All You Need To Know About Safe Rooms in Homes
Category : Oklahoma Storm Shelters
A safe room, as the name suggests, should provide safe lodgings during any storm or catastrophe. You can use it during a tornado or while there’s a security risk in the area. However, it’s not just any corner of the house with special locks on the door. The construction and design of a safe room should suffice guidelines set by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.)
Risk Assessment
A risk assessment is an evaluation of the danger that you and your family might be in while living in a certain locality. If you’re close to a water body, your area might be at risk of flooding. If it’s at an altitude, you must prepare for snowstorms or other environmental emergencies during winters. If the climate of the area is such that tornadoes hit often, your risk assessment will include that. Once you’ve performed a risk assessment, you’ll know why you need safe rooms and underground cement rooms for your safety.
Finding a Location
Once you’ve decided to get a storm shelter for your house, you have to choose a location. It can be a space indoors such as a bathroom, closet space, garage or pantry. GEMA has recommended choosing a place without windows for maximum protection from external forces. It’s best to select a location inside the house because the extra walls add layers of protection but there’s no way to entirely foolproof the safe room from any calamity. All you can do is choose the best storm shelter company to construct the best safe room for your family.
Construction Project
You might be lucky if you find an indoor space for the storm shelter. If not, you can always repurpose the basement or cellar as one. Once the construction project starts, keep these pointers in mind:
- Make sure the walls of the storm shelter are not the same as the foundations of the house. They should be separated so that any damage to the home doesn’t directly compromise the integrity of the safe room.
- Make sure to take necessary precautions against flooding if the shelter is underground. Low-altitude spaces are prone to flooding in case of storms or heavy rains. You don’t want that to compromise the strength of the cover.
- Ensure the storm shelter is large enough to accommodate every person in the family and the necessary provisions for emergencies such as food, clothing, bedding, and medicines.
If you want to invest in a safe room, reach out to us TODAY. Call us at 405-367-7901 for a free quote on underground cement rooms in Oklahoma.