Very interesting and timely discussion as my wife and I are in the preliminary stages of designing our next house and one of her requirements was a "safe room" / storm shelter in the basement designed exactly as described here.
I'm lucky. What can I say?
Check the construction standards in Ch4 for SCIFs. Not a bad place to start for a safe room based on likely attack vectors for a home that's been invaded by reasonably unprepared BGs who are limited to what they brought with them or what you leave sitting around that they can adapt to an attack on your safe room.
They don't meet storm standards if you're in tornado alley. There are code sections elsewhere for those.
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/dcid6-9.pdf
With existing construction it is harder to properly reinforced a room with portable materials. I had three different contractors submit plans for a 360 degree armorer safe room and estimates were from $24,000 to $32,000 for a small 12x14 room. Most of the materials purposed used 0.5"in steel plate and 1"inch concrete board with a serious multi point locking steel plate door.
Last edited by PA PATRIOT; 01-20-13 at 17:03.
We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts.
I plan to use a few 4' cylinders to open a sliding door with a biometric scanner (if I can find one resonable) or a fingerprint scanner. If nothing else, it will put a huge smile on my face every time I open it!
ABOVE THE REST_____________________CURRAHEE
1/327th INF 101st ABN_______________1/506th INF, 101st ABN
OIF 1 2003/2004._____________________OIF 3 2005/2006
Yes sir, I will get a name and number when I get home. They were great to deal with. Contractor built the opening to wide for the door. I called the door maker and they custom built a door for the new dimensions. Lucky for me, I got a larger door at the contractors expense.
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I've thought hard about this too. Cheapest is to design this into a new home build most likely.
"Those who do can't explain; those who don't can't understand"...
I used Smith's Security Safes, out of Tontogany Ohio. smithsecuritysafes.com
They were great to work with. The only problem I had was getting enough guys to help me set the door.
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I am a licensed structural engineer in multiple states. If anyone needs safe room advice, please PM. I have designed structures from tornado shelters to federal courthouses (including blast/progressive collapse analysis).
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