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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:32:29 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 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) How much will Texas subsidize? |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:34:05 PM EDT
[#2]
Oklahoma here... helllllll no
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:36:59 PM EDT
[#3]
 We just sit on the porch and watch them like men in Iowa. This picture was actually taken out the kitchen window but we did go out on the porch to watch it. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:46:03 PM EDT
[#4]
Surprised, and maybe I missed it, but didn't see any direct reference to these..
Check out FEMA P-361 and FEMA P-320. They give prescriptive approaches (ICF, cement block, poured concrete, etc) for safe room construction. We relied on that for our safe room we just built (house in progress). Someone here built a cement block one they had a thread on, which is how I found out about it (thank you to whoever you are!) Check out Habiframe (sorry, can only find a Houzz link: https://www.houzz.com/pro/habiframe/bryan-building-system) as well. We wanted to go with them, but they couldn't get the materials in time for our build. They build to the same FEMA standards, and have had their construction tested by Texas Tech (2x4 missles launched at over 100mph). |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 6:55:44 PM EDT
[#5]
Thanks for all the replies and best wishes for the wife..
Lots of good info for me to think on.. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 11:19:27 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/146923/4F54B978-DF80-46BB-9126-EE49AA382205-2637277.jpg We just sit on the porch and watch them like men in Iowa. This picture was actually taken out the kitchen window but we did go out on the porch to watch it. I would watch that as well. Its when it started to head my way....and kept heading my way that my motivation would proably change quickly. |
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Posted: 2/21/2023 11:29:47 PM EDT
[#7]
Sorry to hear about the wife OP. Fuck cancer
Hurricane "proof" homes make sense to me if you live anywhere in the gulf or SE Atlantic seaboard. But hurricanes tend to me rather massive so your odds are better (worse?) for getting hit. Odds of a tornado hitting your house is fairly small and even the big ones tend to only be about a mile wide. Not impossible though. For a big one directly on target, you need to be underground in a reinforced bunker as others have mentioned. Anything above ground would be prohibitively expensive to pull off I'd think. Meanwhile, the odds of something else terrible happening (fire, flood, etc) is much higher. |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 6:32:14 AM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How much will Texas subsidize? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: 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) How much will Texas subsidize? Pretty sure that ended a few years back: https://saferoom.nctcog.org/ |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 6:40:36 AM EDT
[#9]
Last time I saw a Communications Bunker for sale it was about $250k. Don’t know what they go for in this market.
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Posted: 2/22/2023 6:59:05 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 5/27/1997, Jarrell, TX. F5 that erased homes from their foundations. Bodies were so mangled and stripped of flesh and muscles they could be identified only via dental records. Tore the pavement off I35. I grew up not too far from there. I remember that storm vividly. First time in my life that my ears popped from a natural pressure change |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 7:01:50 AM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Thanks for all the replies and best wishes for the wife.. Lots of good info for me to think on.. Probably already mentioned: you're not home about 1/2 your time. More than 1/2 your time away you're either at work (or school) or commuting. Plan y'all's away game too. I'm scared to death of them and being stuck in Atlanta traffic is a nightmare scenario for me. |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 7:18:31 AM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I would watch that as well. Its when it started to head my way....and kept heading my way that my motivation would proably change quickly. I'd be in a fearful state with a visible one. I'd be in a panicked state with the approach of a large invisible one, where there's not yet even a breath of the wind to come, but whose proximity is told nonetheless, by darkness enough to cause streetlights to come on in midafternoon. |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 7:42:15 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 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. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: 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. I would like to add....I’ve endured it all living in the South. To me, I fear ice storms the most. They cripple power grids like a strong hurricane, block roads, and take weeks to recover but then you generally endure freezing temps afterward so food and heat sources are critical. Hurricanes give you days of notice but their power is beyond comparison. 2nd for me is large scale flooding. Can last weeks. Can cut you off from emergency services and destroy roads and bridges. I always chose high ground houses but living on an island suddenly sucks |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 8:14:55 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: To survive an EF5 it would need to be able to handle 200mph brodozers getting thrown at it. Smithville MS EF5 |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 8:24:21 AM EDT
[#15]
Basement OP. You live in MI you know this. Also sorry about your wife.
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Posted: 2/22/2023 8:39:30 AM EDT
[#16]
It's really hard to move the weather.
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Posted: 2/22/2023 8:47:19 AM EDT
[#17]
I lived in Australia in a cyclone resistant home.
It was CBU/cinder block construction with a 3.5-4" thick concrete roof. The windows had pre-hung drop-down storm shutters than dropped down and locked into place. When there was an incoming cyclone the city made it illegal to leave shit out side in the yard where a lawnmower can become a projectile. The homes were build about 6 inches higher than the yard. No flood danger as we were at about 30 feet above sea level a few hundred feet from the ocean. A Cat 5 was heading towards our community and they shut everything down and we had a shelter in place order. The storm veered off, lowered to a Cat 4 and we only caught the fringes of it. |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 8:51:43 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Best you can probably do is to buy one of those decommissioned missile silos. Then hope that something doesn't land on the doorway/elevator shaft that you need to get out. This |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 11:24:14 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/146923/4F54B978-DF80-46BB-9126-EE49AA382205-2637277.jpg We just sit on the porch and watch them like men in Iowa. This picture was actually taken out the kitchen window but we did go out on the porch to watch it. Seems like all the ones in our area are at night. A little different decision for the porch or not |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 11:30:31 AM EDT
[#20]
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.. Take a look at those steel tornado shelter boxes you can get buried in your garage. A neighbor of mine has one....they came in and cut a hole in the concrete pad inside is garage, dug out the hole, dropped it in, and had it all finished the next day. Has a sliding door on top, and stairs that lead down into it with enough room for 4-5 people. They make all kinds of different sizes pretty cool. Anything above ground has the chance of getting destroyed...no matter how strong you think you built it. |
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Posted: 2/22/2023 9:02:00 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's really hard to move the weather. I don’t know, when I go on vacation, bad weather seems to move with me… |
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Posted: 2/24/2023 6:16:49 AM EDT
[#22]
Monolithic Dome newsletter came out yesterday.
Has a construction blog for this dome home in College Station, TX, which I found interesting:  |
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Posted: 2/24/2023 6:55:57 AM EDT
[#23]
Build an underground house. My dad built one in Kentucky back in the early 80s.
Super easy to heat and cool too. |
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Posted: 2/27/2023 3:00:36 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Monolithic Dome newsletter came out yesterday. Has a construction blog for this dome home in College Station, TX, which I found interesting: https://monolithicdome.com/vault/img/2023/02/21/63f4fc72adcb3739c94f4c79/us-tx-college-station-whiteacre-exterior-3.huge.JPG I kind of like that. One of the nicer ones I have seen. |
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Posted: 2/27/2023 4:00:24 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I kind of like that. One of the nicer ones I have seen. |
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Posted: 2/27/2023 4:13:51 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, a SAGE Complex. EF-5 would just scour the concrete some. There you go |
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Posted: 2/27/2023 4:23:48 PM EDT
[#27]
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. 
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Posted: 3/6/2023 9:45:19 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryI love that! |
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Posted: 4/5/2023 11:11:04 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I know of only one dome house in my area; it's about 25 miles away or so. it's located at: 35.047210 -86.645346 There are a few dome houses on the gulf in Texas. I assume they will probably do well in a hurricane. |
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Posted: 4/5/2023 11:42:42 PM EDT
[#30]
87% of tornados are EF2 or less. Even the vast majority of damage caused by stronger tornados is EF2 or less. in a mile-wide monster like the OKC from 1999, only a fraction of the total damage area was F5.
Using the little hurricane clips and reinforced sills will make a big difference in the common tornado. Nothing short of a concrete dome is going to stand a direct shot from the worst. Thankfully the worst is something like 0.5% of all tornados. |
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