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A storm shelter can be your safety net during severe weather outbreaks. The following article will show you how to build one of these storm pits for yourself.
Things you'll need:
Form Lumber
Plywood
1/2" All Thread Rod
1/2" Nuts & Washers
1/2" ReBar
1 First you will need the storm shelter location spotted. A hill or a bank is good.
You will need a backhoe to dig down 6' or so and about 9 or 10' wide. You will
need to form up and pour your slab first. I would advise pouring a slab at least
8' wide, 10' long, and 6 inches thick. I poured mine 6 inches thick. I also sloped
it at about 2" of fall with a 2' X 2' X 4" deep drop down at the sloped end to hold
any water that might get in there. A sump pump in the drop down can pump any
water out, if that is the case.
2 Cut your 2- 2X6 boards at whatever length the storm shelter slab will be and
cut your other two whatever the width of the slab will be. Nail them together on
the ends making a square or rectangle. Then get it squared up by measuring
from one corner diagonal over to the other corner. Then measure the other two
diagonal corners. It is squared up when those measurements match.
3 Cut your 2X4 bracing boards about 24" long with a point cut on one end of
each one. You want to drive these in the ground up against the outside of the
storm shelter 2X6 form boards about every 3' or so so they don't bow outwards
from the pressure of the concrete. Nail your 2X6 form boards to the bracing
stakes. Then you want to go straight out from each one about 12 to 18 inches
and drive another one and then measure between those from the bottom of the
outside one to the top of the one against the form board.
4 You will want to spread a layer of gravel down inside the storm shelter form
area, evenly spread throughout the entire slab area before the rebar goes
down.
5 Inside the form use 1/2" rebar tied together with baling wire. Run the rebar the
length of the underground shelter slab area about one foot apart all the way
across and then cross those runs across the width of the slab area one foot
apart also. You should end up with a bunch of 1' X 1' squares with the rebar.
You want to turn the ends up about 3" from the side form boards where they
will be in the side walls.You can heat the rebar and bend a 90 degree angle
and turn straight up all the way around the slab. I would at least turn every
other one up inside the walls.
6 It is also a good idea to place some blocks of short 2X4's under the rebar in
several places to keep it off of the ground. You want your rebar to setup in the
middle of the concrete for strength and less chance of the underground shelter
slab cracking.
7 Once you have the rebar tied together and all the form boards braced up good
then it is time to call for the the concrete. To get your yardage amount of the
ready mix you will need for your storm building slab just multiply your length by
your width in feet, then multiply that by your thickness which would be 0.50 for 6
inches thick. If your thickness is 4 inches you would multiply the width and
length by 0.33, then you divide that total by 27.
8 So if your storm building slab was 8 feet wide by 10 feet long and 6 inches
thick, this would be your figures:8 X 10 = 80 X .50 = 40 divided by 27 = 1.48.
So you would need to order about a yard and a half of concrete. I would advise
getting the fibered concrete even though you have the rebar in place because
you want the storm shelter to have as much strength as you can get and this
will give you that.
Tips To Remember
Make sure you have your form braced up good with the outside stakes and kickers because the concrete will put a lot of pressure on them.
Bend your rebar ends to turn up out of the slab about 3 inches from the edge so they will be inside the storm shelter walls.
Wear gloves and eye protection when driving the bracing boards and nailing the kickers for the storm shelter slab.
Click on the link below to see part 2 of the storm shelter construction.
How To Build Your Own Concrete Storm Shelter-Part 2-The Walls
