How to Build a Tornado Safe Room

A tornado safe room is an important part of any house, just like a kitchen or a bathroom. A safe room can protect you from tornadoes or other natural disasters like extreme windstorms or typhoons. Building your own room that is safe from tornadoes is quite easy. Below are step-by-step guidelines.

The location of your safe room is one of the most important step in building your own. You can build your tornado safe room in your basement, on top of your garage floor or slab-on-grade foundation, or even inside your home on the first floor. There are some things you should remember when choosing a location for your tornado safe room. It should have no windows or at least be away from any window. Refrain from building your safe room over crawlspaces. If you plan to build it in the basement, make sure the walls are reinforced with steel. For interior tornado safe rooms, it should be on the first floor, but the floors need to be thickened with concrete.

Before you start pouring cement on your floors, you first need to determine your area's wind zone. Knowing your wind zone will help you determine how strong your safe room should be. It will also help your determine the type of materials you should use for your walls. You can check out the FEMA website to find out your wind zone.

Ideally, a small tornado safe room should be at least 6 x 6 feet. However, your tornado safe room should be big enough to accommodate all the members in your home, including all the supplies and equipment you will store inside. Do not forget to allot space for your walls as well.

No matter where you will build your tornado safe room, it is important that the floor or foundation of the room is thick enough to withstand extreme winds. Pour enough concrete on to the floor so that it is 5 inch thicker than the original flooring. Make sure that the floor is level.

Depending on your wind zone, you can use fiberglass, wood board or steel bars as the foundation for your walls. Dig holes on your concrete floor the size of the wall frame or board. Insert a frame or board with 36 inch-space for each. After you have placed all the wall frames, you then need to pour in more concrete to complete the walls. The concrete should be the height of the walls preventing any space between the roof and the walls.

Cover the entire exterior of your walls with waterproof membrane and then some wire mesh. Also, cover the interior walls of your tornado safe room with wire mesh for reinforcement. Allow the concrete to dry.