So, do YOU think Dorothy is in Kansas anymore?

[Dauntless]

All these tornadoes. Just HOW MANY new trailerparks have they opened in that part of the country?

If you really want to see some scary video, the Weather Channel had one of their trucks in the storm, the flying objects kept hitting it.

There's the net result.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

Really arrogant of them to paint "Tornado Hunt 2013" on their vehicle. Also a bit insensitive to victims of tornadoes, in my opinion. But I'm glad they are ok.

 

[torker]

They are trying to do a good thing sending real time info to authorities.

 

[neptronix]

When i see these things, i always think about house design.

Think about it - what's the least aerodynamic shape you could build a car into? a box, right?
What if you put a spoiler around all the top edges of the car? what would happen if you drove really fast or a sudden gust of wind hit it? :lol:

Why do people continue to design houses in the shape of a box in areas where tornadoes/hurricanes are frequent?

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-testament-to-the-dome-shape/photos

Kinda blows my mind to think about it. I am either not seeing a piece of the puzzle, or 99.9% of people are building their homes correctly in the south..

 

[oatnet]

I'd rebuild with a set of these super-cheap and self-buildable American Ingenuity domes, 60' diameter model. They have proven to be earthquake, hurricane and tornado proof thanks to the strength of the geodesic structure and puncture resistance from the reinforced concrete skin - although I'd still want a bomb-shelter basement.

The 22' ecocottage can be had for as little as $13,000 - I bet FEMA will spend more on toxic temporary trailers.

http://www.aidomes.com/

[youtube]f1zlVwAhRLk[/youtube]

 

[hydro-one]

wow i am in awe of these . there was an f5 tornado 25 miles away from my city https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32L5OtnIPGk almost looks beautiful. tornados do freaky things, one i saw while googling was a house ripped off its foundation, yet in planters beside the house some flowers were seen to be still in perfect shape. used to have nightmares about tornados, i would look outside and see six of them forming at once. wild. the only safe thing really is a hole in the ground. strapped in tight too. i heard they can suck you right out of culverts. if you live there (where theres lots of them), mabye think of leaving.

 

[bowlofsalad]

When i see these things, i always think about house design.

Think about it - what's the least aerodynamic shape you could build a car into? a box, right?
What if you put a spoiler around all the top edges of the car? what would happen if you drove really fast or a sudden gust of wind hit it? :lol:

Why do people continue to design houses in the shape of a box in areas where tornadoes/hurricanes are frequent?

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-testament-to-the-dome-shape/photos

Kinda blows my mind to think about it. I am either not seeing a piece of the puzzle, or 99.9% of people are building their homes correctly in the south..

Well said, I have come to the same conclusion. However, I think I'd probably aim for round concrete homes rather than domes.

http://www.raycotechnologies.org/roundconcretehomes.htm This is probably what I would build, especially in areas called tornado alley.

 

[neptronix]

Oatnet, you've got my mind spinning. Thanks for the vid. Maybe i'll build one of those..

 

[Dauntless]

The 22' ecocottage can be had for as little as $13,000 - I bet FEMA will spend more on toxic temporary trailers.

Not to mention it's all the damn trailers that CAUSE these disasters, right? I mean you really think it's a coincidence they get struck?

When they mention the EPS foam, they are referring to SIPs. (Structurally Insulated Panels.) Each side is wafer wood, I think people call that OSB. Supposed to be stronger than a regular wood frame house, definitely cheaper and better insulated.

My lot is 75'x140'. I need I think 8' from each side, extra on the north side could make a driveway to the back. The 48' is still more sqft. than my house, (2,600 to 2,800, there's two different numbers listed) though there might be a gap to the useable space. (Or maybe not.) I could replace my maybe 400 sqft. garage with a 27' that might park 3 cars with space left over, right? Considering my house needs a roof, up to $15k depending on underlying damage after 33+ years, foundation leveling, (Up to $10k) 27 windows, (As much as $10k) a garage door, a sliding glass door, front/back/side doors, rotting sundeck in the backyard, probably the picture window replaced for efficiency and then some spray insulation, then all sorts of painting, floor work, carpet, etc. Two of the showers had the pan rebuilt but the 3rd probably needs it. Let's not forget it's been termite tented 3 times since it was build in the early 50's plus I do all sorts of things to battle them currently, (The whole neighborhood has trouble) I'd love more 240 volt power, etc.

My sister whose career has been real estate and property management seriously agrees with me I could exceed $100k on this house. The guy across the street claims to have topped $250k getting carried away on his house, only 1,800 sqft. (There's some serious luxury built in there.)

I'm thinking that a 48' dome house with a 30' dome garage starts under $80k, I guess it should run to $100k. Might a basement option alone run to $10k? I wonder if the city still has the 3% loans.

 

[bowlofsalad]

That dome video was a serious infomercial. The circular concrete home I mentioned builds like massive legos that you fill in with concrete. The pieces used to build the round concrete structure are called pieces used are called ICF (insulating concrete form).
The dome concept seems appealing as far as strength goes, both are surely several times stronger than a square or rectangular wood house.

 

[swbluto]

Really arrogant of them to paint "Tornado Hunt 2013" on their vehicle. Also a bit insensitive to victims of tornadoes, in my opinion. But I'm glad they are ok.

In Soviet Amerika, Tornado hunts the Tornado Hunter.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

They are trying to do a good thing sending real time info to authorities.

True, so true. I was just annoyed at the hyped graphics on the vehicle, glamorizing tornado chasing. It's actually very frightening. I've looked straight up one as it literally jumped up and over my neighborhhod. It killed a handful of people a couple miles away on either side. It was sad. I took a lot of photos the next day and the destruction was crazy. It was the same year the big one hit alabama. In fact, I visited a family five miles from my house that lost it all (but survived) and they had a license plate and various documents that traveled all the way from alabama.

 

[dogman dan]

I think the only design for tornadoes would be the missile silo format. But really, it's just stuff if the family has a safe place to go. There should be codes that require a trailer park to have some kind of storm shelter for every 6 houses or so. (in tornado alley) I don't live in tornado country at all, but when I lived in a trailer I dug a wine cellar in the yard. I needed the cellar to age 50 gallons of apricot wine, but liked the idea I had a place to go in a really bad storm. We did have a tornado near town 5 years ago. Town got mostly hail. I got to replace about 350 skylights and redo 68 roofs at work.

I got really mad when I saw some school board jackass in Moore two weeks ago who said they didn't build storm cellars into the grade schools because the fed govt wouldn't fund them. OK fine, it's only your own kids at risk, no big deal.

Some places tornadoes really are a low risk, but not OK city, much of Kansas, etc. It's as dumb as building beach houses in South Carolina with sticks.

The foam building blocks are awesome shit. A friend built a house with em. R 35 walls, but enough concrete in them to take 200 mph wind easy. Build one in South Carolina beach, and the roof and windows might vanish in a big hurricane, but the walls would still be there for sure. For 200 mph wind, you don't need so much to build it round as just use reinforced concrete. Have one room with a concrete roof for your bolthole above storm surge level.

300 mph F5 tornado just wipes the earth clean, for that you just build for human survival, underground. Round might help, but only if it's anchored about 50 feet into the ground.

 

[bowlofsalad]

300 mph F5 tornado just wipes the earth clean, for that you just build for human survival, underground. Round might help, but only if it's anchored about 50 feet into the ground.

50 foot deep anchor. I wonder what is involved in that idea. I have placed several 12 foot ground rods into the ground, but those really wouldn't be classified as anchors. I have imagined building a round concrete home 2 stories deep with four 18 wheeler trailers as rooms that might have a tunnel that goes to the surface in some direction. I think that a great way to do all this for several reasons is to build a home like this on a flat, and then basically bury the home. I can't imagine the entire hill being ripped out with the concrete home and 4 trailers, but I suppose I've never been around a F5 tornado.

 

[dogman dan]

Might take a lot less than that deep. But for sure, a skin of concrete with an anchor bolt into a piece of wood doesn't cut it for 300 mph.

What you often see, is the house is gone, but the basement remains. Or the house is gone, but the slab remains. In hurricane storm surge, maybe the slab is gone too, but not blown away. So I was thinking deep foundations, with steel that goes right into the roof, that sort of thing. 300 mph wind takes more than a few framing clips, and nails instead of staples. If the house holds together in 300 mph, it's foundation is going to need to be buried more than 16" into the ground.

I watched a 100 mph downburst gust hit my house. A young but 25' tall oak tree bent down till it's top branches touched the ground. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I got a new roof from that storms hail. I was looking out lee side windows btw.

I see on the news three other stormchasers died Friday. The twistex team. He was the guy I saw on the tornado shows always being extra safe when chasing. I bet he was on the freeway when that thing turned and ran down it lengthwise.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

I wonder if the three guys who died were wearing gear. Sure, they were in vehicles, but I wonder if they had on helmets.

Most tornado deaths are due to head injuries from flying debris. The rest of the body is surprisingly flexible when tumbling. Look at big wave surfers (I dabbled in this for years). The body just ragdolls underwater. The thrashing is insane, but if you relax it doesn't really do much. It's always your head that you have to worry about the most in almost any high-impact sport or earthquake/tornado, etc.

Now we wear helmets during tornado warnings.

 

[hydro-one]

Great suggestion!!! that would save lives im sure. I should market a tornado helmet, and body armour, it would have to be quick to put on , protect the vitals, and have a transponder to find u . kidding, sorta

 

[bowlofsalad]

I wonder if the three guys who died were wearing gear. Sure, they were in vehicles, but I wonder if they had on helmets.

Most tornado deaths are due to head injuries from flying debris. The rest of the body is surprisingly flexible when tumbling. Look at big wave surfers (I dabbled in this for years). The body just ragdolls underwater. The thrashing is insane, but if you relax it doesn't really do much. It's always your head that you have to worry about the most in almost any high-impact sport or earthquake/tornado, etc.

Now we wear helmets during tornado warnings.

I've read a similar concept about the survival of drunk drivers when they cause fatal accidents. They murder the people in another car but survive because they don't tense up during the accident. A similar effect you described is claimed to prevent them from receiving terrible injuries.

 

[dogman dan]

You have 13 min warning nowdays. Put on the helmet, and start pounding shots. Seriously, both might help. But by next spring, dig a hole in the yard if you own the place. Bury a piece of road culvert or something.