Tornado Proof Homes

[Berzerker]

I got the idea watching a film clip of Greensburg, the only building I could see that survived was a big grain silo. It was round, like an igloo, even the roof was domed. A house would have a much lower profile, but the curved walls not only gain strength from the arch effect used in bridgebuilding, wind can never hit more than a few feet of wall head on.

the problem is in the roofing materials since the walls would be mainly reinforced cinder blocks or concrete. You cant have something up there thats too heavy but it has to endure the winds. Any engineers out there with ideas? Of course, I dont know how our structure will survive flying cars and once the walls are breached the winds will have something to grab onto and start tearing the building apart.

[SlowwHand]

My uncle is a builder and built what he feels is as tornado proof as it can be. I'll ask him what materials he used. He lives outside Houston in Tomball.

http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20030529_tornadotough.htm

One thing it references are safe rooms. Have you seen those advertized? Can be a closet.

[Apocalypse]

Odd, Houston really doesn't get many tornadoes.

[chequita guevara]

Very few structures are tornado proof, given a strong enough tornado. There's a hurricane proof house in Pensacola that would likely stand up to a tornado, but it's basically a two-foot thick shell of concrete.

[SlowwHand]

The geodesic structure is resistent to tornadoes. I'm seeing that in some quick searching. Makes sense.

[MRT144]

couldnt all the money spent on building a tornado proof house be used to simply buy better insurance?

[SlowwHand]

What do you mean? Insurance? Insurance won't bring back photos and other irreplaceables. Won't bring back life.

[Berzerker]

insurance wont bring you back to life

[MRT144]

but it can help your kin have a fuller one

perhaps it is my detachment from photography as a means to remember things, but I dont get why a tornado proof house is a better solution than a good storm cellar, with an equally good insurance policy.

[Straybow]

At 200mph wind pressure is 100 lb/ft²!

A properly shaped shell can withstand that and it doesn't need to be massive, but it will be heavier and more expensive than typical home construction.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by MRT144
but it can help your kin have a fuller one

perhaps it is my detachment from photography as a means to remember things, but I dont get why a tornado proof house is a better solution than a good storm cellar, with an equally good insurance policy.

One problem with a storm cellar is flooding, which of course depends on if your in a flood plain or not. (or what will become a flood plain)

In recent Hurricanes we have received 18-30 inches of rain (some isolated deeper amounts.)

I am in the Ready Mix Concrete Industry. I have a thick foot concrete walled office. But my roof is tied in with wood trusses, so I feel pretty sure the roof would go in massives sustained winds.

I know some Igloo shaped Homes have been marketed for structural integrity, due to deferring the wind from a large area to impact upon.

I have seen massive condos go away though, not from wind, but from storm surge.

SAs for these so called safe rom, basically they are a safe. Yes, it would most probably withstand most storms, as long as it is on bottom floor.

One cubic foot of water weighes 62.3 (based on water weighing 8.33 lbs. per gallon and there being roughly 7.49 gallons in a cubic foot) and a Cubic yard being around1684.6 pounds (based on 27 cubic feet in a yard) now multiply that times how wide a wave would be and how tall and then how deep, factor in mass with velocity and it would take something in the concrete strength to resist that.

I will try to find some data, but at the University of Clemson South Carolina, they have a "Cannon" they shoot debris from at a fioxed object to see the resistance.

2 X 4's were turned into tooth picks

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
The geodesic structure is resistent to tornadoes. I'm seeing that in some quick searching. Makes sense.

As Ron White says, "It's not that the wind is blowing, it's what the wind is blowing." A Geodesic structure with normal building materials will have the same problems as most normal structures.

[MRT144]

interesting...
i guess its not a bad idea i you can afford it.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Very few structures are tornado proof, given a strong enough tornado. There's a hurricane proof house in Pensacola that would likely stand up to a tornado, but it's basically a two-foot thick shell of concrete.

A bit on the ugly side as well.

[Grandpa Troll]

Is all that Glass Plato ?

I wonder how that handles impact?