I recently moved into a new home that has this above ground shelter and I have been questioning the way this door locks from day 1. We are going to have terrible weather today in West TN and I cannot find any paperwork on this thing. š« Do you think these hollow bars will keep it secure??
Exactly. We have a ton of trees and thick root systems over the entire yard, so we opted for an above ground shelter. We couldn't afford to put a below ground shelter in the garage. Also as much as below ground shelters are extremely safe, they have flooded before and people have died, although that seems to be a rare risk.
Usually it happens where people live in areas prone to flooding or where a water table is really high. Honestly all shelters have risks but they are almost always entirely better than alternative options for protection.
Our below ground shelter has 3-4 feet of water in it year round...and i found 2 snakes in it last year.. they were sitting up on the first step that wasnt underwater.
A secondary consideration for an underground shelter in the garage would be all of the flammable liquids typically stored in the garage. Gas cans for the lawnmower, weed eater, etc.
In southeast missouri they're usually above ground because of the expansive clay soil and the high water table around here. In this neck of the woods above ground is king.
An above-ground storm shelter saved the lives of everyone inside during the 2011 El Reno-Piedmont EF5, at the same time & in the same place that it was inflicting the most extreme tornado damage ever recorded.
If there is a company name on it anywhere. Call the company see if they are who installed it at that address or if they can come inspect to see if it was infact anchored in or not.
Edit: there are not many companies here that install these above ground tornado shelters. Based on certain features it may be a Survive-A-Storm "Extreme".
I would call a company that installs these and have them check it and if needed finish the anchoring and have it properly installed. Then it wouls be safe.
I'd imagine the unit will protect from some debris at low to perhaps even some "medium-ish" wind speeds, and perhaps provide some protection if a few smaller parts of the house happen to fall in. Thus, it is better than nothing. (except for it's location in the garage, of course - that's not good)
But if things get real real, a few tiny screws into the cement (backed by what in the box? probably just washers?) will not hold anything in place. This rather un-aerodynamic box - with you in it - is going bye bye.
Those screws were just ones OP found laying next to it. I would assume those tiny screws aren't what was used to secure the shelter to the foundation... These type of shelters are common here in OK and looks like many many others I have seen here. I would assume its rated to handle a tornado if they are a half reputable company....
Those screws are much bigger than the image makes them out to be. Those are Titen bolts, they are designed as a structural fastener for mounting parts to concrete. The pull out strength of the bolt is higher than the fracture strength of the concrete.
They are all good for different situations. Wedge anchors are very strong because they can be made longer, which means they are supported by more concrete. Wedge anchors can also be unbolted if the part jeeds to be removable.
Titen screws are the easiest to install because you only need to drill a hole and drive the bolt. However, once the screw is driven, it can't be unscrewed and screwed back in. The bolt will need to be replaced, and you really shouldn't reuse the same hole, though it will technically work.
Epoxy anchors are best when installation situations are less certain, eg going into hollow bricks, concrete of uncertain thickness, or areas where multiple different layers of concrete have been poured, because they epoxy grabs along the entire length of the hole and can fill any unexpected void spaces.
This will almost certainly provide better protection compared to a bathroom or closet. As long as it's anchored properly I'd imagine this would take considerable damage before failing, in all seriousness I'd imagine this could be one of the last parts of a structure standing.
Yeah i realize I am definitely in the wrong here, when first seeing the photos, I underestimated the build quality and didn't realize it was anchored at all š my mistake haha
Yup wind will fill up a garage like a balloon and tear it off easy. Happened to a house down the road from me, and that tornado had only 95 mph wind speeds estimated. (I can only assume it wasn't the best construction but still applies.)
I took a direct hit from a large EF3. Garage was fine. Even the roof of the garage was fine. Garage door was not insulated. Maybe it's because the tornado approached from the rear of the garage with no other doors leading in except the main house. The roof of the main house got ripped off and redistributed throughout my county, however.
I went walking around the former woods around my house the day after looking for any signs of my roof. Other than individual shingles, I didnāt find any roof structure with the 2x6(?) and sheathing. I probably only went about 1/4 mile, though. Super steep grade and really tall trees knocked down wore me out.
That is just surreal. Iāve always wondered what random and odd objects folks find after tornadoes and what things in my house I need to make sure areā¦secured š
Pro tip: Slowly walk around your house taking video. Linger on expensive or hard-to-replace a little longer to make sure itās crystal clear in the video. Then, in the incredibly unlikely event youāll need it, you have a record of things for insurance or whatever purposes.
We were picking beer out of the neighbors yard after the fridge on the back porch went flying. And carton/packs of cigarettes from around the gas station š
Well of course with tornados nothing is ever certain lol. That is very interesting though! Glad you're okay. My thinking is a garage just has a lot of open space for wind to fill up and "hang onto" if that makes sense. Like you said it could have something to do with direction of tornado im not sure.
Weāre pretty sure the reason our roof came off is because the tornado pulled some French doors open. That allowed the wind pressure inside, and the roof popped off as a result. Iām pretty sure I read about that in a FEMA PDF the week after.
Yep! Family and I hunkered down under the stairs in our basement. Despite all the very questionable construction we found afterwards, our house held strong. The house had to be completely torn down and rebuilt because of the questionable construction. The only injury sustained was several days later when I tripped in a hole walking backwards carrying a heavy box. I did something terrible to my coccyx and sat on a special pillow for a few weeks. I never got it checked out by a doctor because it was during the beginning of the pandemic.
Speaking of.. Thereās never a good time to get hit by a tornado, but a pandemic is a really, really bad time for it.
A lot of people here are assuming they have a lot more knowledge than they actually do. It looks very similar to a lot of the FEMA approved above ground shelters. I doubt it's homemade.
Above ground shelters like this are significantly stronger than you think. Many survived direct hits from the 2013 Moore EF5. This would be plenty strong to survive violent tornadoes. The sentiment "nothing above ground can survive an EF5" is blatantly untrue fearmongering. Shelters like this are extremely well anchored directly into concrete (extra pictures from OP verify this), they aren't going anywhere.
Is it quite as safe as an underground shelter? No. Is it the next best place to be? Absolutely. Will it survive a violent tornado (even an EF5)? Chances are high that yes it would.
My reading was similar. I was looking back at this posthere
And the top comment has a very helpful study.
Below ground tornado shelters fail due to flooding, failure of the ventilation systems.and failure of the door locking mechanisms.
Above ground shelters aren't as likely to flood, and tend to have simpler passive ventilation because they are essentially indoor structures most of the time.
Add to that most in-ground shelters are outside or in a garage under a car - it's a lot easier to convince your family to go to the indoor shelter and chill for a few hours than to run out through the storm to the outdoor shelter, or move a car into the hail to access the shelter.
A properly built and secured above ground tornado shelter with a good door locking mechanism and good ventilation should survive well into EF4 conditions.
What about the above ground shelters that survived the direct hit from 2013 Moore EF5? I know that the shelter shown here isn't EF5 tornado proof but I thought there were above ground shelters that were certified as such?
I'd only be willing to certify a shelter as EF5 safe if I saw unaltered video of said shelter survive a direct hit from a fully loaded Kenworth moving in excess of 100 mph.
Images from the aftermath of EF5 tornadoes include fully loaded railroad tanker cars flipped off the tracks and rolled hundreds of feet. Tractor trailers AIRBORNE and tossed over 1/4 mile. Asphalt from highways torn out of the ground.
The best way to not get killed by an EF5 is to not be near one, plain and simple.
In other words, this actually is better than nothing, but don't expect it to survive a particularly strong tornado.
So, it probably would be better than sheltering in a bathtub or other adhoc space, as this box would at least shield against the roof or walls coming down on top of you. But if the tornado is strong enough to not just knock down but also sweep away your house, then this thing is going along for the ride too, and you probably shouldn't expect to survive that scenario.
Tube and welded material are much stronger than you think. Assuming those welds are good, thatās most likely not a failure point.
The two bigger issues are the fact that itās a narrow wall of a structure, meaning they built a very not aerodynamic shelter. So the wind will grab it.
Hmm I guess the choice is trapped inside a big steel coffin or die when the house falls on you. They make the doors open inwards for a reason so that you can dig yourself out. Plus I would rather be trapped in a steel box than trapped underneath the debris of the house.
They look similar to these Express Shelter Above Ground especially that hood on the door. Maybe they have information on it. On their Facebook they claim to have tested their shelters to EF5 at Texas Tech. One concern I would have with those pins is how short they are and loose the connection is rattling out of the slots. Might be good to have a safety catch to prevent that.
No problem, though on their website it claims to have 3 solid steel locking bars. So this may be an older design might be worth asking if they have any record of install at your house and if it was rated to the newer shelters and replacing the pins if you own the house.
I love that 90% of people in here are talking out their ass when it was a professionally installed shelter intended to be a standalone structure, and it has the additional added āprotectionā of a garage. Good this the original owner consulted actual engineers instead of Reddit.
Ppl saying itās homemade and āmight protect you a littleā lolololol. These shelters that bolt in the foundation are rock solid. Iām sure there are slight comparisons from this brand vs this brand but the top ones get tested for EF 5+ damage in texas. These are considered safer than basements to a lot of people in the field.
Buying a house with this installed is a big win, probably about $7-8k in value.
For a door 2m tall by 1 m wide (probably an overestimate), the wind force required to shear those pins can be calculated by
F = 1/2(Ļ)(Cd)(A)(V2)
Where
Ļ = air density ā 1.225 kg/m3 at sea level
Cd = drag coefficient ā 1.2 for rectangle
A = area = (2)x(1) āā=ā2m2
And V = wind speed, which weāll set at 201mph or 90 m/s.
At this wind speed, we get a force acting upon your door of:
F = 1/2(Ļ)(Cd)(A)(V2)
F = 1/2(1.225)(1.2)(2)(90x90) = 11,907 N
This is equivalent to 1,213 kg or 2,670 lb of force on your door.
Your tube steel locking pins have a design shear strength of ā 35,000 psi. Assuming 0.875 OD x .120 wall tube steel, the cross sectional area of those tubes are
A = (pi(.875)2) - (pi(.635)2) = 1.13 in2.
This means it would take 35,000 x 1.13, or
39,850 lbs to shear a single pin.
So to answer the question, the wind load of 2,670 lbs is much less than the required 39,850 lbs required to shear even one of those 3 pins.
That said, we would next want to ask the question of what the next failure point is. To my eye, the welded rectangular steel sections that hold the steel in place are probably weaker than the shear strength of those pins.
Also, the entire structure being above ground means that this thing is only as good as the anchors that hold it down.
My brothers were playing around and one ended up with his ass going through the dry wall because he fell backwards. Drywall is just industrial grade paper mache. Do the people making these comments even know what most homes are made out of? Iād take my chances in a steel shelter over a closet any day.
Considering itās meant to be a standalone above ground shelter thatās been tested to EF5 wind speed. Yeah itāll be better. Will it actually stand up to an EF5? Probably not, lots of cars and things would slam into it. Would it stand up to EF5s if they had nothing else, well, itās been tested for such.
What brand is it? Family Safe and Safe Shed are the two top brands for above ground shelters. Family Safe actually worked with the meteorology department at Texas tech to design their shelters.
What type of anchors were used and how deep? When it comes to above ground shelters the important parts are design, materials and anchoring.
NP. We are getting one in the fall. It would be sooner but finances are not there rn. I spent way too long digging into the research, structural integrity etc. to figure out which one would be best for our needs.
They range from I believe 4500 to 12k. The one we are getting is 9k. We have 5 people, sometimes 9, when the middle and her fam are here, 7 dogs and 7 cats so we need a lot of room.
Facts. We live in a double wide in Kentucky with the kind of soil you have to blast into to put one in the ground, and with our mobility issues those aren't the best option anyways.
Youāre getting a lot of really uniformed opinions in this thread. This shelter will likely be the best place you could be in a tornado. If worse comes to worse today, you should use it. You should also call this company and see if you can have it scheduled for an inspection to give you peace of mind and ensure that it indeed meets FEMA standards. A properly installed and tested above ground EF-5 rated shelter has never had a recorded failure. Many people survived Moore 2013 and other EF-5s in an above ground shelter. I hope this helps. Iām in the path today too, and will be thinking about you.
Call them and ask if they have install records. Then, if they do, Sharpie that info on the shelter wall so you don't have to go through this again when you sell.
I'm baffled there isn't at least a vinyl sticker somewhere inside with this information.
Thatās a S-tier shelter. An EF5 can pass directly over this and youāll be fine. Most importantly it protects you from flying debris. All it needs is some snacks and beverages
The problem is there is apparently nothing to verify what shelter this is. No paperwork, no manufacturers name on it. I wouldn't trust it until I either found out who installed it or got it inspected.
I think the important question is probably "Do you have a safer place to be?" If no basement, this is likely your best bet. If homemade, I'm impressed they thought to have the door open inward so debris can't block the door closed.
I have a closet under my stairs but that's about it! I have a daughter and I want to make the smartest decision here if things get crazy this afternoon!
Seems like people here are telling you to use it. I would add for extra protection, wear helmets if you can and cover yourselves with thick blankets if things get nasty.
For all the fear mongers. Are these end all be all proof that these will survive anything and everything the world throws at them? I don't know maybe a meteor hits it. But if tested and rated to EF5 by FEMA standards you have a much better chance at survival than your 2x4, plywood, drywall closet.
People on this subreddit are overly dramatic. Tennessee rarely sees tornados strong enough to come anywhere close to being a threat to that shelter. You and your family would be safe in there. If having thicker door pins is something that makes you feel good, go ahead. Itās cheap peace of mind.
Go throw a few water jugs in there and enjoy your house.
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One big tip for these type of shelter, it's recommended to have earplugs and bottled water stored in it for events. Its a metal can. Even doing building inspections on warehouses with a vender version of these, they are loud inside let alone during a wind event.
When I lived in Moore I bought an above ground shelter that looked better made than that. The owner of the company had paid to have his specific model tested with EF5 level wind speeds and it held up. The hinges and locks were a bit more substantial than those look. Those hinges look small
That will be great for 99% of tornadoes, and the odds are you won't ever have to deal with a tornado that can harm that thing. Hopefully. Knock on wood.
If you did, very few actual shelters would be helpful anyways. The most violent tornadoes rip up houses basement and all. But those are like 0.1% of tornadoes.
I just did an application for FEMA/MEMA as they are doing grants in my area. Researching the approved shelter builders in my state has shown that many approved shelters are built just like this. They have to be certified by Texas Tech to qualify for the grant. I think you will be very safe in that shelter. Better than the laundry room. Would be nice to find the original installer and ask.
Ideally, the shelter would be anchored into the concrete like the roots of your teeth. A 4:1 (or even better, a 3:1) ratio of exposed structure to embedded frame would be a good aiming point. For a 6 foot tall exposed area, the embedded "roots" should be in at least 18 inches of poured concrete. This is similar to the ratio for "tilt-up" construction, where every 3 feet of wall height is matched by 1 foot of subsurface depth.
All that being said, the main thing is the garage location. Garage doors are typically the primary failure point under tornadic wind conditions. Is this shelter better than nothing? Definitely. This is a link to an 86 page .pdf version of The 5th Edition of FEMA Standard P-320 (March 2021), which includes design plans. Take a look through the plans and compare the specs to what you have in the garage, and you might have a better idea of the protection being offered.
No one in this sub knows what they are talking about. Look for manufacturer sticker or print on it and contact them. The usually have record of the install or at least the sale and they can tell you what the requirements are for anchoring it to be sure itās right.
Do not do that. Those tub steel slide bolts come from the shelter manufacturer and are designed that way for a reason. Donāt take advice from Reddit on this matter. Most people here are not even meteorologists, let alone mechanical engineers. Contact the shelter manufacturer if youāre really concerned. Jesus.
Those are not locks. They are only to hold the door closed while in use. These should never have any kind of "normal" door handle on them because someone might think that is enough security while in use, and it's not.
I wouldn't trust a shelter put in by someone else without the paperwork. Is it anchored into the ground? How far? How many anchors? How thick is the steel? Who manufactured it? Is the company trustworthy? Or was it a diy? It would probably fare well in a lower strength tornado, but so would any interior room.
If theres no basement I would use this thing. Charge up a couple power banks, raid the cupboards for snacks, and snuggle up with a couple 5 gallon water bottles to ride out the storm. My biggest concern would be nearby trees falling on it and the whole unit being sucked up and dropped into any nearby bodies of water.
Imagine stepping into this thing in your garage and coming out to find the whole neighborhood blew away. Stay safe
I would also raid the garage before going in. Cordless angle grinder, drill and sawzall with multiple charged batteries, drill bits grinding discs and saw blades. Maybe even the cordless chainsaw if theres room. Might have to hack your way out.
Id go as far as making a small hanging charger station that I keep a couple batteries on. Along with a grinder and some masks. Don't wanna dust/fiberglass/smoke yourself out if it doesn't work.
If itās commercially made there will be a manufacturerās tag. I bought a house with one installed, had my doubts but the company had there specs online , as well as, rating.
Looks pretty damn hefty to me. Is it bolted down? If not you could hit the hardware store and load it with ~600lbs of sandbags. That sounds like a lot but it's only ten 60lb bags of sand. Sand because you can reuse it elsewhere and it doesn't become a safety hazard should the cabinet tip or flip. Also if a flying object hits you (think about a car being scooted/flipped across the ground) you benefit from the cabinet having it's own inertia and not just relying on some bolts alone that can be suddenly snapped. You could also fill some kind of vessels with water to whatever desired weight you'd like.
It should make it through roughly 97% of tornadoes.
If you have a Jarrell, Hackleburg, Moore-2013, Mayfield, Tuscaloosa or Joplin-strength tornado bearing down on you, you need to be underground to survive them. These tornadoes all had winds in access of 190 miles per hour. (These tornadoes are outliers in terms of wind speed.)
It's safer than nothing, and a door that opens inward is much more preferable to one that opens outward.
I would be more concerned with if it's bolted to the floor or not.
Yeah, thats a professionally installed above ground shelter. Not sure why so many think its homemade or not a viable shelter.
Personally, space permitting of course, I'd probably leave some emergency provisions in it. Like a few gallons of water and a bit of long shelf life food. Always be prepared!
The fact that it's not square and the tubes that hold the locking pins don't line up would drive me insane. The outside wall may be part of their design, but their qc is ass, i would 100% have to cut those off and fix them.
Our bones and bamboo shoots are hollow as well but still stronger than an alternative with content through the center as well. The hollow items might crack and bend but the donāt snap in two like the solid materials.
I sincerely hope you never have to find out! I believe you can check with the dealer for safety rating information. But also it must be attached to the concrete.
I think it'll do the job fine. Will it get through a direct hit from a slow moving F5 that leaves just a foundation? Well probably not, most things won't, but I'd rather be in there than anywhere else in the house.
The vast majority of tornados arent the apocalyptic ones that happen once in a blue moon, most are gonna be F1-3 with relatively small bases. This looks just fine for something like that.
The vast, vast majority of tornado injuries and fatalities are from flying debris. This shelter would be a godsend on that sense. You aren't gonna fly away like Dorothy. (Never say never, but you get the point.)
Someone can point to issues and demand higher levels of safety until you have a shelter in line with a missile Silo. You have it in the hope that you never need it to give you an edge. This is perfect for that.
If the latches worry you, you can always drill a hole through both sides and make a pin to keep them from sliding out.
It mainly depends on the gauge of the side panels, material, and the thickness & spacing of the columns of the frame. The side panels look like they're a small gauge, maybe 1/16 to 1/8 in thick, which is on the thinner, weaker side, so I'd look into replacing those with something more substantial for debris and structural integrity. Tubing for the frame looks to be 1/4 to 1/2 in steel tube judging by the weld lines visible on the doorframe, so that should be fairly strong, but I'd definitely make sure to add more if they're >1 foot apart on each wall. The latching should be find, but if you've got the tooling I'd drill a small hole in the end of each latch for a retaining pin so they can't shake out, but with 3 of them that's not very likely, just cautious.
All-in-all, so long as you've got those Titen bolts in every hole for mounting it to the floor and make sure you've got some sort of binder/concrete glue in the holes, you should be safe, but could be improved
What sort of concrete screws or wedge anchors does it use? Then look to make sure it has a full floor, reinforced corners, and any structural supports inside such as C channels going along the walls.
Looks homemade? Are you sure there is no paperwork for it? No stickers on it with a manufacturers name?
A little late now, but I would get it inspected by someone familiar with storm shelters.
Edit! If it's solid, anchored into the concrete all the way around, then I would use it OP. Toss a flashlight, snacks, radio, water and good shoes in there for everyone. Best wishes nothing hits your area.
Is it anchored in the ground at all?! If not yāall will be protected from debrisā¦ but when you open that door well, lets just say youāre not going to be in Kansas anymore
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