edited: REVISED LIST that's stocked in the shelter:

1 case MREs
4 packs of Datrex emergency 3600 calorie food bars
2 large cans peanut butter
Over a dozen packs of chewing gum (shrink wrapped)
2 cases bottled water
5 gallon container of Datrex emergency water packets
4 Wool blankets
Camp toilet with 3 rolls of TP (toilet has a sealed lid and enzymes to break down waste and reduce the odor)
2 packs of baby wipes
1 signal whistle
1 two-way radio (+extra batteries)
1 CB radio
1 Emergency am/fm radio with hand crank and light
Several LED lights (with plenty of extra batteries)
1 three pound sledge hammer
1 crowbar
Work gloves
Playing cards, UNO cards, colors and coloring books (realistically this stuff will help take my kid's mind off the storms)

end edit


Last spring we had some rough storms.  One of the storm cells that went just North of where I live here hit Joplin, Missouri.  After pulling my kid out of bed twice in a week and stuffing her in an interior closet, I promised her I would get us a shelter.  The biggest obstacle was having enough room to put one in (we live in a neighborhood).  So I went with one of the new in the garage floor shelters.  I couldn't be more pleased.

I have stocked some supplies in the shelter and would be glad to hear any additional suggestions from the survival forum. For 2 adults and one child I have 5 gallons of water, one  case of self-heating MREs, 2 jars of peanut butter, 4 wool blankets, a coleman mini lantern with 2 extra sets of batteries, and a "camp toilet" (5 gallon bucket with a lid and a roll of TP).  I'm planning on purchasing a hand held CB radio and an am/fm radio to put keep in the shelter.

Please suggest a good handheld CB if you know of one.

Here are pics of my 7 y/o little girl and our new shelter:

The whole cut in the floor:


The cellar dropped in and back filled with concrete:


The finished install:


The inside steps:


The steps lift right out and give you another 3' of room:


An adult man can't stand erect inside the shelter without bumping his head.  But a 7 year old:


The installed cellar cost me 4k.  I'm glad to have it and to know my family has a safe place to retreat from these spring storms.

Cool.

What's the come along for? Hold the lid closed?

whats the dimensions of it?? and i assume its water proof?

hey thats pretty cool ! congrads !

If for some reason you couldn't slide the lid open on the shelter you can use the come along to do the job.
Though if there were enough debris on the lid to make it too difficult to open by hand, I think I would be reluctant to open it al all.  
Obviously if you were trapped and nobody came to rescue you, using the come along is better then staying down there forever.  

By design you can park a vehicle over top of the shelter.  I keep my Jeep Wrangler parked in this side of the garage.  In the event that the roof caved in, the Jeep should act like a "roof" that keeps debris off the lid of the shelter.


The interior dimensions are 3'6" wide, 6'8" long, and 5" tall.

eta: it's made of steel, double welded, and painted inside and out.  THe exterior walls are coated with some kind of thick waterproof and corrosion resistant gunk.  The opening of the shelter had about a 1 inch lip on it that is 1 inch higher than the garage floor.  So in the event that some kind of water pipe busted and there was water runoff, water shouldn't get down into the shelter.

Great idea, I hope you don't need it.

Glad you have something, it's more than I have. If I tried that here in central FL.  it would be called a swimming pool, very high water table.
Did I see that it is 5' tall? Don't know many adult men that can stand up in that. Heck, no way I could get my wife in one of those.

Looks good my friend, I also hope your daughter heals well. She seems in good spirits with the sling. I will say great job. Great location, great setup. It shall serve you well. Nice job Sir.

It is quite obvious yur workin that yungin to hard,,,,,,,,  


Nice job!!

That's cool. What about some kind of jack and some 4x4 blocks to lift the lid?

I'd pre-position an electric pump in there... anything that brings those kinda winds might bring more than an inch of rain.

very nice, good job.  and +1 on the pump, especially one that could run and keep the water out if you are in  it and taking water.

Very cool little shelter.  Good on you for taking this step to protect your family.  No sure what good a hand held CB will do for you.  My experience with them has never been good.  I can't imagine it working well while enclosed in your shelter several feet below ground level.

I would suggest letting her sleep in it... Kinda like a campout.
I would also submit that entertainment of some kind, especially a dvd player would be handy. I have a car battery/inverter box in our shelter so the boys can watch movies, and not risk their mother's sanity.
Pack a box of what you will need immediately after. Gloves, shoes, ect.
We also have a short list of what goes in with us. Family photos, valuables, ect...

I hope you don't ever need to use it!  

That's really neat, what did it cost to buy and install?

cant you use a jack with a 4x4 or 6x6 cut so that you can lift the lid and then stick something in the opening and work it open from there? just an idea

Yep, absolutely.  Hi-lift jack, 4x4's, smaller blocks of wood for chalks, etc.  Also, let the local FD/PD know you have it, so they know to come dig you out.  They won't hear you under there if you do get stuck.



Good on you for taking the steps to protect your family.





 

It'd make an awesome pit for oil changes as well....

Good to feel safe.

HF has a long ram hydraulic jack for abt $40 and a short 20 ton. [on sale now]

I'd have 2 of those and a couple lengths of cross drilled pipe and 1/2 pins/bolts and a couple plates with a means to set the pipes into them.

Without something like that I'd rather have house debris on top than a jeep with debris on top of that as well.

The Come Along probably will rip the weld off the loop off the sidewall and/or bow the side in before sliding the hatch if the hatch is badly jammed.

Be careful and I think it's great to have a shelter like yours!!! Wise investment.

Is it feasible to put a short barred chain saw in there?
Might be handy to cut away at a wall or collapsed rafters if they come down on top of the shelter.

I would suggest a good whistle. I don't know about a chainsaw. Your on the bottom of a pile might bring more down on top of you.

Chainsaw!?!...Think of exhaust (carbon monoxide) in confined space...

Knowing several people who have been sheltered in ground shelters through tornadoes that destroyed their homes, you need as much space as you can get.
When the tornado comes over you while you are in a ground shelter, it will suck the wind out of your shelter and people will panic.
One person having a panic attack in tight quarters can cause real problems.
I had a 8'x12'x6'6" high under patio shelter that had 15 people in it one night. I won't over crowd one ever again.
It would have been one hell of a mess had we been hit.
Keep the neighbors out for your safety and your family's.

Nice work!  Where did you get the shelter?

I would suggest more water (in addition to what's been mentioned above).  If you do get stuck for a little bit you may need it.

A hydraulic bottle jack and some various short lengths of timber might also be a good thing to put in the shelter. You can use them to lift the lid if you can't pull it open.

I'd add a whistle, glow sticks, more water, work gloves. A tarp and paracord to fashion a small tent over the opening. If you need to use it, you may be living out of it for a few days. Smoke bomb or something to signal that you're buried under debris if rescuers are driving down the street? Chuck it out the hole if you cant get the door all the way open?



Also a flash drive with important documents in a ziplock bag. Most hotels etc have a business center you can reprint stuff if needed.



Spare shoes. 2am running for the garage in your undies isnt the time to look for clothes and shoes.





Can you get in the shelter if there is a car parked over the top?


 

Two things I can think of.
Complete change of clothes for every member of the family. That way you don't have to get dressed fire the occasion.

Paint a sign on your driveway directly in front of the shelter that identifies where you are. Not many driveways get blown away in a storm. Make it big enough to find by rescuers.

Oops, third thing. A hand held ham radio programmed with local emergency frequencies. In am emergency you can transmit on any frequency.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

how about an air horn or whistle or strobe? if you can't get it all the way open after a storm maybe you can get it open enough to turn on a strobe and start blowing an air horn or a survival whistle.



also since cell service may be down a spot locator beacon could be nice or one of those firefighter style rescue beacons?


 

I'm really not trying to rain on anyones parade, but I remember the MRE heaters making us feel kinda sick if we used them in our 1151s or other semi confined spaces, so just wondering how well ventilated the shelter is? As far as bored/scared kids go I know children's books and candy and such are kept in our gear(4 year old girl) to help keep her mind off what ever is happening around us. Just a thought.

What the hell has happened to this forum - why has no one suggested having a Ham Radio?  I'm assisting with a Ham class right now - the kid in front of me is 11 years old - it is easy to get your license.

I knew this forum would come through for some good suggestions.    I also hit up one of my good friends that operates a disaster relief organization that serves areas hit by tornadoes  ( http://sheepdogia.org/ ).  It's good to get the advice from others.

One thing about opening the lid on this shelter: it does not flip open.  The lid slides open.  If for any reason it becomes difficult to slide open I have the 4000# come along to help open it.  My Jeep Wrangler will be parked over the top of the shelter to shield the lid.  I WILL NOT need to back the Jeep out of the garage to get into the shelter.  Potentially if the roof collapses onto the Jeep we will still have space to get out of the shelter.





My buddy with the disaster relief mentioned this as well.  I will pick up a high-flow marine submersible sump pump and put a deep cycle battery in the shelter this weekend.





Funny you mention that.  One of my neighbors is a bit of a moocher.  She's a divorced mom and always borrowing my mower, weed eater, gasoline, food, etc, so and so forth.  She never bothers to return anything that's borrowed, and I end up going across the street to borrow it back after a week.  She made the (I'm not really kidding) joke about bring her bunch over to snuggle up during a storm.  The shelter is small.  I wouldn't want to be trapped in this thing with 6-7 people, even for a short period of time.  IMO, there's nothing from stopping them from putting in a shelter.  Hard, but true.





More water is on my list.  I think I'll add 2-3 cases of bottled water.  





I'm working on the radio.  For now I added a handheld CB radio and a handheld 2-way radio (with extra batteries for each).  According to my buddy that does disaster relief, many of the rescue teams use 2-way radios to communicate with each other when cellular communications are down.  Having both CB and 2-way radios with a scan function will pick up on their conversations (when they're close enough) and potentially get me in touch with someone in the event we need to be dug out from under a collapsed house.

Painting a sign on the driveway is a no-go in my neighborhood.  I added a signal whistle for now, as opposed to an air horn.  At least the signal whistle won't run out of air.    One thing we will have going for us is our family.  If we don't check in after a storm has hit our families will be looking for us post haste.  






Thank you for suggesting the survival whistle.  I added it to the cellar this morning.  Great idea!!  

Thanks for the info on the MRE heaters.  I wasn't aware of that and I have never used them in a confined space.  I also added 2 4 packs of Datrex 3600 cal food bars.

I'm going to grab some UNO cards and colors+books down there for my kiddo.  It may help keep her mind occupied away from tornado sirens, and in the event our stay in the shelter is prolonged, it will give us all some welcome distraction.

another benefit i just thought of!! you can use it when your doing oil changes!! and other under car repairs

Three posts above yours.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Keep the battery on a QUALITY [Vector 4 amp or so] automatic trickle charger OUTSIDE the shelter until you go in.

Not a good idea to keep a battery in a confined space like your shelter because of likely corosion and rust.

Very BAD idea.

[I have no issue maintaining flooded batteries in a room inside the house unless some very high charge or discharge is going on. Then open a window]

You're lucky to have a shelter and don't let the freeloader across the street take advantage of you.

It will be interesting to see what happens when she arrives with her crew wanting in the next warning.   Post outcome!

I would still leave them in there. MREs can be eaten cold, the cases make handy seats, or when the food is gone you still have a handy heavy duty box. You can also pour the tabasco sauce on the heater before you activate it and make a mild tear gas, which is handy for getting unwanted critters (raccoons, ground hogs, E1s) out of their holes.

Do you have a potty inside to hold the post-digested MRE's?

plus crowbar, chisel, and hammer for rock/cinderblock

Read through the OP.

Gotcha!

I'd add another roll of TP.

I have 3 rolls of TP.  I added a pack of baby wipes for general hygiene.  I also added a crowbar and a few glow sticks.

I also wrote the coordinates to my house on the wall of the shelter.  In the event that all the recognizable street signs and all usable landmarks (like in joplin) are blown away, I will be able to radio my exact coordinates to any potential rescuers.

On my short shopping list: 3 cases of bottled water, one of those shake-to-charge flashlights, a sump pump or water pump of some kind, hard candy and gum, and some playing cards + colors and coloring books.

I appreciate the suggestions.

Instead of the driveway maybe paint your family name and address on the lid with a signal orange X? A white square on the ground is going to get lost in the visual clutter of all the debris.
 

That's very cool.  Do you have a link for the manufacturer or seller?  We live in a tuck under ranch and I've always been concerned that there wasn't a really secure spot in the  event of a tornado.  I don't like the idea of just huddling in the corner or the wooden stairs.  This would be perfect in my garage.

Put clothes, boots, work gloves, etc in it. A five gallon bucket with potty lid and regular lid. When you go down treat it like you may come out to NOTHING but rubble. Not having to worry about getting dressed saves time. Copies of documents saves time. Keep a weapon down as well. I found a laptop is good for DVD, games, and documents for shelter is good. FAK of course.  I have spent many days and nights in shelters. I now am responsible for a shelter that holds up to 2100 people. The shelter is rated for EF-5. I have usually 5-10 FD guys and 2 LEO helping.

Our city keeps a log of who has a shelter.  As FD officer we get the list and its part of tornado /earthquake SAR plan.

Parking Jeep over shelter––what if your Jeeps' gas tank gets punctured by debris?  We had a F4 here last summer, and a vehicle was lifted up and slammed back down, gas line or tank split, and the fire was on....And even if there was no fire, breathing gas is obviously bad news....But I commend you for going forward and the others for posting intelligent feedback, and hope your daughters arm gets better fast!

Don't waste you're money on those.  They suck.



A fenix or 4-sevens light w/ lithium AA's will be good to go in storage for close to 10-years, or maybe longer.  And, it'll work!





 

Where does your air come from?
If you have, or plan on installing an air pipe, I would run an antenna cable up it and attach it to a transceiver that remains in the shelter.
Thanks for showing us what you have done.
More of us need to do something as well.

as another has stated. a firearm. i would keep a pistol with at lest one spare mag for it and holster and belt. If your house is gone so is the rest of your collection. I am sure the area will be locked down by national guard shortly after it hits but your family's safety will be your priority as LEO/Fire etc are triaging a very bad situation and response time and communications may be compromised until the mobile cell sites are up and running and you get a replacement phone.



oh and most importantly a lap top with a satellite internet connection so you can update arfcom during the twister.


 

You mentioned pulling the Jeep over the shelter as an extra "roof" I would rethink this for a few reasons:

1) I don't know  how common a shelter like this is in your area but the last place I would think to look for a storm shelter is under a collapsed garage and then under a smashed-up Jeep

2) Rescue crews would most likely not be able to simply pickup the Jeep and move it out of the way, they might have to possibly call in a tow-truck or crane depending upon the severity of the damage, and if you for some unexpected reason need immediate medical attention this could be a huge potentially life-threatening issue

3) Id imagine putting the family in the shelter closing it (to prevent a tire going into it) running outside while there is a storm, pulling the Jeep in, then opening the shelter and crawling under the Jeep to get inside could be time consuming, if i am going into the shelter then I don't want to have to open and close it more than I need to.