How to Build a Tornado Shelter

Many a tornado survivor has had their tornado shelter to thank for making it through the storm when others in their neighborhood did not. A tornado shelter is the best way to protect your family in the event of a storm. You can build a tornado shelter in your basement, garage, in an interior room of your house, as an add-on or as a stand-alone structure. Using the Federal Emergency Management Agency's safe room plans and guidelines, you can ensure that your shelter is up to code and as strong as it can be.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Call the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hotline at [phone] and request FEMA publication 320, "Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House." This is a free booklet that includes construction plans.

2. Determine your area's wind zone by looking at a map of the wind zones in the United States. This map can be found on the FEMA website (see Resources below). Knowing your wind zone will help you figure out how strong your tornado shelter needs to be.

3. Choose an area of your home where you plan to install your tornado shelter. The most common areas to use are the basement, garage, or interior room on the first floor. If you don't have room in your home, you may need to build your shelter as an add-on. The space that you choose to use should be free of clutter; don't store things inside it.

4. Determine your budget. Tornado shelters typically cost between $2,500 and $6,000, depending on the type of foundation upon which your house was built as well as the size and location you choose for your shelter.

5. Get the proper permits and inspections needed prior to starting construction. You will need to build your shelter according to the FEMA 320 plans, which have been determined to meet the National Performance Criteria for Tornado Shelters, or make sure that other plans you decide upon meet these criteria as well.

6. Hire a builder, if it's within your budget and you don't have any construction experience. Building a storm shelter is not a good way to try out construction as a hobby--you'll be using it in a life-or-death situation, and it needs to be constructed as soundly as possible.

7. Purchase your materials, as directed in the FEMA booklet, from a local building supply center if you're not hiring a contractor.

8. Refer to the FEMA guidelines and plans very carefully. Do not take any shortcuts that could harm the welfare of you and your family during a storm.

Tips & Warnings

• Tornado shelters should not be built in houses that are supported by piers, columns, or piles. If you own this type of home, you will need to build a stand-alone structure.

Resources

• More information on FEMA's 'Safe Room' plans and guidelines can be found on the FEMA website.

[j2paul]

on 4/17/2009 The article telling how a septic tank could be used as a tornado shelter came from "Tornado Preparedness; the Six Keys to Safety" found at http://www.disasterprep101.com/tornadoes.htm

[goldiec]

on 2/21/2009 Thanks for sharing. I studied about tornadoes and I can remember reading if you survive an F-5 you were meant to. Those are so bad. I've been in two tornadoes and they are bad.

[BigDiamonds]

on 2/21/2009 use sealant to make things waterproof

[msnicole]

on 2/20/2009 It is nice to know that you can build a tornado shelter in a home to protect yourself, children or pets. The cost of building one does not seem to steep considering that the purpose if for so it would be money well spent.

[grouch]

on 2/18/2009 A shelter is better then no shelter at all. Thanks for the contact information.