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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:04:29 PM EDT
[#1]
Yeah, a SAGE Complex. EF-5 would just scour the concrete some.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:08:47 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I would only consider any structure "tornado resistant".  The survivability of any structure really depends on two factors. 1. How strong the tornado is. 2. How long the tornado stays on top of or next to your house. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:15:17 PM EDT
[#3]
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:18:07 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The survivability of any structure really depends on two factors. 1. How strong the tornado is. 2. How long the tornado stays on top of or next to your house. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I would only consider any structure "tornado resistant". The survivability of any structure really depends on two factors. 1. How strong the tornado is. 2. How long the tornado stays on top of or next to your house. 3. What debris the tornado has to throw at it |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:18:52 PM EDT
[#5]
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.. Sure, concrete / underground of some kind. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:18:52 PM EDT
[#6]
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. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:20:05 PM EDT
[#7]
Concrete smooth as glass and 4 feet thick with no sharp edges or angles
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:32:31 PM EDT
[#8]
One thing to consider is that the worst case scenario is being put forward as an almost expected thing. The really big tornados are notorious, but actually rare. Jerrel, Joplin, El Reno, etc. The last EF5 happened about a decade ago. Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas have old buildings. They don't get wiped clean every few years.
"Tornado proof" isn't a thing. That point has already been beaten to death. Build sturdy and include a decent hole in the ground nearby. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:32:57 PM EDT
[#9]
Yes you can. You will need cbs blocks with poured concrete and a 6" pouted roof. You will need an engineer to design it to minimize wind load sot it will be a ranch amd not very tall. A very good solid tie beam will be key. Also some interior walls to be cbs with rebar connecting to the roof will be need to support the weight. It can be done that's for sure.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:33:08 PM EDT
[#10]
It's called a basement. Really worried, get or build a bomb/blast shelter.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:33:33 PM EDT
[#11]
I worked in armored cars for 25 years and one thing I had to do time to time was recover cash from bank vaults after being hit with tornado's. Never saw a vault that did not hold up. However, the insides would be wet top to bottom. Can't imagine what it would be like inside while it was going by, dark, unbelievable wind and water shooting thru the interior. After that you would have to wait for the bulldozer to clear the rubble so the vault door could be opened.
Here is one that was solid after the door was cleared for entry:  Attached FileHere is the view from inside the vault looking out:  Attached FileWalk in freezers don't do to bad. Not sure how they are constructed. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:38:40 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I was in the process of moving into a Del City apartment as I watched that go by(1999). About a quarter mile away from me, entire square miles of neighborhoods gone, even the sidewalks and grass. No home can survive a big tornado like that one. You just get underground as it goes by and keep your insurance premium paid up. I was watching the radar, and went over to my dad's house near 89th & Penn. Then the tornado started tracking North, so I got to watch it pass by to the south of me. All the phones were down, so i started making my way over to my girlfriends house near 27th & Eastern in Moore. I was able to drive over Shields before the closed it off. I literally saw people climbing out of debris in the neighborhood on the North side of 12th. That tornado was crazy. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:40:06 PM EDT
[#13]
An ICF house with a non-vented attic and properly designed truss roof can be rated to survive 250mph winds.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:41:10 PM EDT
[#14]
Monolithic domes have survived massive tornoadoes and hurricanes, when properly built.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:44:41 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I wonder what a flak tower costs. Quote HistoryQuoted: I wonder what a flak tower costs. This might be underkill Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I would only consider any structure "tornado resistant". The survivability of any structure really depends on two factors. 1. How strong the tornado is. 2. How long the tornado stays on top of or next to your house. 3. What debris the tornado has to throw at it Considering that anything short of a rail road engine can be picked up and tossed, and I wouldn't count on an entire train not flying around. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:44:52 PM EDT
[#16]
The tornado line has shifted East the last few years. Places like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee are getting more than their share now. I have an above ground shelter in my garage. It's supposed to withstand an F15 if there was such a thing.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:47:46 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Monolithic domes have survived massive tornoadoes and hurricanes, when properly built. There is one out near Blanchard, OK that took a direct hit. It couldn't be repaired. The owners built a new one to the south of it. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:52:52 PM EDT
[#18]
I've designed a couple dozen underground houses over the last forty years. They're not cheap, and a lot of folks don't like 'em, but none of them have blown away.
All you really need is an indoor "storm room". I've done several hundred of them and they're all still there as well.  
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:53:12 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: There is one out near Blanchard, OK that took a direct hit. It couldn't be repaired. The owners built a new one to the south of it. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Monolithic domes have survived massive tornoadoes and hurricanes, when properly built. There is one out near Blanchard, OK that took a direct hit. It couldn't be repaired. The owners built a new one to the south of it. One of the flaws of a monolothic dome is that the exterior is normally basically a liner and foam. To be properly built for a tornado or hurricane you have to use mesh if not rebar and concrete on the outside as well. It basically doubles the cost of the shell at that point, and you still have weak points from all the windows and doors. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 5:55:41 PM EDT
[#20]
You're probably better off making a solid underground storm shelter or at least installing one of those above ground storm closets in your garage or something.
As said even a really tough house will still get trashed with a direct hit. If you're really that concerned than try to build into a hill opposite the typical tornado tracks, which for around here would be ~NorthEast. Also trying to find a location outside of where the main historical tornado tracks go is also a good start for buying or building. https://mrcc.purdue.edu/gismaps/cntytorn.htm# |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:00:37 PM EDT
[#21]
Not above ground.
Think about picking up an 18 wheeler and hurling it at a house. Even if it was made of solid I beams and concrete, there would be damage. I've seen it suck the asphalt off the road. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:10:51 PM EDT
[#22]
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. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:19:25 PM EDT
[#23]
Monolithic Dome would do it
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:19:40 PM EDT
[#24]
I assume a concrete house with minimal windows should do okay. But it would probably look like a rectangle.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:19:53 PM EDT
[#25]
Good home owners insurance and a good sized tornado / safe / vault room is all you need. I live in tornado country and have a small inground tornado shelter. I will build a safe room inside my next home.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:21:35 PM EDT
[#26]
Sorry about your wife.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:23:30 PM EDT
[#27]
Sort of related question -
If you live in the boonies what kind of tornado warning systems are in place, if any? I'm guessing you just need a weather radio and leave it on |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:23:35 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One of the flaws of a monolothic dome is that the exterior is normally basically a liner and foam. To be properly built for a tornado or hurricane you have to use mesh if not rebar and concrete on the outside as well. It basically doubles the cost of the shell at that point, and you still have weak points from all the windows and doors. The one that I saw was cracked like an egg. I have no idea what smacked into it. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:25:46 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sort of related question - If you live in the boonies what kind of tornado warning systems are in place, if any? I'm guessing you just need a weather radio and leave it on You can hear the test sirens where I live. In 60 mph winds....not so much. Lots of people get in their cars and try to stay perpendicular to the track by generally driving south and east. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:34:56 PM EDT
[#30]
I've been in an F4. It sucks the pavement up from the ground.
Build what you want. Make it durable. Insure it qell. Live your life. |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:40:09 PM EDT
[#31]
ICF home is your best bet. But an underground shelter is still recommended.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:40:44 PM EDT
[#32]
Check out Smiling Woods Yurts web site.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:42:20 PM EDT
[#33]
It can be done
Read the specs for tornado safe rooms at schools Lots of thick solid concrete walls Lots of specialized thick glass Heavy thick reinforced steel doors Maybe even a thick concrete roof? |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 6:47:19 PM EDT
[#34]
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Posted: 2/20/2023 9:20:58 PM EDT
[#35]
An ICF house with a concrete roof will do pretty well. It may still be significantly damaged by a storm, even if the inside survives.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 9:36:34 PM EDT
[#36]
underground probably, low cement dome possibly (and much less expensive).
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Posted: 2/20/2023 9:38:22 PM EDT
[#37]
No roof in the world.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 9:48:18 PM EDT
[#38]
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:03:51 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 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... |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:10:58 PM EDT
[#40]
It’s not THAT the wind is blowin’ , it’s WHAT the wind is blowin’.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:22:31 PM EDT
[#41]
I'd be confident in this.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:46:37 PM EDT
[#42]
I think the closest you can get is underground or reinforced geodesic home.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:48:24 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'd be confident in this. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Pad_34_blockhouse.jpg/1920px-Pad_34_blockhouse.jpg |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:54:44 PM EDT
[#44]
Just have good insurance and a storm shelter. You will be ok.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 10:56:28 PM EDT
[#45]
I can relate, lived in KY 54 years, had a basement for 18 years. Oh, there is a tornado coming go to the basement gets old.
Now live down the street from the ocean, have block house, hurricane windows, but still ... Oh a category 4 hurricane is coming better leave is bullshit. Yea, I'd like to have a house where I throw up a middle finger to severe weather and ignore it but I ain't rich enough. 
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:09:38 PM EDT
[#46]
A guy I know built one in Jamaica all reinforced concrete including the roof guy was
a really talented carpenter he had all the plywood and rebar shipped down from here all the plywood he used was from previous jobs ,it cost him very little when it was done just really concrete costs and interior exterior materials to finish the job . |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:26:36 PM EDT
[#47]
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 stuff of nightmares |
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:34:20 PM EDT
[#48]
You can do a room, reinforced concrete walls and ceiling, steel inside opening door. Lower in the house is better. I’ve seen pictures of houses totally gone but safe room perfectly intact.
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:38:07 PM EDT
[#49]
Geodesic dome. Weird looking but they absolutely work
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Posted: 2/20/2023 11:38:13 PM EDT
[#50]
I should have put a concrete roof on
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