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Old 05-15-2008, 11:42 AM
 
893 posts, read 790,768 times
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A hallway will not protect you, or anything else in a F5 tornado. If a ranch house has a front porch usually builders dig out underneath that. once the concrete porch is poured it makes an excellent place to hide. Guess I'd be building a house that dirt was piled up on instead of digging down, I'd pile up.
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Old 05-15-2008, 12:31 PM
 
Location: Pawnee Nation
7,525 posts, read 16,980,527 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruikshl View Post
A hallway will not protect you, or anything else in a F5 tornado.
Actually, compared to the damage, there are very few deaths in an F5. If you sustain a direct hit, you will likely die (which is what happens when you are hit at night while you are sleeping) But F5's only happen every year or two. You have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than being hit by an F5.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruikshl View Post
If a ranch house has a front porch usually builders dig out underneath that. once the concrete porch is poured it makes an excellent place to hide.
Funny, I've built a lot of houses in Oklahoma and I am an appraiser so I see a lot of houses in Oklahoma but in my 40 years in construction and real estate, I have NEVER seen a storm shelter under a porch. For about $5,000+ you can get one put under the garage. For about $2500 you can get one put in your yard. But I've never seen one under a porch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruikshl View Post
Guess I'd be building a house that dirt was piled up on instead of digging down, I'd pile up.
Earth Berm houses are not all that common, but they do exist. They will lose a roof and interior walls if they get a direct hit from an F5
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Old 05-15-2008, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Hughes County, Oklahoma
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More people die from floods, winter weather, lightning, and heatstroke in Oklahoma than tornadoes.

That said, everyone should have an underground shelter or safe room nearby that will be available if an F-4 or F-5 is headed your way. If you live near a school or church, check that out. Your neighbors will not mind you coming to share their shelter with them either.
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Old 05-15-2008, 03:27 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,426,436 times
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Why don't they just add a basement to the exisisting houses?
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Old 05-15-2008, 03:38 PM
 
Location: Pawnee Nation
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mkfarnam View Post
Why don't they just add a basement to the exisisting houses?
For the same reason they never put one in, in the first place. 1) Expensive 2) Not needed 3) too much water 4) too much rock 5) something else I can't think of right now.
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Old 05-15-2008, 03:41 PM
 
Location: OK
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I miss my basement. Have one in my house in Massachusetts. Great place to put a pantry and a wood stove. But I wouldn't use t as a storm shelter.
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Old 05-15-2008, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodpasture View Post
For the same reason they never put one in, in the first place. 1) Expensive 2) Not needed 3) too much water 4) too much rock 5)
Quote:
something else I can't think of right now
.
It would be kind of difficult to lift a house high enough, in order to install a basement.........wouldn't it?
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Old 05-15-2008, 04:08 PM
 
Location: Pawnee Nation
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mkfarnam View Post
It would be kind of difficult to lift a house high enough, in order to install a basement.........wouldn't it?
It isn't that difficult, but you have to move the house off the site, get someone in to remove the slab (assuming you are on a slab) or the foundation (if you have a crawl space) excavate the basement (in many places this requires dynamite) Repour the footings and the basement floor, frame a new floor for the main part of the house, move the house back onto the new foundation, reconnect all the utilities, add stairs and that should do it.For a $150,000 house it shouldn't cost more than $100,000.........of course it will increase the value of the house as much as $10,000 so the cost shouldn't be a concern.

You will also need to replace all the brick, so you can chose your favorite color at that time.
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Old 05-19-2008, 01:00 PM
 
Location: (WNY)
5,384 posts, read 10,867,628 times
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I used to live in Frederick... not far from Lawton... been through several small tornadoes... one of which touched down in the field behind my home (maybe 100-150yds from our house)... I would NEVER go to Oklahoma without the understanding that you NEED a shelter... I have nightmares to this day about the tornadoes... and I have been in NY for about 20 years now. If you find a home without one- invest the $2500 and have one dug in the backyard (that is what we did when we moved there). When a storm is coming your way you go down and clean the bugs out and get ready in case the sirens blow (the one that was near our house had NO SIREN for warning- we were outside playing in the yard!) No offense- nothing scares me MORE than tornadoes- I will take a blizzard with a toasty fire and my slippers sipping a hot cup of coffee reading the paper than the horrible sound of the wind and sirens blowing...
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Old 05-19-2008, 02:03 PM
 
Location: Duncan, OK
2,919 posts, read 6,828,468 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skbs View Post
I used to live in Frederick... not far from Lawton... been through several small tornadoes... one of which touched down in the field behind my home (maybe 100-150yds from our house)... I would NEVER go to Oklahoma without the understanding that you NEED a shelter... I have nightmares to this day about the tornadoes... and I have been in NY for about 20 years now. If you find a home without one- invest the $2500 and have one dug in the backyard (that is what we did when we moved there). When a storm is coming your way you go down and clean the bugs out and get ready in case the sirens blow (the one that was near our house had NO SIREN for warning- we were outside playing in the yard!) No offense- nothing scares me MORE than tornadoes- I will take a blizzard with a toasty fire and my slippers sipping a hot cup of coffee reading the paper than the horrible sound of the wind and sirens blowing...
I read that they had a small one touch down in Upstate NY just yesterday...did they follow you?
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