|
East of Broken Bow | Did that here many years ago, actually my dad did.
Basically dug 2 trenches next to the house where he wanted it about 7 feet deep, starting against the house foundation, going out as far as he wanted the vault, spaced apart as big as he wanted the vault to be. He may have 'turned' the corners a bit, but left a gap. Smoothed the sides of the trench as smooth as practical, or at least the inside. Removed soil between those trenches to about 18 inches or so below ground level, and put rebar on the top part as well, as if he were building a very well reinforced patio slab, but with the top about 6-8 inches below grade. Tossed an old truck rim (actually 2 rims welded together for extra depth) in that slab to use as an emergency exit. Poured the trenches full plus a slab on top maybe 10 inches thick or so. Then, after the concrete cured, he used a skid steer to dig out the gap he left in one side, and used the skid steer to dig the dirt out from under the 'roof' of the room he just made. Scraped the dirt off the concrete sides and roof by hand, and dug the bottom about 5 inches below the level of the basement floor, and poured a floor in the room to be level with the basement floor or as close as he could guess it by measuring (was off less than a half inch). Then, he cut a hole in the house foundation for a doorway, and made a lid for the truck rim. Backfilled the hole and covered the slab with maybe 6-8 inches of dirt, enough for grass to grow.
So in one side of our basement, we have a doorway in one wall of the basement leading to the vault, and to one end of the vault, we have an escape hatch we can open from inside, unless the house falls on top of the lid. As dad said, it took time to do, but didn't cost that much. Not exactly pretty but strong and functional. | |
|
Anyone built their own below ground storm shelter?
