BottomLine, a magazine I love and subscribe to, has a great story about in-home storm shelters. They say they are gaining in popularity because of all the severe weather in the South and Mid-Atlantic areas of the US which have caused death and destruction.
I know when my kids were little, one of my sons was petrified of storms. He use to hop the block fence at the back of our property in storms to go to our neighbors to the east of us who had a basement. Mrs. Naslund was the neighbor, and she knew he had this fear; so whenever there were clouds, this gracious neighbor left her back door unlocked for my son to enter and head downstairs. Later after my divorce, I wanted to buy a new house and make new memories with my kids, and I asked each to make a list of what they wanted; and, of course, this son put basement as his top priority with basketball court with room for 2 goals, coming in a close second. I believe he was the last child to move out of our home because he felt so secure knowing that we have not only a basement but it's a bomb shelter and could probably withstand a lot more bad weather than a regular basement.
What about this article? They say five (5) person storm shelters cost between $5,000 and $6,000 each, plus installation, and state these are 5 feet high and 5 feet across. They are designed to be buried underground. My parents had one of these shelters in their backyard except it was larger, so my kids felt safe visiting Grandma and Grandpa during storms. It also served as a good storage facility for lawn furniture during the winter months.
I remember one time mom and dad ran to the shelter during a hail storm, and once they returned home, they found all their skylights broken and water every where. They had just put on a new wood roof six months earlier, and they got another one from this storm. I was glad they had the shelter to protect them from the noise, the water, and the hail during that storm. I was pretty sure during this storm while at my own house that they were protected because of this backyard cellar.
The article also says that shelters for garage installation are available for the same price. The good thing about these, they can be relocated if the people move later. I've seen some of these in my real estate career, but never heard of anyone taking them with them. It usually becomes a selling point for the realtor's listing.
The article says there are a wide variety of storm shelter sizes and types: aboveground, belowground, wood, concrete, steel. One thing to consider is accessibility when deciding which design.
When you go to buy, look for a company with a seal from the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) which certifies that the shelter adheres to safety standards.
Personal memories about storm shelters> 1. When 5 years old, I lived at a gas plant called Turkey Creek; and during one terrible storm, all the families in the camp congregated underground during the storm. Later we learned one child had mumps, and within a few days, I had mumps and several other children of the families who worked at that plant also had contracted mumps.
2. From the age of 5 to marriage, I lived at Fain Gas Plant where daddy was the superintendent. There were 16 families who lived there, and we had a cellar that all the families fit in. Whenever the plant blew the storm warning, the families would hurry to the cellar. The children and wives would go down and take seats on the benches which lined the walls. The men, they'd stay at the top of the stairwell with the door open watching the storm. If they saw a tornado, down would come the door. It was strange, but because of the lay of the land, tornados tended to "hop over" our camp. To this day I don't know why it was called a camp, as we had real houses, garages, a park, basketball and tennis courts, and paved roads.
3. During the time at Fain, with the huge cellar for 16 families, the concrete on the top was aboveground. This cellar was directly north of my house by a large water storage tank that was probably 40 feet off the ground. Boys loved to climb the ladder to the tower, and were constantly getting in trouble with parents. But the main memory is the top of the cellar was our roller skating rink. We went round and round and round. I miss those days.
4. Now with my bomb shelter, I leave the front door unlocked during storms, as my neighbors come over and join us. Sometimes they come while the garage door is still open and we are out looking at the clouds judging whether to go down or not. One of them lost their first home after marriage to a tornado, so they love our basement. But if you think this endears us as neighbors, during the 8 years I've been here, other than storm days, I've probably had fewer than 10 conversations with any of them.
Well, living in tornado alley, I'd say $6,000 investment in a storm cellar for the protection of your home is not much to pay. If you are building a new home, build a basement and enjoy the space as a theatre or gameroom, and have the benefit of using the space at times other than during storms. My husband keeps his cats in our basement, as I'm allergic to them; and he keeps his exercise equipment down there so he has reason to be with the cats and no smelly gym odors fill the house when he's working out. I on the other hand, with cats down there, only go to the bottom of the stairwell and sit during storms. I don't get the benefit of the bomb shelter, just the safety of being underground. Hopefully I'm being protected too.
Well, I hope this blog has been informative as well as entertaining, and that if you are considering finding protection from storms, you will know it is not a weird notion but very popular. And if you are looking for such a home, I happen to have a full basement home for sale for $129,900.
The article in BottomLine was written by Ernst Kiesling, PhD. professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX and executive director of NSSA. You can reach him for further information at http://www.nssa.cc/
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