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Safe Room

open4years

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
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347
Location
Valdosta, Georgia, USA
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I'm still have burns from the time I brought this up elsewhere. I seriously want your opinion on this.

It makes sense to me, to have a fortified room in your home where you and your family could retreat to in times of emergency. My post about no knock warrents made think of this. This could be a bath room. A
a closet, etc., it could be used when tornados, or hurricanes are approaching.

What do you think?? Be gentle please!:):):D
 

25sierraman

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Apr 18, 2010
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144
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Alexandria , Virginia, USA
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It would be more of a mental comfort than anything in my opinion. From personal experience the closest thing i had to a "safe" room was a bunker on FOB warrior in Iraq. We never really made it to those bunkers before the attacks were over. They were just there to make us feel like we had some sort of better odds of surviving. If you were in your home and someone forced their way in it would be quite a challenge to herd your whole family in there in a timely fashion. For hurricanes, tornadoes or other natural disasters i guess it'd be a cool thing to have. Wouldn't you want to place it in your basement then(if you have one) to sort of maximize its effectiveness? I guess it all just depends on the scenario and the reaction time of your family.
 

billxdm

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Apr 1, 2010
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Wilmington, ,
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Good idea, I guess. I will be adding onto my house in a few months. Well actually I am adding on a whole new house and garage/shop. It will be attached by 2 breezeways. I am already considering some sort of secret doors or rooms. I think it would be cool, my wife thinks I am crazy.
 

Broondog

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Feb 26, 2009
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368
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Ste. Gen County, MO, , USA
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IMO a safe room for other than a natural disaster/emergency would be a waste of expense, time and living space. like was said before, getting your family into it in a timely fashion in the case of, say a home invasion, would be nearly impossible. in that scenario you would be pressed for time to arm yourself and be ready for the fight.

yeah, ok, so Jodie Foster and her kid made it into theirs but IIRC the BG's came in on ground level and the room was two floors up. she started on the 2nd floor and had a one story advantage.

a storm shelter type room could be beneficial to folks who live on the Gulf coast or Tornado Alley. and there are companies that make those type of rooms/structures for a hefty sum, even to the point of chemical, biological and radiation survivability.

http://www.hardenedstructures.com/2050727/default.aspx

http://store.prepared.pro/sheltershome.aspx
 

open4years

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Oct 6, 2008
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347
Location
Valdosta, Georgia, USA
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In my case, I would like to use the closet in my bedroom. Although BGs do home invasions in the day time, I believe most happen in the evenings and at night.

I can see that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get your family there in time.

I live alone, so that isn't a problem. I want to change out the closet door for a solid door and further fortify the door and walls. I want to cut a trap door in the floor, hidden by carpet.

If there was a tornado, I could get rapidly under the house. If the house is on fire and there is no way out of my house, I could go threw the trap door and crawl the short distance to the crawl space entrance. Heck, I could put a 5 minute SCUBA tank in there too. It would be nice to have most of my guns in there.

It's just something that I think about and I will probably never do. I should have said "Fortified Room" rather than safe room. A true safe room would be an expensive proposition. Done with new construction, it would be easier to do.
 

groats

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Jan 18, 2010
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, ,
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If you live in one of the many places that get tornados,
you'd be crazy NOT to have a 'safe room'. I do, as do most of my neighbors.

Getting into it before a tornado is easy, that's why we have weather radio and tv alerts.

Getting into it during a home invasion can be done too, if you invest in some proper perimeter alerts, motion sensors, cameras, dogs, etc. and have some space around your home.
 
M

McX

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our last house was like a bunker, built in the 30's, brick walls nearly a foot thick, but our new house was built in the 21st century, so adding in a safe room would be a moot point. i have adopted the stance of; my safe room is the room my gun is in.
 

Brass Magnet

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Joined
Apr 23, 2009
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Right Behind You!, Wisconsin, USA
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I'm going to have a "safe room" here pretty soon. It's not designed for that purpose but it'll do. I'm building a walk-in vault. As long as I make provisons to allow it to be opened from the inside it can double as a safe room.

I got tired of having multiple gun safes so this is my answer to that. So, if a guy looks at the fact that a "safe room" can double as "gun storage" I think there would be a lot more takers.
 
M

McX

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ok then, brass magnet, my plan in the event of a cataclysmic disaster is to flee to your house for a few days, hide out, then continue on to glock's place, or nutczaks, if it's ok with you!:)
 

sudden valley gunner

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Dec 13, 2008
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16,674
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Whatcom County
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I am thinking about designing homes that have central rec-room area that is also a safe room/bunker. I need to find the Federal codes/law but I saw at one time you do not need any building permits to build a "bomb" shelter. The whole point being not to advertise you have one.

My thoughts on this though is to make sure you have another egress out. If it is part of your home. Fires or other disasters can cause many problems if you don't.
 

buster81

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
1,461
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
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open4years wrote:
In my case, I would like to use the closet in my bedroom. Although BGs do home invasions in the day time, I believe most happen in the evenings and at night.

I can see that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get your family there in time.

I live alone, so that isn't a problem. I want to change out the closet door for a solid door and further fortify the door and walls. I want to cut a trap door in the floor, hidden by carpet.

If there was a tornado, I could get rapidly under the house. If the house is on fire and there is no way out of my house, I could go threw the trap door and crawl the short distance to the crawl space entrance. Heck, I could put a 5 minute SCUBA tank in there too. It would be nice to have most of my guns in there.

It's just something that I think about and I will probably never do. I should have said "Fortified Room" rather than safe room. A true safe room would be an expensive proposition. Done with new construction, it would be easier to do.

That isn't the worst plan actually, however, you wouldwant to make sure that the whole you cut for the trap door doesn't compromise the vapor barrier between the crawl space and the living space. You want to keep any moisture (and ground gas if applicable) out of your house. I'm sure you already thought of the structural issues.

Without the trap door, which I never thought of, I have fortified the door to a closet in our bedroom. You would have a difficult time getting through it. It wouldn't be impossible to break it down, but would take multiple kicks or shoulders. The way it's installed, you would have to pretty much take the door frame with it.
 
B

Bikenut

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A "safe room" is a nice concept borne of the idea of hiding from the bad guy hoping to not be noticed.

But what is a "safe room"? Are there windows? Can bullets come through the walls, floor, or ceiling? How secure, and bulletproof, is the door? And can everyone get to that room faster than a bad guy, or bad guys, can kick in the front door or crawl through a window?

Oh.. and how often will the police come to investigate a "bump in the night/possible home invasion" before becoming highly annoyed with 911 calls from that location?

The truth is simple... the "safest room" is the one where the family member has a gun immediately available and is willing to use it to defend.

Perhaps it is just me... but I don't understand why folks have a gun in the house for defense... but keep it in a room (like a bedroom) that requires running to go get it. Home invasions happen so quickly and so unexpectedly (unless the whole yard is fitted with alarms) that it is highly unlikely there will be time to "go get the gun".

After considering the size and layout of my own home and the amount of time I would NOT have to "go get the gun"..... I prefer to have the gun on me. Even while contemplating the current political climate while sitting on the commode. (Yes, there is a direct connection between "commode" and "political".;))

Others may have different criteria to consider and certainly should make their own decisions based on those criteria.

I suspect that many folks who have a "safe room" and/or a "plan for home defense"............. just walk straight into their house completely and totally in condition white assuming there isn't anyone there who shouldn't be when they come home to their empty house from shopping or work.
 

Brass Magnet

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Apr 23, 2009
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2,818
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Right Behind You!, Wisconsin, USA
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McX wrote:
ok then, brass magnet, my plan in the event of a cataclysmic disaster is to flee to your house for a few days, hide out, then continue on to glock's place, or nutczaks, if it's ok with you!:)

When the zombie apocalypse comes; no problem. Just remember it's BYOA (Bring your own ammo)

Actually, it's kind of funny that you should bring that up. Many of my friends have said my house is the first place they'd flee to in case the SHTF. Some of them don't own guns or evenlike them but they seem to agree that my place is the place to go if they are in fear for their lives. Kinda ironic huh?
 
M

McX

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zombie apocolypse? oh hell, i'll stay where i'm at, until i run low on ammo. got my plan already for that, saw zombieland! heh-heh. yeah, those of us who are prepared are real popular with our friends huh? another movie they need to remake: Soylent Green.
 

Outdoorsman

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
273
Location
Genesee County, Michigan, USA
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I don't remember if I read this somewhere or saw it on a show, but the idea was make one of the bedrooms into a safe room by:

1. Reinforcing the door frame and install a solid door with dead bolt(s). This was so it was difficult/time consuming for someone to kick it in.

2. Having necessary equipment in the room: Cell phone, gun(s), flashlight(s), etc.

3. Having a set of house keys attached to a brightly colored or lighted stick to throw out/down to cops to get into your house to search for bad guys.

I like the idea of the reinforced bedroom door frame with the solid door and deadbolt. I think I will do this in my next house (hope to be moving soon).
 

GLOCK21GB

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Messages
4,347
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
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Outdoorsman wrote:
I don't remember if I read this somewhere or saw it on a show, but the idea was make one of the bedrooms into a safe room by:

1. Reinforcing the door frame and install a solid door with dead bolt(s). This was so it was difficult/time consuming for someone to kick it in.

2. Having necessary equipment in the room: Cell phone, gun(s), flashlight(s), etc.

3. Having a set of house keys attached to a brightly colored or lighted stick to throw out/down to cops to get into your house to search for bad guys.

I like the idea of the reinforced bedroom door frame with the solid door and deadbolt. I think I will do this in my next house (hope to be moving soon).
Armored steel to make walls & door bullet proof.
 

Thoreau

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
315
Location
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
imported post

Broondog wrote:
IMO a safe room for other than a natural disaster/emergency would be a waste of expense, time and living space. like was said before, getting your family into it in a timely fashion in the case of, say a home invasion, would be nearly impossible. in that scenario you would be pressed for time to arm yourself and be ready for the fight.

yeah, ok, so Jodie Foster and her kid made it into theirs but IIRC the BG's came in on ground level and the room was two floors up. she started on the 2nd floor and had a one story advantage.

a storm shelter type room could be beneficial to folks who live on the Gulf coast or Tornado Alley. and there are companies that make those type of rooms/structures for a hefty sum, even to the point of chemical, biological and radiation survivability.

http://www.hardenedstructures.com/2050727/default.aspx

http://store.prepared.pro/sheltershome.aspx


I've actually thought about this myself ever since I got my own place. It's a 3 story condo with a layout that isn't too dissimilar to the one in Panic Room, in that the entrance is on the ground level, main living area on the 2nd floor, and sleeping area on the 3rd floor. My 3rd floor has only one way up, via the stairs, and a door at the top. I wouldn't think it too difficult to reinforce that doorway, and perhaps even the few wallsnear it which would effectively make the master suite itself into a panic room. Slap in some steel plate to keep the walls from being chopped through with an axe, and that would buy more than enough time to get armed and call in the police.

Alas, crappy economy = lack of funds to pull this off for me =(

Normally I'm not quite that paranoid (not that paranoia is a bad thing) but Phoenix isn't exactly a stranger to home invasions, and being in a nice part of town kinda gives criminals a little more motivation to break in since they would expect nicer things to be there for their taking.

Of course, the BEST thing would be to make the two entry doors on the ground floor as impenetrable as possible, but friggin HOA rules kinda keep me from even putting up a security door, or anything that doesn't match the rest of the units completely.
 
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