can withstand a direct hit from and EF3 and above tornado. The best chance for an above ground house would be with an investment concrete form house, and I am not sure that could withstand a hit for an EF3. Earth shelter homes would be the best bet. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 1:24:15 AM EDT
[#19]
I've lived in middle tennessee for fifty years, had tornadoes go by less than a mile away two, maybe three times
normalcy bias may kill me next week but it's honestly not something I even think about |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 1:47:14 AM EDT
[#20]
Prayers and blessings for your wife. I am sorry for her situation.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:16:25 AM EDT
[#21]
I dont know about "PROOF"....
But I have a lot of faith in my ICF home. The structure is rated to 250mph. The windows are actual impact windows. The entire house is 8 inches of steel reinforced solid concrete that is rebar tied into a commercial slab that extends down and sits 4 feet above grade. (I am out of the Cat 5 flood zone, but water can stand, it wont ever get in my house) The walls are so thick, you can sit comfortably in the window frames. All the windows have pre cast "slots" to put covers over the windows and lock them in. I also figure it is resistant to small arms fire!  The house is quite and efficent. In spite of its very large size, the light bills are the same as a 70's built house I had that was half the size. What I worry about is my shop. Which is a traditional metal building and is 40x60. It is good for 115MPH. The house has a 4 car garage and the garage doors are also hurricane doors. If a hurricane is coming, I have to make choices about toys with wheels.  You see the pictures of nothing but slabs after a hurricane hits an area...and then one house that looks fairly untouched. That is the ICF home.  |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:24:42 AM EDT
[#22]
If you're eye to eye with a real F5, your only options are to go underground or get in your truck and try to outrun it, moving east and south as possible. That's it.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:35:25 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Paging ONEBIGBUNKER and Monolithic Dome Homes Pretty dead but tagged non-archivable https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/monolthic-domes-paging-1-big-bunker/17-625006/ @1_BIG_BUNKER @DaTrueDave @DomeBuilder |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:35:44 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: People keep mentioning Hurricanes. That is comparing apples to cumquats. E5 Tornado has a smaller footprint but is more destructive within that footprint. 200+ MPH winds Cat 5 Hurricane has a larger footprint but is only 157 MPH winds. What will withstand a hurricane will be trashed by a tornado, if it passes directly overhead or within Honda tossing distance. That is partially correct. A Cat 5 has minimum sustained winds of 157. not "only" and will have gusts that are higher. It also spawns many tornados and there is the reality of the sustained effect. A hurricane can last hours. If I have something like Hurricane Camille coming at me (older people talk about it in hushed tones like some people say "cancer." That storm put a new kind of fear in people) I would rather take the odds of an F5 in the area. Tornados destroy areas. Hurricanes can change the shape of regions. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:39:15 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This… to be tornado proof you need to live in a fucking bunker. So.... is that bad or something? |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:43:38 AM EDT
[#26]
Underground - consider an earth ship, which isn't absolutely safe, but close enough.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 4:36:56 AM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A 300 MPH tornado came in and sat on a neighborhood for a while. It was powerful, but it also didn't move. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Jarrell was a pretty unusual tornado. Usually there's a debris field when a tornado rips into a subdivision. With Jarrell, the subdivision was just...gone. A 300 MPH tornado came in and sat on a neighborhood for a while. It was powerful, but it also didn't move. Yep, it was like a 300mph blender, only moving 8-10mph. It just mulched all the debris. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 4:52:37 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That depends on how powerful of a tornado it is. Some of the bigger ones scour asphalt and concrete from the ground, and then those chunks are also moving at a few hundred miles an hour. Your house is effectively getting sandblasted by something that is using other houses as a blasting media. Be underground. Go Hobbit home. https://www.homecrux.com/seven-breathtaking-hobbit-homes-around-world/13406/ |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 11:59:13 AM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Pretty dead but tagged non-archivable https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/monolthic-domes-paging-1-big-bunker/17-625006/ @1_BIG_BUNKER @DaTrueDave @DomeBuilder Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Paging ONEBIGBUNKER and Monolithic Dome Homes Pretty dead but tagged non-archivable https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/monolthic-domes-paging-1-big-bunker/17-625006/ @1_BIG_BUNKER @DaTrueDave @DomeBuilder Member Statistics Post Count 1117 Posts Per Day 0.18 Last Post Date 3/10/2015 5:44:36 AM CST |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:11:56 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Probably best to stay where you are. I saw the May 3rd 1999 tornado take close to a foot of topsoil up. The 2013 tornado killed one of my friends, and wiped my cousins house down to the slab. Plus the weather is incredibly erratic. We normally get about 10 really nice days a year. The Warren held up remarkably well though. I doubt the CP has 20 mil to spend on a tornado proof commercial structure. I was at 19th and Santa Fe for 2013
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:17:14 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Pretty dead but tagged non-archivable https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/monolthic-domes-paging-1-big-bunker/17-625006/ @1_BIG_BUNKER @DaTrueDave @DomeBuilder Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Paging ONEBIGBUNKER and Monolithic Dome Homes Pretty dead but tagged non-archivable https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/monolthic-domes-paging-1-big-bunker/17-625006/ @1_BIG_BUNKER @DaTrueDave @DomeBuilder Yeah, that thread had me VERY interested in Monolithic Domes. Tornado proof homes for about the same price as traditional construction? Where do I sign up? Unfortunately, the GF doesn't like the non-traditional appearance, so we're looking at ICF now. The corners give tornadoes something to grab onto, so not as tornado proof as a dome home, but still bulletproof. I've been planning to do the same thing someone else mentioned. An ICF room in the middle of the ICF house. I'm planning on putting it right next to the master bedroom and making it a combination gun room and safe room. Maybe with double walls/ceiling? I would think that should stand up to just about anything. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:18:22 PM EDT
[#32]
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:24:23 PM EDT
[#33]
Underground shelter.
Monolithic dome is the next best thing. Stay away from the windows though. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:28:43 PM EDT
[#34]
We had a cat 5 some years ago. My buddy and his dad were driving in his big Benz. The tornado lifted the car into the air for some distant. His dad was screaming put on the breaks.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 12:51:29 PM EDT
[#35]
Quoted: Is it possible to build a tornado proof home? I am considering escaping the mitten when my wife loses her battle with cancer and I'd like to move into the TN,KY,MO,OK area, but I hate thunderstorms and tornados. Now I understand tornado shelters are fairly easy, but I'd like to be able to roll down the steel shutters and hunker down. Does such construction exist for under say 400K for 1200 sqf or so.. Yes. Kansas, a few ways. 1; red iron frame house 2; concrete wall house 3: semi subterranean house 4: build in a low spot with 2x12 walls Easiest is to do half your square feet in a basement. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 1:21:47 PM EDT
[#36]
invest in decent insurance and storm shelter.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 2:37:00 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, that thread had me VERY interested in Monolithic Domes. Tornado proof homes for about the same price as traditional construction? Where do I sign up? Unfortunately, the GF doesn't like the non-traditional appearance, so we're looking at ICF now. The corners give tornadoes something to grab onto, so not as tornado proof as a dome home, but still bulletproof. I've been planning to do the same thing someone else mentioned. An ICF room in the middle of the ICF house. I'm planning on putting it right next to the master bedroom and making it a combination gun room and safe room. Maybe with double walls/ceiling? I would think that should stand up to just about anything. I think you will love ICF. Just so many advantages. We bought ours. If we ever build, it will be ICF and have the storm shelter inside. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:09:30 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: In 2017 43 people were killed by tornados, world wide. That same year 89 people were killed by bees. I would look at building a bee proof house first. If a bee got inside, I could re-bee-proof it with a fly swatter. You do raise a good question though. If we ever get a bee-nado, I'll have to reevaluate my risk from bees. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:19:27 PM EDT
[#39]
It’s easy to engineer a structure against the winds, but not what the wind throws at it. Know of a couple that had a reinforced concrete house get hit by an by EF4- they survived inside but the house was deemed unrepairable from all the debris impact damage
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:25:23 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Warren held up remarkably well though. I doubt the CP has 20 mil to spend on a tornado proof commercial structure. I was at 19th and Santa Fe for 2013 I was just down the street at Southmoore HS |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:26:53 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I dont know about "PROOF".... But I have a lot of faith in my ICF home. The structure is rated to 250mph. The windows are actual impact windows. The entire house is 8 inches of steel reinforced solid concrete that is rebar tied into a commercial slab that extends down and sits 4 feet above grade. (I am out of the Cat 5 flood zone, but water can stand, it wont ever get in my house) The walls are so thick, you can sit comfortably in the window frames. All the windows have pre cast "slots" to put covers over the windows and lock them in. I also figure it is resistant to small arms fire! The house is quite and efficent. In spite of its very large size, the light bills are the same as a 70's built house I had that was half the size. What I worry about is my shop. Which is a traditional metal building and is 40x60. It is good for 115MPH. The house has a 4 car garage and the garage doors are also hurricane doors. If a hurricane is coming, I have to make choices about toys with wheels. You see the pictures of nothing but slabs after a hurricane hits an area...and then one house that looks fairly untouched. That is the ICF home. https://dogk5k0c5kg4s.cloudfront.net/web/images/articles/image11.png?mtime=20220329160053&focal=none |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:27:42 PM EDT
[#42]
im not an expert on tornados
but a direct hit by a huge F5 tornado?? no sir. 300mph winds. google says strong enough to fling a 75 TON railroad car a hundred meters away... better just to be underground. everything else will just be gone. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:28:09 PM EDT
[#43]
After Ike hit Bolivar, I loved the one home that stood apparently undamaged in the sea of 100's of destroyed homes. But sadly, it's foundation was washed out and it still had to be demolished.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:41:35 PM EDT
[#44]
Something that's going to be interesting to watch, over the next few years, is the 3D Printing of concrete houses. This is a system that is still in it's infancy, but which holds a lot of promise.
 3D Printed Concrete House, Printed in 48 hours  
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:43:43 PM EDT
[#45]
Reinforced ballistic concrete truncated pyramid with 1' thick 60* sides aught to do it.
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:46:19 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If you want to live above ground, Google "concrete dome home". Sorry if this is a dupe, I did not read the entire thread... I read about this also. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 5:47:50 PM EDT
[#47]
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:19:19 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, that thread had me VERY interested in Monolithic Domes. Tornado proof homes for about the same price as traditional construction? Where do I sign up? Unfortunately, the GF doesn't like the non-traditional appearance, so we're looking at ICF now. The corners give tornadoes something to grab onto, so not as tornado proof as a dome home, but still bulletproof. I've been planning to do the same thing someone else mentioned. An ICF room in the middle of the ICF house. I'm planning on putting it right next to the master bedroom and making it a combination gun room and safe room. Maybe with double walls/ceiling? I would think that should stand up to just about anything. Fun fact about ICF and corners - 45 degree corners are cheaper to build than 90 degree corners. They also make for better views. The entire front of our house is all 45's, we back to a cliff. That would be less for a tornado to get a grip on. I don't really think you need double walls and ceilings. Concrete box inside a concrete box should do it. If something gets through that, then the Good Lord has just decided it's your time, and an ICBM silo wouldn't save you! |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:26:55 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Steel cables too to tie the roof down. That thing is a nice looking fortress. Interesting. Our ICF house ties the roof down with 1" threaded steel studs, nuts and lock washers sunk about 8" into the concrete of the walls. I don't recall the distance between them, but there are a LOT of them. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:30:58 PM EDT
[#50]
Pull it into the park, remove the wheels and commence to living.
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