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Storm Shelters
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 2:26:50 AM5/22/13
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Storm shelters are in the news so let's attempt a few:
Dig a 6' by 8' rectangle trench that is 18" deep. Pour concrete 20" high. Stick stainless-steel angles vertical in the concrete every 24". And these angles could be 2" by 2" by 1/8" and 6' high above the ground. Turn the angles for a flat surface facing out and for a corner at the corners. Have the tops of the angles make a slight slope front to rear. Overlap the tops of the angles with horizontal angles across the building width and bolt them together with 1/4" stainless steel bolts and nuts. Attach stainless-steel sheet that is 0.10" thickness to the angles with stainless-steel bolts and nuts. This is front, sides, back, and top. Except leave the front open for a 4' door design and that could be either a swinging door or a sliding door. Do a final roofing over the sheet gaps with 0.015" thickness stainless-steel sheet that is overlapped and attached to the building sides with stainless-steel metal and wood screws.
Optional: Poor a 4" thick concrete floor. Insulate the inside and attach thin paneling with stainless-steel metal and wood screws. Attach 1" x 5" cedar boards to the outsides of the building with stainless-steel metal and wood screws.
Of course buy the stainless-steel from a regional steel distributor.
Or for a building with rounded corners pour concrete walls into forms and attach a roof as previously described to stainless-steel angles sticking up from the walls.
The reason for all the stainless-steel ? Well, 300 series stainless-steel will never rust or corrode and thus a seal from the outside weather doesn't have to be perfect.
Then the advantage of this storm shelter is that it is also a tool shed or lawn mower shed.
Perhaps easier, pre-cast concrete pieces are available to make a manhole in the ground. However, the manhole needs a pipe laid for drainage in addition to setting the manhole six feet in the ground
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Dig a 6' by 8' rectangle trench that is 18" deep. Pour concrete 20" high. Stick stainless-steel angles vertical in the concrete every 24". And these angles could be 2" by 2" by 1/8" and 6' high above the ground. Turn the angles for a flat surface facing out and for a corner at the corners. Have the tops of the angles make a slight slope front to rear. Overlap the tops of the angles with horizontal angles across the building width and bolt them together with 1/4" stainless steel bolts and nuts. Attach stainless-steel sheet that is 0.10" thickness to the angles with stainless-steel bolts and nuts. This is front, sides, back, and top. Except leave the front open for a 4' door design and that could be either a swinging door or a sliding door. Do a final roofing over the sheet gaps with 0.015" thickness stainless-steel sheet that is overlapped and attached to the building sides with stainless-steel metal and wood screws.
Optional: Poor a 4" thick concrete floor. Insulate the inside and attach thin paneling with stainless-steel metal and wood screws. Attach 1" x 5" cedar boards to the outsides of the building with stainless-steel metal and wood screws.
Of course buy the stainless-steel from a regional steel distributor.
Or for a building with rounded corners pour concrete walls into forms and attach a roof as previously described to stainless-steel angles sticking up from the walls.
The reason for all the stainless-steel ? Well, 300 series stainless-steel will never rust or corrode and thus a seal from the outside weather doesn't have to be perfect.
Then the advantage of this storm shelter is that it is also a tool shed or lawn mower shed.
Perhaps easier, pre-cast concrete pieces are available to make a manhole in the ground. However, the manhole needs a pipe laid for drainage in addition to setting the manhole six feet in the ground
.
PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 2:55:54 AM5/22/13
to
> Storm shelters are in the news so let's attempt a few: Dig a 6' by 8' rectangle trench that is 18" deep. Pour concrete 20" high. Stick stainless-steel angles vertical in the concrete every 24". And these angles could be 2" by 2" by 1/8" and 6' high above the ground. Turn the angles for a flat surface facing out and for a corner at the corners. Have the tops of the angles make a slight slope front to rear. Overlap the tops of the angles with horizontal angles across the building width and bolt them together with 1/4" stainless steel bolts and nuts. Attach stainless-steel sheet that is 0.10" thickness to the angles with stainless-steel bolts and nuts. This is front, sides, back, and top. Except leave the front open for a 4' door design and that could be either a swinging door or a sliding door. Do a final roofing over the sheet gaps with 0.015" thickness stainless-steel sheet that is overlapped and attached to the building sides with stainless-steel metal and wood screws. Optional: Pour a 4" thick concrete floor. Insulate the inside and attach thin paneling with stainless-steel metal and wood screws. Attach 1" x 5" cedar boards to the outsides of the building with stainless-steel metal and wood screws. Of course buy the stainless-steel from a regional steel distributor. Or for a building with rounded corners pour concrete walls into forms and attach a roof as previously described to stainless-steel angles sticking up from the walls. The reason for all the stainless-steel ? Well, 300 series stainless-steel will never rust or corrode and thus a seal from the outside weather doesn't have to be perfect. Then the advantage of this storm shelter is that it is also a tool shed or lawn mower shed. Perhaps easier, pre-cast concrete pieces are available to make a manhole in the ground. However, the manhole needs a pipe laid for drainage in addition to setting the manhole six feet in the ground .
Of course, footings are about 8" wide
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 3:05:32 AM5/22/13
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Another reason for using the stainless-steel is that it can be set in the footings without rusting or corroding. And this is a key attachment for this storm shelter
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 5:36:36 AM5/22/13
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Okay, the storm shelter needs stainless-steel angles across the building width at the top of the footings and then a 0.10" stainless-steel floor with everything bolted together. That's in case a 200 MPH wind should pull the footings out of the ground and turn the building over
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 8:31:52 AM5/22/13
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The stainless-steel angles could be as small as 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" by 1/8" .
The stainless-steel angles for the floor could be as small as 1" x 1" by 1/8" .
The stainless-steel bolt size could be as large as 3/8" .
The stainless-steel sheet for the sides, back, top, and floor would be too thin
at 0.07" but heavy enough at 0.10" . The sheets would likely be used in a width between 6" and 12" .
The final roofing over the 0.10" sheet gaps could be as thick as 0.035" but okay at 0.015" .
The front door should slide in tracks with the use of two lift handles unless a swinging door is designed by an engineer (for 200 MPH wind)
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 9:15:54 AM5/22/13
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A roof slope could be worked out using a spacer between the 0.10" stainless-steel sheating and the 0.035" final roofing. And that instead of trying to proportion the heights of the vertical pieces
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 3:30:50 PM5/22/13
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The trench for the footing is 18" deep and 8" wide. Then I was suggesting to pour 20" of concrete so as to have the top of the footings 1" to 2" above the ground.
Then with the stainless-steel cross pieces for the floor being 1" x 1" x 1/8" the floor goes an additional 1" high.
So the front footing probably needs a ramp slope just to make it easier to roll something into the building
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 4:39:02 PM5/22/13
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The depth of the footings do depend on local codes or local practice.
Since the outside of the stainless-steel storm shelter can be sided with cedar boards then a gable roof add-on is also possible. These facades are just attached with stainless-steel metal and wood screws and are not a part of the storm wind protection
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PolicySpy
May 22, 2013, 5:07:45 PM5/22/13
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With the stainless-steel vertical pieces at 24" apart then 0.10" thick stainless-steel sheating is used.
If the stainless-steel vertical pieces were 12" apart then 0.070" thick stainless-steel sheating would be okay.
The thicker sheet would stand up better to impacts by objects in the wind but both bolted-together designs should hold together in high wind
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