Bomb shelters

[RNajarian]

The idea of having a bomb shelter always intrigued me.

My house is raised 3 feet from the ground. Two years after buying it I was under the house in this crawl space doing some electrical work. I noticed in the center of the house a series of cinder blocks arranged in a rectangle.

When I crawled over to it I noticed a cement lined pit 6 feet deep, 4 feet wide x 5 feet long. It was the “room” for the old 1920s gravity fed heater system. The area over it had tiles installed making it inaccessible.

When I remodeled the house I regained access to my newly discovered cellar. Unfortunately gaining access to it is a lot like getting into Grandpa Munster’s lab, via a trap door.

It is being used for storage now, but would love to somehow convert it into a man cave.

Congrats on your bomb shelter, it not only a conversation piece but hopefully a functional part of your house.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

A bomb shelter would be cool but around here it would act more like a sub surfacing everytime the tide came in. We had a basement in one house (very rare on a barrier island) It was more an indoor, in ground swimming pool. Four feet of water every six hours.

Sounds like Champlain Towers South.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[GH85Carrera]

As a kid in 1966-1967 we lived in Midwest City, OK just outside of Tinker AFB. In the back yard was a really cool (literally and figuratively) old large petroleum storage tank buried rather deep, and hooked up to a stairs and ventilation. It was a tornado and bomb shelter combo. I have no idea how they kept it in the ground and not floating up, but they must have anchored it well.

We often slept down there in the summer as our house had no air conditioning. 110 degree days really suck inside a house. It was always nice and cool underground. It was awkward to walk around in with the round bottom, but that gave it plenty of headroom. We had lots of fun down there.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by RNajarian

The idea of having a bomb shelter always intrigued me.

My house is raised 3 feet from the ground. Two years after buying it I was under the house in this crawl space doing some electrical work. I noticed in the center of the house a series of cinder blocks arranged in a rectangle.

When I crawled over to it I noticed a cement lined pit 6 feet deep, 4 feet wide x 5 feet long. It was the “room” for the old 1920s gravity fed heater system. The area over it had tiles installed making it inaccessible.

When I remodeled the house I regained access to my newly discovered cellar. Unfortunately gaining access to it is a lot like getting into Grandpa Munster’s lab, via a trap door.

It is being used for storage now, but would love to somehow convert it into a man cave.

Congrats on your bomb shelter, it not only a conversation piece but hopefully a functional part of your house.

I've been in several of those pits for gravity heat systems. The systems had their faults but they worked great. The old systems could fill a cold house with heat very quickly. However, they are wasteful and most had asbestos everywhere.

One further note: you could locate a water heater in the pit and plumb in a passive water circulation system and have nearly instant hot water at upper floor faucets.

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Sounds like Champlain Towers South.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Same thing.