Homes with bomb shelters

[Mr Rex]

The other day in that tornado...i wouldn't have minded having one...even toppled tombstones over...

The local septic tank manufacturer sells a modified version of an over-sized concrete septic tank with a ladder and hatch at ground level, wired for lights etc for use as a storm shelter. One of my neighbors has one. If I lived in a more tornado prone area, its not a bad deal, only slightly more than a septic tank, roughly the same cost as a tank and drainfield installed.

 

[DMZwerg]

I saw one that was converted to a wine cellar. If I had to take shelter in one that one would be my choice.

Wine Celler
Storm Shelter
Gaming Room / Dungeon
...

(sorry, my RPG roots showing there but I know of groups that get EXCITED about buying a house with a bomb shelter and friends get envious and start asking if it has an interconnected tunnel system to the house, secret/hidden entrances/exits and so forth ... gamers, go figure)

 

[jlabauve]

My Dad installed a bomb shelter in our back yard during the Cuban missile crisis. It is like a huge corrugated metal pipe buried under a thick concrete slab, and has a passive ventilation system. Since this is Louisiana, where there is massive humidity, and the ground is always wet, it's got a couple of feet of water in it now. It's been locked up for years. I'd actually be afraid to go down in there.

Back in the day, it was soooo cool. We had electricity down there and a telephone. This was when you just had one telephone in the whole dang house, so it was quite a luxury. We'd have slumber parties down there and make prank phone calls.

Now it's just a huge liability. I've been thinking about this bomb shelter and it's effect on value for years and years. I've never seen a sale of a property with a bomb shelter, much less one that's a god-awful safety hazard.

Some day, when we sell the old home place, it'll have to be remediated somehow. Any ideas? I guess it'd need to be dug out and removed.

 

[Elliott]

One man's 'bomb shelter' is another man's 'panic room.'
I've seen a few, obvious and hidden. I've seen LDS's who
have a year's supply of provisions.

I've been through a week of no power, no heat, no communication
in the middle of winter because of a hurricane. I did fine, thank you,
because I was prepared. Go ahead, call me paranoid. How would you have
done?

 

[Captain Common Sense]

Some day, when we sell the old home place, it'll have to be remediated somehow. Any ideas? I guess it'd need to be dug out and removed.

Around here they convert them into grow rooms.

 

[RSW]

One man's 'bomb shelter' is another man's 'panic room.'
I've seen a few, obvious and hidden. I've seen LDS's who
have a year's supply of provisions.

I've been through a week of no power, no heat, no communication
in the middle of winter because of a hurricane. I did fine, thank you,
because I was prepared. Go ahead, call me paranoid. How would you have
done?

I didn't know they had that many huricanes in Oregon!

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

What immediately crossed my mind was a storm shelter but then there aren't too may tornado's in New Mexico. I have appraised a number of houses here in Colorado Springs that had bomb shelters, most were built in the 50s when Colorado Springs was in the top ten targets. Once the Cheyenne Mountain Underground (NORAD) was completed we dropped down to something like 18th.

My father-in-law, an Air Force colonel, built one in his retirement home and stocked it with a years supply of food, water, gold, and guns. Was really more for what he thought was going to be a revolution. When he died the guns and gold were sold for a nice profit but the food and water was pretty worthless.

I doubt I could support an adjustment for one based on today's market. Most likely a wine cellar would be the most practical application. Those might be more valuable in storm prone locations.

 

[Elliott]

RSW,
We don't. I should have said, 'extra tropical cyclone', but I didn't want to
sound fancy.

"The second half of the storm -- juiced with moisture from two tropical typhoons -- sent rivers in both states on a rampage, flooding Vernonia, where the storm dumped 11 inches of rain.

Offshore waves were 40 to 50 feet high, with some recorded over 70 feet. Two offshore weather buoys were snapped from their moorings and destroyed. More than 100,000 households lost electricity.

He said the storm's wind-to-gust ratio was also very high -- 1.6 to 2.0, which roughly means that sustained winds of 40 mph were followed by gusts of 80 mph over and over again for 36 hours."