Captain Tropic's
Safe Room Selection
If you decide to stay in your home during a hurricane or bad storm, it is critical that you have a safe place to shelter. Waiting until the last second to pick a location isn't much of a plan. So you need to decide in advance where in your home you will ride the storm out. First examine the floor plan of your home, keeping in mind strong winds can produce deadly missiles, falling trees and structural failure. Choose a location that will protect you from these dangers like a large interior closet, a bathroom or hallway with no windows.
Please refer to the sample floor plan above.
Starting with the bathroom labeled #5. While many people would seek the shelter of the bathtub this is not a good choice because of the large window on one end and the fact it's located on an exterior wall. A flying missile hazard in a category 3 or larger storm could slice through the window's plywood storm shutter like a red-hot knife through warm butter. Resulting in razor sharp shards of broken glass flying all over the room. You wouldn't believe some of the pictures I've examined of the aftermath of Andrew. One photo showed a section of plywood that sliced through a pine tree that must have been 18 inches thick! Your safe room should be as close to the center of your home as you can get it.
Room #4 is in the same situation as room #5. It has a bathtub for protection, but is also located on an exterior wall and also sports a large window. Again this is a poor safe room for all the same reasons. Late model homes are not normally equipped with cast iron bathtubs. Builder have started to use fiberglass or composite materials and it's doubtful they would provide the same protection as cast iron did. Many bathrooms also have skylights that render the room useless in this situation covered or not.
Room #3 is a better selection than the previously mentioned rooms but still has a problem that makes it a poor choice. It's too close to that two-car garage door. If the door fails and it might, the safe room's wall will become an exterior wall. Two layers of drywall and 2x4 studs spaced 16 inches on center are not matched for hurricane force winds. You could get some protection from the washer and dryer but that doesn't blow my skirt up. Looking around in google pictures of hurricane damage will show you washers and dryers get tossed all over a town, its pretty bad.
Room #2 is in a much better location. No windows, no skylight, no exterior walls, and it is positioned next to a set of stairs leading to the second floor. The staircase lends a great deal of strength to this room. The only problem here is the small overall size of the room. You could get two people in here but that's about all. This room may be better suited as a safe room for your emergency supplies. A person could store a lot of stuff in there.
Room #1 is the best overall room in this home. It has pretty good floor space, has a second floor above it and in located in the center of the structure. This closet has no window, no skylight, no exterior walls, and only one door. If I owned this home I would replace the weak closet door with a solid core door. This would lend a great improvement in security. The large vanity of room #4 is mounted to one of its walls adding protection. This room has several walls surrounding it, which also enhances security.
Positioning a large piece of furniture in the great room directly under the #1 would also help. There is shelf space in this room to store emergency supplies on. You could, it appears, get at least four people in there. You could also drag a mattress in there to sit on and even get under if it got real bad. If this where a one story home it might be a good idea to get in the attic directly about this room and nail plywood to its ceiling rafters. I'm sure there a lot of other ideas that would help here, but this section is intended to get you thinking and planing about your own situation.
Make your safe room as comfortable as possible. A slow moving storm will mean a long wait of many hours. Your safe room should include your disaster supplies kit; a battery powered flashlight, TV or radio, a NOAA weather radio and lots of extra batteries. Remember this room is your last line of defense in a hurricane.
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