Tips for Choosing the Right Location for Your Storm Shelter

If the area where you stay is prone to storms and tornados, you are bound to get a storm shelter. However, it is not very easy to create a storm shelter and difficulty starts from finding a suitable location. The space you choose for your storm shelter should be convenient in the first place, because if only it is conveniently located, you and your family can seek shelter in it when storm arrives. There are other factors too upon which you should decide the location of your storm shelter. Let’s see some.

Inside the Home

The location of your storm shelter may largely depend upon the type of shelter you choose. But the most convenient location is inside your home. Nobody finds it amusing when the tornado siren goes on and they have to hide themselves, leaving the comfort of home, in the high speed winds and pouring rains. Instead, if the shelter is inside the home, everybody can conveniently access it and after the storm siren goes off, can start their routine.

While Building a New Home

If you are building a new home, you are at liberty to erect your shelter wherever you want. You can even turn your laundry room, closet or pantry in a storm shelter. Your shelter can be under a staircase or stairwell or in a sunroom. You should decide the location of the storm shelter right after you start examining the house plans because both an in ground storm shelter and safe room would be installed at the time of foundation phase of home building.

In the Existing Home

If you are staying in an already built home, you can choose to have your storm shelter in your carport or garage. The garage is often the only space that has sufficient entry for equipment or big storm shelters.

In-ground tornado shelters are usually installed a foot from the opening door of the garage. There are many reasons for this:

• If debris accumulates on top of your hiding place in the ground and the emergency officer has to dig through the wreckage to find you, they would not need to dig very far. You can be located as near the exterior wall as possible. This greatly reduces the rescue time.
• When your shelter is just one foot from the garage opening, the emergency personnel doesn’t have to drive the excavator inside garage. The excavator can be parked outside and reach inside with the container to excavate the rubble.
• Building codes state that there should not be any electrical or water lines below the concrete slab of floor of the garage. But a contractor may run a water line from bathroom or laundry room to save some dollars. When the storm shelter is just one foot below the garage opening, the risk of touching the foundation or any other component like water or electrical lines during excavation process is eliminated.

OKC Storm Shelter protects your family against the most dangerous tornados by providing custom storm shelters with a pre-determined plan. They offer you the best storm shelters at the most reasonable price, thus you get the full value of your money. Look at some of their outstanding storm shelters in the images given in this article and on their website.