Sounds interesting, but your link is not working.

could always build a basement and hope the stones don't overcook the inside of it if we get a sunflare

I have always thought it would be easy on " New Build " property to build a safe room, within the structure without much additional cost. Even to the extent of a ground floor interior bathroom.

The OP is in the US I guess? Sounds like people might want to watch a little less mind altering hollywood 'end of the world, virus' films?

Being on the northern edge of tornado alley, the safe room makes a lot of sense for me. If I need it for some other purpose...it's there.

I watch with amazement the commercials on tv where the guy breaks into the house, sets the alarm off and the woman stops running to answer the phone from the alarm company. In my safe room(s) I can answer the phone...but not until the door is barred.

I guess what I'm saying is that safe rooms are for multiple uses. If for nothing else, than a good place to store the weather radio, the spare batteries, the firearms, the extra food that happens to be non-perishable, the flashlights...well you get the picture.

Keep in mind that there might come a time in your life or your family's life that it will be in the best intrest to retreat rather than to confront. I am all for confrontation if it makes sense. I love a good storm and seldom miss the opportunity to go out and watch it. I have (yet) to back down from a threat but,I want my adolescent daughters to retreat!

If you can, build a safe room. Think about how you might have to use it. Be aware of your risk exposure. Equip it as fit for the risk. It's not wasted space, and it may someday serve you well.

All of this said, be aware that once you retreat to it, you have to egress. Give some thought to the mechanics of that, and some more thought to the psych of that.

Mechanics like...make sure the door opens inward just in case the house is piled around the outside when you go to leave. It's easier to push a door closed than it is to pull it closed against a wind or intruder.

The psych of the thing is what bothers me...I wonder if I ever have to back down from someone or something...then when I go to leave...am I the same as the guy that went in? But believe me if it makes sense to back down...I will, and leave the damaged ego to repair later.

I always had mixed feelings about these safe rooms. I think for stuff like hurricanes and tornados they are nice, but for everything else they kind of seem like death tras to me.

[edit on 23-2-2010 by zaiger]

In another thread ATS member Calstorm had the brilliant idea of putting up quarantine signs to keep people out of your house. I thought it would be worth repeating here.

Great topic, OP

And some very insightful comments from 'Rotor'


I think of safe-rooms quite a bit, to be honest

Maybe all those 'secret room' books I read as a kid ? Don't know

When I was about eight, I had a daydream or vision about leading scores of children through underground tunnels with whitewashed walls and red curved couches built into corners of the tunnels' right-angles

But even though my family will most probably never have a safe-room, it doesn't stop my mentally designing one, ' if ' (if we were going to build a new house from scratch, 'if' we could afford to incorporate a safe-room, etc.)

I'd honestly like a few hidden rooms, the sliding panels, the secret-exit emerging a safe distance away, etc. Appeals to me for more reasons than one

Well this is the thread I thought about all day! A star and flag because it has made me think.

I agree...I don't want to be trapped! On the same token, I don't want my daughters trapped without me there to figure a way out.

I am going to have to think some more about my egress. Right now I am thinking there has to be a way to get some vision on the outside. Windows are out for obvious and "transparent" reasons. Video relies on less than reliable electronics, though that might be one part of a redundant system. Maybe a periscope...not the submarine type necessarily, but more like a tank driver's view.

And since I mostly think about mine in the bad weather sense...I really havn't given lots of thought as to what I'd do if the "bad guys" were on the outside...waiting me out. Now, where did i put that old claymore...kidding...I think anyway...

It also made me think about mine being below ground level...bad weather...and a flash flood. Hmmm...better find a way out the top...gawd I love challenge.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
In another thread ATS member Calstorm had the brilliant idea of putting up quarantine signs to keep people out of your house. I thought it would be worth repeating here.

That is brilliant. That reminds me of staging your home to look like it had already been raided.

I think safe rooms are great for storms, and stuff but I am not so sure about the long term.

I am still up in the air about weather if and when SHTF we should run or hunker down? I believe both will be risky. I designed a cost effective cabin to put in the woods next to a stream that we could retreat to if need be. I cannot convince my husband to actually construct it.

See if we new exactly how things were going to go down we could better prepare but there are so many different scenarios it is hard to know exactly what to do.

For me it's the loft that would be my 'Safe Room' As long as they don't bring ladders, levering tools and shaped charges I should be alright

Just because you have a safe room or bunker doesnt mean you need to be in it every second when and if something man-made happens. It is a resource just the same as any other and isnt a "backed in a corner" type of situation. Its a place to hang out until you find a better place or form a plan. It isnt meant for forever, but as a transitional point.

I love how the headline of the article makes it out to be some kind of bad thing, I would be twice as likely to buy a home if it had a sufficiently designed and constructed safe room in it.

As for ways to see outside of the saferoom I think a fiber optic viewing scope much like what doctors and bomb squad use would be the ideal way to go if you can properly secure portals to later use to feed the scope out.