Secure room construction

[mcinfantry]

sounds like you should see if there is a GI bill certified course on safe rooms.

 

[JBP55]

www.rhinovault.com

www.lonestarbulletproofing.com

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

sounds like you should see if there is a GI bill certified course on safe rooms.

Or Numismatism...

 

[cnodie1]

Did some dirty estimating to figure up the costs:

Block - 650
Rebar - 250
Laying material - 100
Concrete - 500
Ceiling - 2300
Door - 600
Lighting - 500

Total - 4900

That is for an 8' x 16' foot room with 8' ceiling. 3 foot rods are bent at a 90 to allow for 2 feet sticking up out of the slab for the metal building and the lower 12 inches will be hooked into the mat of the slab (1 rod every 12"). From there you can tie rods with rebar ties to the needed height. Stagger the blocks as you go up, the installation is very simple. Once you have the room built you will need about 5 yards of concrete to fill all the blocks. The door price I got from a pre hung steel security door we bought a while back. You will need some angle to build the door lintel. The ceiling is made of 1/4 steel plate with steel angles for support.

TL;DR - That's what I would do and it works out in my head. I build mausoleums for a living so I know a little bit about concrete boxes.

 

[Vermiform]

Read somewhere how they added a layer of chicken wire in the walls of saferoom/vaults. Supposedly ruins a sawzalls day as it get's hung in the wire.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Never breached with a Sawzall but a Quickie Saw wont even notice.

 

[Vermiform]

Never breached with a Sawzall but a Quickie Saw wont even notice.

Your knowledge in these areas scares me sometimes. I bet you also know how well it does on human bone.

 

[olivs260]

Or Numismatism...

 

[Bayoupiper]

The above mentioned concrete filled cinder blocks with rebar is probably the easiest and cheapest way to go.
I would also suggest adding sheetmetal.

Don't forget to block access to the room's ceiling from adjacent rooms/hallways.


As for doors, I would see if you have room for a specialty pocket door similar to what this company sells: http://saferoom.com/products.html





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[Leadfoot]

Ever seen one of these in action? Not much will slow it down.

They're pretty easy to come by too.

 

[JNieman]

The maximum cut depth is the limited factor which is where a 8-12" CMU wall can help. I won't say 'succeed' but I would say it'll help.

 

[saint451]

Guess it looks like a can...so don't yell.

http://sportsmansteelsafes.com/safe_room.htm

 

[Gator 45/70]

I would just blow a hole in the rock facing and form a cave, About 10/12' deep should do it, Build a steel frame and door, Anchor this to the wall's that should about do it !!

Oh, and a gun port would be nice addition to the door !

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Your knowledge in these areas scares me sometimes. I bet you also know how well it does on human bone.

I would never...

 

[AustinBR]

In their generic form, yes, I can see them being easily breached, however in many cases they form an excellent base to improve upon.

But that's neither here nor there.

A friend of mine built basically a large gun safe/closet out 5/8" thick fire resistant sheet rock with 14 gauge expanded metal in between another sheet of 5/8" rock. He then installed a heavy steel door with a welded over hinges and striker.

If someone is really determined to get into something, nothing short of a bank vault will stop them.

Interesting that you say that...today at work I actually had a decent conversation with the guys who break into bank vaults about safe rooms and what they recommend to keep people out. Here is the general consensus:

Half inch to inch thick stainless steel walls that are 6 inches into the base. Between two sets of this have concrete filled with re-bar. Apparently this is not as cheap as a bank vault but is very hard to get into.

 

[Dgraham225]

3000 psi concrete is sufficient for commercial jobs but specify no ash in your mix. Its just filler and serves no purpose.

Not that it's important one way or the other, i wanted to address this misconception. Fly ash in substitution for a percentage of cement isn't just a filler. It serves great purpose with ultimate strengths higher via more efficient hydration, permeability lower, easier placement and consolidation due to its "smoother" characteristics,and is oftentimes cheaper than pure cement mix.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Interesting that you say that...today at work I actually had a decent conversation with the guys who break into bank vaults about safe rooms and what they recommend to keep people out. Here is the general consensus:

Half inch to inch thick stainless steel walls that are 6 inches into the base. Between two sets of this have concrete filled with re-bar. Apparently this is not as cheap as a bank vault but is very hard to get into.

Who are these safe crackers? Stainless steel walls with concrete between is a very easy breach. It's rigid. No give. Your safe busters are liars or nitwits or lying nitwits.

 

[22lr]

Im from Indiana and it took me a while to think of why nobody was mentioning digging out a basement, but ya......

Up North the perfect secure room is a basement, you don't even have to worry about walls, just the roof. To bad it isn't an option down here. Dig hole, pour a regular concrete foundation wall, add roof/floor for the room above and block the door with a vault door. Its as safe as it gets for storms, and if you hide the door/entrance its the ideal place to keep a valuable collection.... Or skip the vault door and just have a hidden door and your just as safe if nobody knows its there. A real shame you don't really have the option here....

As for a suggestion you could use. Concrete block with rebar, lots of rebar. Install actual shelter grade vents and fans and you would be set for a long time.

 

[Redd508]

It serves great purpose with ultimate strengths higher via more efficient hydration, permeability lower, easier placement and consolidation due to its "smoother" characteristics,and is oftentimes cheaper than pure cement mix.

Its not something i would argue over but the reason its cheaper is because it replaces some of what makes concrete what it is. Fly ash is a cost saver because it flows easier and requires less "work" to fill the forms. It doesnt make it better, it makes it less labor intensive to pour thereby increasing profits on the labor side and also cutting the cost of the product by "filling" the concrete mix with something other than cement.

 

[JNieman]

Its not something i would argue over but the reason its cheaper is because it replaces some of what makes concrete what it is. Fly ash is a cost saver because it flows easier and requires less "work" to fill the forms. It doesnt make it better, it makes it less labor intensive to pour thereby increasing profits on the labor side and also cutting the cost of the product by "filling" the concrete mix with something other than cement.

Fly ash is not a problem, man. Concrete design can account for it, and impressive strengths are still reached with a small amount of fly ash. You don't need to worry about the difference between 3,200 and 3,500 psi concrete for this situation.