Homesteading Forum banner
21 - 33 of 33 Posts
designer said:
I have a hubby like yours, He likes to go out and look at the storm. :eek: We have very different ideas of what is safe. I say get in the tub and cover with blankets, he says get in the ditch next to the road because the house wouldn't be safe, I say put the horse in the barn to protect her from flying debre, he says leave her out in the pasture so the roof won't cave in on her. I wish we had a storm cellar, shelters don't take animals and I couldn't leave my greyhounds behind.

How hard would it be to dig a storm cellar? Anyone made their own? Could you make one that wasn't under a house? We have a MH so can't dig under it.
We have horrible clay. Hard as a rock. Hubby says we would have to get a bull dozer to dig a cellar. I equate that to 'well don't hold your breath on getting one!"

They have this neat little tool that digs holes for bulbs. You stick it into the drill and drill a hole in the ground.

We wanted to dig a hole for his raspberry bushes. I drilled a hole in the four corners and the center came out very easily!

I'm thinkin' hmmm, the sucker drills almost a foot deep. You can drill just bout every 8 inches or so and it makes it really easy to dig the middle. So if I wanted a hole in the ground that was say....

6 x 6 or so. I would have to drill 12 rows of 12 holes to dig about a foot or more deep.

IF I did that for 6 weeks. I would have a hole approximately 6 ft W x 6 ft L x 6 ft Deep. Now that would make a nice little cellar.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time. :haha: :haha:
 
When we do finally move back home to St. Clair County to the three acres we just bought, we'll certainly be putting in a storm shelter. There's a place near there that sells pre-cast septic tanks and they've taken some of their molds and refabricated them to cast storm shelters. You dig a hole and they set it in the ground. It may be cheaper for us just to put blocks up in the hole once we dig it. When we move, we'll be 15 miles from each of the closest two WalMarts so that plan will have to be scrapped.
 
I think the best shelter would be a ferrocement dome. If you can't dig down, you could build the dome on top of the ground then mound dirt over it . Tho prob any amt you could dig down would help lower the profile. Many storm cellars are only partially buried with dirt mounded over them.
 
Discussion starter · #24 ·
Guess everyone has their own way of dealing with the tornado threats, whether in a MH or not, and think we'd ALL feel more secure if we were assured a safe place to escape to!
As for Walmart, it *is* screwy how they usher everyone into the middle of the building! Was in one once when the weather took a turn for the worse, a close call, and thought it was nuts. But, if I was out and about without many choices, you can be darn sure I'd be out of my car and into the nearest store/building for safer keeping...even if I ended up in supermarket freezer with hanging pork (DayBird..thought that was great!:))!

ASimpleLifefor7, that's a good idea about checking with city hall to see where there might be somewhere to go to take shelter in the new area we hope to settle down in. But, as mentioned, most places don't take pets, and that is such an upsetting thought...another reason I would love to make our own shelter where we could all hunker down and ride out the storm together. Granted, any other homesteading critters I'd have, I'm afraid would have to fend for themselves, but my companion pets are my fur/feathered kids and would do all possible to keep them safe, unless absolutely no other resort. Why aren't there some sort of shelters provided for pets, also, to provide safe haven during emergencies? No clue...sad.

And I know about digging in this dang red clay in thinking of making an underground cellar/shelter..ugh!!! Yes, machinery would be the best bet! I dug out the hole for my fish pond two years ago (6' x 11' x 2 1/2'..laid with liner) by hand, OMG what an endeavor that was! Had to use a pick ax just to get the clay loosened enuff for just a few shovelfuls at a time..very slow going. The soil was either hard as a brick, or sticky, slippery, gloppy mess that stuck to the shovel if we had any rain. Had we a way to get a smaller piece of machinery back here to dig, that would have been my choice. But when we do get some land, that will be the way to go for me..will just save up some $$! Just wondering about how you'd do the inside of a cellar/shelter..if it'd need to be lined with cement/reinforcements. My son told me about this web site. Pretty interesting..a DYI "storm closet" kit that you install in a closet in your home, and meets FEMA requirements for safety. Pretty cool, but a bit out there $ wise!
http://remagensaferooms.com/index.cgi??StaticContent_Page=.PageCreator/25

Dee
 
There was supposed to be a story about Deltec homes on the news this weekend. They are round homes and they had stories of survival through Charlie and Frances while regular square homes splintered around them. Anyone else get the newsletter? Check out their website for more info. They are pretty cool homes and comparably priced to having someone else build your home another way.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
DayBird..pretty cool that they thought to refabricate a septic tank mold to use as a shelter! Someone is using their noodle!
And Cyngbaeld, what is ferrocement, and the dome you were speaking of?

Dee
 
Our next home will be a monolithic dome. I thought they were very expensive but it turns out they are priced the same as conventional homes. With a monolithic dome one wouldn't need a shelter. Our current home is a prefabricated one - a type of modular home that was brought to the site in two pieces and finished here. The garage and porch were site built. Because the house is trucked in rather than driven in on its own axles, the construction materials are a little heavier/ stronger than a mh. But it dosn't matter in a hurricane or tornado if the wind rating is 110 or 125- not much difference. Facing the prospect of leaving when a powerful hurricane comes along, I've decided that no place less than a monolithic dome can house us again. They're not the prettiest home, but I think they are the safest.
 
Husband, knowing how much of a whimp I am in windstorms (result of staying home for Andrew in South Louisiana)...by hand dug a hole large and deep enough to put a 450 gallon tank in. It was a lot less expensive then the storm shelters currently available some of which are made from the same material. The tank cost about $500 -- the shelters start at about $2500. And he did it in the Ozark mountains -- pick and shovel - one wheel barrow at a time. Don't tell a homesteader he can't do something or can't afford top of the line right?

There is the added advantage that the opening isn't very large and it helps me keep my weight down. Husband has to lift his arms over his head to get his shoulders in. The worse part is when it's thundering and lightening and you have to make a mad run out there! Yipes! -- I have no complaints -- last year I only had to do that twice and this year not at all.

I had a great chuckle over the bulb hole digger....if you've even been in the Ozarks you'll understand why.

Marlene
 
I've been looking at land and farm houses with land on-line in hte ozarks and kept seeing storm shelters as a plus - now I know why. Haven't figured where we hope to move (my winter project).

We live on the east coast of massachusetts. We get hurricanes, nor'easters and blizzards. We have been lucky so far this fall. The last really bad nor-easter we got was the no-name storm of 1991. The ocean sucked huge houses into the ocean and threw huge boulders onto shore. It was the storm they pictured in the movie the perfect storm. Last winter we got quite the blizzard in december - 3 feet of snow at once (the only snow we got all year). It shut down our city for almost 5 days (no school or anything.

I think the threat of tornadoes is something else altogether - I give you all credit - it must come as quite the scare the first time you move to an area with them. Our storms atleast you can "hunker" down. I was in the huntsville area once when brother was in the army - I remember being in a mountain cabin and having a 16 hour rain/thunderstorm and having the roads washed out. Nana didn't move out of her chair all day - thunderstorms terrified her!

Hubby thinks I'm crazy - I'm so preprared - my can shelf and groceries (he calls it the bomb shelf). I shop every 6 weeks so I don't have to go out all the time. The can good shelf if filled for the winter. I did actually buy cat carriers and extra litter etc. in case we ever need them (he rolled his eyes there), duck tape and plastic had him outright laughing.

I figure he might think i'm crazy, but if we are ever in a situation where we need them, he'll be mighty pleased that someone was planning. So do whatever you need to even if the hubby thinks your nuts because someone has to prepare!

Hang in there all of you, especially with Ivan coming.

brural
 
I lived in a 1976 mobile home in Central Fla for nearly 20 years. I always headed for a motel or a friend's house if there was a hurricane, but got no warning of the tornadoes a few years back that killed 42 people. My mobile home was untouched but a new subdivision of traditional homes next to me had roofs off and our little shopping center looked like a bomb hit it.

My new house is 2 story cement block but I've heard that my safe place would be the Steel Master 20 x 30 garage. It is supposedly one of the brands of metal buildings that survived Hurricane Andrew and it did just fine through Charley and Frances recently. If you live in a MH, evacuate to a sturdier building (I stayed overnight once during a hurricane at the hospital where I worked). Most of the time you'll be just fine in your MH, just don't tempt Mother Nature!
 
Hi,

Here in GA. we call mobile homes "tornado snacks" as it seems that MH parks get it the worst, but then again, I lost my house and a 40 x 80 concrete block stable to a tornado, so don't think it makes too much difference - if it's gonna hit, it's gonna hit. Just be prepared.

This hurricane season has got me nervous, and I am simply terrified of high winds, but will hunker down in the interior closet with lots of blankets and pillows if it gets really bad on Thursday - winds are supposed to be 40 mph with gusts of 50, but it's the rain that will loosen the ground so the trees may come down...and I am surrounded by hundred year old oak trees.

I do hope that someday I can move north a little further away from tornado and hurricane alley...it would be nice to have cooler summers too. If you can, hire an independent backhoe operator and get yourself a celler dug, it shouldn't cost over $500 (at least here it wouldn't). be worth your piece of mind!

Sidepasser
 
21 - 33 of 33 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top