You may be late to this party but we've discussed this subject to death. Every above ground shelter that has taken a direct hit from a tornado has survived intact. I've got photographs from all of the above ground shelters in Piedmont that took direct hits from their EF-5 tornado in 2011. Talked to most of the survivors that rode the tornado out and only one had a complaint. And that was about the sound of the roar from the tornado. You may want to do some more research. In the case of a massive tornado going through a very densely populated area you maybe stuck in one of those below ground cubby hole shelters in your garage for a while. Emergency services quickly get overwhelmed. I'd make plans of some type for self-rescue. Otherwise make it comfortable enough to spend hours in. Be aware if you have any family members that have claustriphobia. That's one complaint I heard about the coffin size shelters.
You may be late to this party but we've discussed this subject to death. Every above ground shelter that has taken a direct hit from a tornado has survived intact. I've got photographs from all of the above ground shelters in Piedmont that took direct hits from their EF-5 tornado in 2011. Talked to most of the survivors that rode the tornado out and only one had a complaint. And that was about the sound of the roar from the tornado. You may want to do some more research. In the case of a massive tornado going through a very densely populated area you maybe stuck in one of those below ground cubby hole shelters in your garage for a while. Emergency services quickly get overwhelmed. I'd make plans of some type for self-rescue. Otherwise make it comfortable enough to spend hours in. Be aware if you have any family members that have claustriphobia. That's one complaint I heard about the coffin size shelters.
I was there doing S&R, we encountered 3 slabs with above ground shelters intact.
If/when the big one comes and you need to find me, I'll be UNDER GROUND. I'm sure the above ground units are just fine, but I choose to hide and pray deep in that red Oklahoma soil.
Mine is getting installed in a couple weeks. I went with an above ground safe room from ground zero. It will be installed in my garage and I will still be able to park 3 cars in there. They have a picture of this shelter that survived the F5 Moore tornado and everything was gone except for this. It's like a bank vault. The door opens inwards too in case of debris.
My neighbor had an in ground from another company put in his garage and it has floated up twice. My sister keeps getting standing water inside hers. This made me go above ground.
My neighbor had an in ground from another company put in his garage and it has floated up twice. My sister keeps getting standing water inside hers. This made me go above ground.
You say it's a new home. You're having it built? Or you're buying a newly built home?
I bought my current living quarters from a guy who had it built. He had it built, and moved in with no inspection. I had it inspected by a structural engineer. The engineer discovered that the south roof line had no purlin and that their was a significant depression in the roof. The owner had to correct that before the sale could go through.
I would recommend you hire a structural engineer to inspect the house. He can answer all of your questions definitively.
I looked into a below ground shelter in a house that was being sold locally. It was half full of water and totally unusable. With our clay like soil, I can't imagine that not being a problem.
You can rent a core drill for a few bucks. I did this before I installed my 2 post lift in the shop. It needed to be 3.5" concrete at or above 3000 psi crush strength. Turns out it was 4" and 4500 psi. A local materials lab can do the crush test.
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I don't doubt that the above-ground shelters can handle a 300 MPH wind. I do question whether they can handle a direct hit from a 150MPH Ford propelled by that wind. It's not likely that you'd be hit by the car, but I figure a direct hit from an F5 is statistically unlikely as it is, and I'm not going to bet on my day getting any more normal.
+1 on Ground Zero above ground. My father had a 6' x 4' installed in his garage. Paid extra for the reinforced cage but well worth the money. Main reason we had to go that route was at his age my father would have a hard time getting into an underground shelter.
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