Residential tornado safe room from commodity wood products – design and development

Abstract

In the United States, tornadoes cause significant damage and result in many injuries and deaths. Although the development and use of tornado safe rooms have helped decrease the human toll associated with these events, the cost of these structures is often too high for many that could benefit from their use. The development of a nonproprietary residential tornado safe room constructed from commodity wood building products, buildable by a local contractor or do-it-yourselfer, and adaptable to existing homes, could lower the cost of these structures and result in more widespread use. This report is an overview of the design and development of such a residential tornado safe room. This design was tested according to the requirements of the International Code Council Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters. It has a projected material cost of between $3,500 and $4,000, which is significantly less than a prefabricated room of similar size and built from other materials.

Citation

Falk, Robert H.; Bridwell, James J. 2018. Residential tornado safe room from commodity wood products – design and development. General Technical Report. FPL-GTR-253. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 1-8.