The
Ultimate Protection from
High Winds
A safe room, or storm
shelter, provides the
ultimate in life safety
protection for you and your
family from the dangerous
forces of severe winds
produced by hurricanes and
tornadoes. Consider the
following information for
building or installing a
safe room in your home:
Safe rooms can be site-built
or manufactured and can be
installed in new or existing
homes.
Safe rooms can be located
anywhere on the first floor
of your home, in a basement,
or outside.
Safe rooms must be designed
for wind speeds up to 250
mph and debris impacts from
a 15 lb 2x4 board traveling
at 100 mph.
Issues critical to
performance include:
1. Safe rooms must be
structurally isolated from
the main structure of your
home.
2. Safe rooms must be
securely anchored to the
foundation.
3. Safe rooms installed in
or over a crawl space must
have a separate foundation.
4. All components of safe
rooms, including walls,
ceilings, and door
assemblies, must be designed
and tested to resist the
specified wind forces and
prevent perforation by
wind-borne debris.
5. Safe rooms must have
adequate ventilation.
Site-built safe rooms can be
constructed in accordance
with the prescriptive
designs of the FEMA 320
Publication, Taking Shelter
From the Storm: Building a
Safe Room Inside Your House.
Deviations from FEMA 320 and
manufactured safe rooms must
be tested at an approved
laboratory such as the Wind
Science and Engineering
Research Center at Texas
Tech University.
Verification of compliance
with National Storm Shelter
Association's Association
Standard provides the
highest level of shelter
quality.
FEMA has published
prescriptive designs for
residential storm shelters
in FEMA 321, Taking Shelter
From the Storm and has
published guidelines for
community shelters in FEMA
361, Design and Construction
Guidance for Community
Shelters. The National Storm
Shelter Association (NSSA)
developed the industry
standard and the process
for quality verification,
both available on the web at
www.NSSA.cc.
The producer should be
familiar with the applicable
guide to quality and take
responsibility to comply
with it.
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