Anyone have any experience with tornado resistant houses? I have read of such, but have yet to hear of anyone who owns one.
Thanks.

 

Lastweek i was reading the sunday paper over here in louisiana and it showcased a company from louisiana that makes somethin like taht. I dont know if its a tornado resistant house or just a room or section of your house. The company or name of hte structure is Hidden Fortress
heres a link to its brochure.
www.homeandsecurity.com/ Hidden%20Fortress%20Brochure.pdf

In the paper i read that it comes with a backup A/c heater unit. air and water filtration and generator. It said that within 5 secongs of pressing the button (didnt say what button, maybe the big red one? ) that all windows doors, everything would be shut off and the backup systems would be running. It said that it could be on hte ground floor or in the air b/c its ancored so deep in the ground. said it was fire proof and F5 tornado proof. Hurricanes shouldnt be a problem. Somethin liek a cemenct and steel building . Sounded nice but expennsive. but just to give you some thoughts, Garrett

 

I live in one. In fact...everyone in our area has one. It's called Southern California. Our environment is tornado resistant. Of course we do have the occasional earthquake...but those are fun!

 

What a coincidence; we also live in tornado resistant homes up here.

And our homes are even fog resistant.

And as for quakes; a few swipes of the ole spackle; good as new.

 

I have not heard of an official tornado resistant home. I have seen claims that metal stud homes have more structural rigidity in high wind situations, than wood stud homes.?.? The big seller out here in 'Tornado Alley' are the seperate safe rooms. They can be metal prefabbed pieces that drop into a hole in the ground or in the garage, or the metal bolt together rooms to place inside the home above ground, or the concrete wall types that are partially buried in the back yard with the access door above ground.

 

There is no home that can take a direct hit from the most powerful tornadoes. In central Florida, these shoddy builders can't even figure out how to make a home stand up to real hurricane winds. The best built homes I've ever seen are all made in the unregulated northern states. Less government interferance and a much smaller plethora of administrative costs means that more money can go into the homes
being built. This overly regulated state has their hands in on everything. It's all
about the money, for all the regulation here, the houses are built like garbage.

 

i worked on a house in alabama in which they make a "room" tornadeo resist its a 2x4 construction, then 6 inch thick concrete wall then anothe 2x4 wall suppose to withstand a class 5, dont know if it will or not, but cool to make

 

ICF-built (Insulated Concrete Forms) homes are typically considered to be tornado-resistant, meaning they are more structurally sound in high winds, and can withstand flying debris (a .30-'06 bullet won't penetrate). The weak point, of course is the roof and any openings such as windows and doors. I'm sure you could build a tornado-proof house if you have enough money and don't care about aesthetics.

Jason

 

A cave or a home built under the ground could possibly be tornado proof. But how far underground does it have to be. A while back I remember see ing where someone bought an old missle silo and converted it to a home. I bet that was tornado proof!

 

Now a missile silo would be cool.

Talk about a burglar proof home

There is a Nike missile silo here in the bay area (Marin County).

De-activated, of course.

Wonder if it's for sale

 

As others have said, nothing is mother nature proof. But these are extremely resistant, and may be what you are looking for, check out Monolithic domes! And No, they aren't the same as geodesic domes.

 

yep I would imagine if they can survive a nuclear blast they might hold up under a tornado
http://www.missilebases.com/
http://www.silohome.com/

 

> ICF-built (Insulated Concrete Forms) homes are typically considered to be tornado-resistant

Yes, if you build a house with ICF and six inch exterior walls and four inch interior walls it is pretty much resistant to everything. You have to make sure you hang the floors on shelves and anchor them down it pretty much guarantees the floor will not go anywhere even in an earthquake.

Dome shapes or multi-faceted houses present a small front to high winds, though any house will be in trouble when you have a 300 mph wind launching telephone poles and 12000 pound trees at you.

If you really want to be safe, have a below ground shelter (can be in a basement) that is basically a poured concrete square with deep piles and interior steel framing with two exits stocked with tools, food, and ammo. The roof trusses should be heavy enough to withstand a tree or bus being dropped on it.

Keep in mind the Coconut Grove fire in Boston MA. Some guy lived in a house designed to be fire proof (all brick) because he was paranoid about dying in a fire, guess where he died?

 

Thanks.
I've read of the ICF construction, as well as the safe rooms, as tornado-resistance measures (not to be confused with tornado-proofing), but I have yet to hear or read of personal experiences with such. (though I did hear a homeowner who seemed happy with his wind-resistant roof during last years hurricanes).

 

Isn't there something that says that trailer parks are 'tornado magnets'? Just don't build a house too close to one. j/k





hehehehehe.....sorry, couldn't resist.