Seasonal tornadic activity creates a demand for safe rooms.
A tornado box, sometimes called a storm shelter, is a safe room designed to withstand high wind, heavy rain and flying debris. Sometimes the shelter is built in a home's basement or apart from the house in an underground cellar. The downside to such options are that tornadoes often arrive with little warning, leaving scant seconds to take cover, which is why locating a tornado box beneath a staircase inside the house is another common choice. One way to save on labor costs of installing a shelter is to build it yourself. Does this Spark an idea?
Size
Your first order of business is to decide how many people may need to use the tornado box at the same time, keeping in mind that a line of passing storms might keep you inside for several hours. Locating the shelter beneath the staircase makes use of space that is normally wasted, but the shelter needs to be large enough to serve its purpose. The reinforced room can serve double-duty as a storage room or other secondary purpose.
Materials
A primary concern in building a tornado box is that you use materials strong enough to stop debris whipped into motion by 200 mph winds. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests constructing with plywood and covering the walls' and the ceiling's plywood with 14-gauge steel. Frame walls with 2-by-4-inch studs, and then cover the outside with two layers of ¾-inch plywood and place the steel on top of the plywood.
Anchor
The storm shelter room must be constructed and anchored independently of the house. One method is to cut through the floor of the house beneath the stairs and use steel hinges and bolts to fasten it to a slab of concrete. In the best-case scenario, you would pour a dedicated concrete slab, but the tight confines of the staircase might make that scenario unrealistic. The next best option is to attach it to the house's foundation. The point is to keep the shelter room in place and upright even if the house splinters around it.
Considerations
While your new tornado box should be sealed as tightly as possible, you could decide to install lights and maybe even running water. Vents are a good idea in the event you become trapped in the room by falling debris from a storm and are forced to stay inside until help arrives. When all electrical and backup systems fail, it makes sense to have direct access to the outside air through vented slits. A heavy-duty door, also covered with plywood and steel, held in place with strong screws or bolts completes the storm retreat.
Tags: beneath staircase, shelter room, storm shelter, with plywood
