The safety and security of your family and friends is always the highest priority. If you live in an area with extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and hurricanes, it's a good idea to have a dedicated area in your home or workplace that can keep you safe during an emergency. You also need to anticipate the danger of burglary or home burglary. A safe room is an area that is reinforced, secure, and adequately stocked to keep you safe in an emergency. If you are a construction expert, a safe room will ensure the safety of your family and protect them from future harm.
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Part 1 of 4: Learning Safe Room Construction
Step 1. Plan for safety
Before building a safe room, you should consider several factors to ensure the room will be able to protect its occupants, and not pose a hazard.
You should start by reading the guidelines available at www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/prevent/rms/453/fema453.pdf. This guide contains design considerations, potential risks, structural design criteria, information regarding air filtration, and other considerations to keep families safe. If you don't read it, you run the risk of building a safe room that endangers its occupants due to inadequate design or construction
Step 2. Learn certain things
Safe room construction and design must be strengthened and constructed to withstand storms and threats of attack; Make sure you understand these factors when planning and building a safe room.
- The room must be made of a material that can withstand strong winds and heavy objects that are flown by them, for example during a tornado. Ideally choose concrete walls, but if you want to adapt an existing wood-walled room, strengthen the inside with steel cladding.
- The room should not have a window, but if there is one, it should be very small (too small for a robber to fit in) and made of Plexiglass (acrylic glass) so it doesn't break.
- The room must be anchored securely to ensure it does not lift or tip over during a hurricane or tornado.
- You will need to design the walls, doors, and ceilings to withstand the strong pressure of the wind and the objects that fly or fall from the sky.
- You need to make sure the joints in the room, such as wall or ceiling joints, are designed to withstand strong winds. In addition, the structure should be space-free around your home or workplace. Thus, the damage in the house does not affect the safe room.
- Underground safe rooms must be able to withstand flooding in case of heavy rain or high water levels.
- The door must be opened inward, in case there is debris that accumulates in front of the door. Doors must also be made of heavy materials that burglars cannot break in or blow away. Solid wood and metal doors are great options; consider using a heavy wood exterior door for a safe room in the house, and reinforce the sides with metal to make it more secure.
Step 3. Know the best place to build or create a safe room
The safest place for a safe room is underground; the first floor interior space is also quite ideal.
- If you have a fox, this is the ideal location if you're concerned about a hurricane, tornado, or other storm. This location is safest and away from exterior walls.
- Garages can also be a good option because they are usually spacious enough for construction and (assuming you keep the garage tidy) reduce the risk of debris falling during a storm
Part 2 of 4: Planning a Safe Room
Step 1. Plan the type of safe room needed
Depending on the number of occupants of the room, the available space, and the size of your budget, your options may vary. The ultimate goal is to maintain safety; however, some safe rooms can be more practical or attractive than others.
- Safe room yard bunkers are designed to be excavated and installed underground. One outer door leads above the ground, and you can purchase units to accommodate any number of people. Choose steel or concrete because fiberglass (glass fiber) is at risk of cracking.
- Above ground bunkers can be attached to the outside of the house, or arranged indoors. The appearance of some of these safe rooms are designed in such a way that they are not visible to ordinary people, and some are large enough to accommodate many people (eg in schools or places of worship). These safe rooms can be built or purchased pre-installed, which costs a little more to ensure they comply with all required codes.
- If your house or place of business is still under construction, a safe room can be included in the planning as an additional space in the building.
Step 2. Get or create a construction plan
Before starting construction, make sure you make an accurate plan and comply with the required specifications. This step ensures that the safe room is able to protect its occupants from any threats.
- You can obtain safe room construction plans and specifications for free at https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/2009. You can use this design to create your own design, or work on it with a contractor.
- Purchase a code guideline to help you plan for building a code-compliant safe room. You can purchase the ICC 500:2008 Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters and download it at https://shop.iccsafe.org/icc-500-2008-icc-nssa-standard-for-the-design-and-construction -of-storm-shelters-2.html. These guidelines were written by the International Code Council, which sets code standards worldwide.
Step 3. Collect equipment and start building
Depending on the build plan, you'll need a variety of fixtures, including concrete, steel slats, heavy wooden doors, and deadbolt locks.
- Consider using motorized anchors around the perimeter of the unit walls to prevent horizontal movement.
- To prevent vertical movement, try using Simpson Strong Tie anchors.
- Be sure to comply with FEMA guidelines for reinforcing the ceiling and walls on the base plate of the structure.
- Install two layers of plywood (plywood) around the interior of the room. A layer of steel or kevlar can be installed behind a layer of plywood.
- Install the door with a 5 cm deadbolt lock.
Part 3 of 4: Turning an Existing Room into a Safe Room
Step 1. Select the room to change
Customizing an existing room in a building is the cheapest and easiest way to protect loved ones from the dangers of hurricanes and house burglars. Although the cost of building or buying a safe room can be up to hundreds of millions of rupiah, you can save it by adjusting an existing room.
Choose a room in the house that has no windows in the walls and ceiling, and no walls that are on the outskirts of the building. You can also use a large wardrobe room
Step 2. Replace the door
Safe rooms require doors that are not swayed by strong winds or a burglar in the house, and ideally the doors open inward in case there is debris blocking the door from the outside during a storm.
- Remove the door leaf and hinges. Replace the door hinges with steel ones, and reinforce the sill around the door with steel (which will prevent the door from falling off due to wind pressure or being pushed through).
- Replace the door leaf with a heavy solid wood (for example, which is usually used as a house exterior door), or with a heavy steel door. Install the door in such a way that it opens inward instead of outward.
Step 3. Install the lock
You can choose to use a traditional or wireless deadbolt lock. If you use a wireless lock, you won't have to worry about finding the key in an emergency, but it can be dangerous if a small child is accidentally locked in the room.
- Before installing new locks and doorknobs, strengthen the surrounding wood by installing steel or brass plates, which can be purchased at a panglong or hardware store.
- It is recommended that the lock be installed so that it locks from the inside. If you're using a traditional deadbolt, make a spare key and store it in two separate but easily accessible places so it's easy to find in an emergency.
Step 4. Reinforce the walls and ceiling
If you're adding a safe room to a new building, the walls and ceilings can be reinforced with concrete, chicken coop wire, or steel cladding before adding drywall and painting the walls. Otherwise, you will need to dismantle the existing drywall to strengthen the wall.
- The most cost-effective way of reinforcing walls is to pour concrete into the 2x4 gaps in the walls. Then, attach 2.5-0.3 cm plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) to the 2x4 on both sides. You can then cover it with drywall and paint.
- You can also put armor on the 2x4 and cover it with drywall and paint. You'll need to attach steel sheet or chicken coop wire to the ceiling, which can be done in the attic if your home is one-story, or mounted directly on the ceiling (it will look less attractive, but chances are no one will have a problem with sheltering in the roof). in the safe room).
Step 5. Ask the contractor for help
If you want to create a more complex or self-contained structure, be sure to stick to the existing code. If you are not experienced in building construction, you can use the services of a local contractor to help plan and install a safe room.
Ask for recommendations from local contractors. Ask family and friends who recently renovated or rebuilt their home, or contact a local inspector for recommendations for trusted contractors
Part 4 of 4: Storing Supplies in the Safe Room
Step 1. Consider fancy details
A basic safe room will keep the family safe, but if you want to add extra features to a more sophisticated room (especially for expensive homes that are often targeted by burglars), there are several options to choose from:
- Surveillance camera system. Professionally installed state-of-the-art security system, allowing you to monitor your home from inside the safe room in case your home is broken into.
- Entry keyboard. The keypad allows you to instantly lock your safe room when your house is broken into, instead of wasting valuable time searching for keys.
Step 2. Store food and beverage supplies in the safe room
In the event of a hurricane or terrorist attack, you may need to take shelter in a safe room longer than expected. You must prepare essential items for your family and unexpected guests in the safe room.
- Start with a minimum of 12 liters of water per person based on the capacity of the safe room. Safe rooms can easily fill up with supplies alone; if the safe room can accommodate five people, it means you need to prepare 60 liters of water.
- Store preserved foods in a safe room, such as canned food or ready-to-eat soups (don't forget the can opener), a few boxes of cookies or biscuits, granola or protein bars, and cans of whole milk or powdered milk.
- Although the standard stock in the safe room should be enough for three days, it's best to prepare more if there is still space. If a tornado destroys your neighborhood, extra supplies can help help neighbors until help arrives.
- Don't forget to rotate supplies in the safe room so that nothing expires or goes rancid (even preserved foods will eventually go stale).
Step 3. Consider any other supplies needed
In the event of a hurricane, you may need other supplies to meet the needs of the family until the storm is over or help arrives.
- You will need a battery-powered radio, at least one large flashlight, and some spare batteries.
- Also prepare a change of clothes and blankets for each family member.
- Be sure to keep a complete first aid kit, including all medications the family member is taking regularly, bandages, antibiotic ointment, small scissors, gauze bandages, and ibuprofen.
- Keep some duct tape and plastic sheets in a safe room to seal doors and vents in case of nuclear or chemical warfare.
