Safe Rooms: The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Your Family

Whether it is the Secret Service rushing the President to the Presidential safe room in the White House during an action thriller or a man carrying his family into a tornado shelter in the latest version of Twister, Hollywood has given us plenty of reasons to crave a safe room. You want one. I want one. We all want one. 

The reality is that having a panic room in your house is easier said than done which is why only a small percentage of homes have one. In an ideal world, we'd all have our own nuclear bunker underneath our house. Costs and lack of knowledge send us running to our closets instead. However, it is worth considering and we're going to break down the world of safe rooms to help guide you along that path. 

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Types of Safe Rooms for Different Scenarios 

The words safe room, panic room, shelter are all often used interchangeably to describe the same thing. Namely, a safe place to go when danger arrives. It doesn't matter whether that danger is bad guys during a home invasion or an F5 tornado, this is your go-to place for refuge. 

There are different types of rooms for different dangers and the one you pick should be catered towards your most likely threats. Just know that unless you are ultra-wealthy, you're just going to have one safe room, if that. As such, lean into your most common threat, but be sure it can handle multiple. 

We'd break safe room threats down into two primary categories. Those crimes and natural disasters. To say it another way, to protect yourself from other people and to protect yourself from mother nature. You have to decide which is more likely and lean into that. 

For example, you may greatly fear the dangers of a home invasion and an underground bunker sounds ideal. However, if you live in an area where flooding is common, that would be a terrible idea. You are more likely to experience flooding than a home invasion. Ask yourself, which is the greater threat and lean into that direction. 

Planning and Building a Safe Room

Now that you've identified the threat, let's talk about the plan. There are official FEMA guidelines and standards around the construction of safe rooms. FEMA's intent behind these guidelines is to ensure that the room does what it is supposed to do. Meanwhile, construction guidelines are around whether the structure is safe and up to code. 

Any professional installer of pre-built safe rooms or construction professional building one from scratch will likely live up to these guidelines. However, going with a professional comes with a price tag. This is often what prohibits individuals from going down this path. 

There is nothing that we are aware of which prohibits an individual homeowner from making modifications to their own homes in order to increase safety. However, we don't recommend an accountant who never picked up a hammer in his life to build his own underground bunker. 

Yet, if you can reinforce doors and walls of a closet to withstand gunfire, no one is stopping you. If you want to add reinforced locks, hinges, and windows of a particular room, go for it. Safe room design doesn't have to be complicated.

However, for the purpose of this article, we are going to move forward assuming that we are speaking of official and up to code safe rooms that meet the published standards. If you purchase a safe room built to withstand tornadoes and hurricanes, it needs to live up to the advertising. 

Design and Construction Standards

There are two primary guidelines which oversee the construction of standard saferooms. The first is FEMA P-320 which provides detailed instructions and design plans for constructing safe rooms in residential settings. This is a publication and not enforceable civil code. 

This publication offers design guidance, construction plans, cost estimates and even funding plans for where possible grants may be obtained to help with the cost of construction. You're not likely to get a grant if you are just scared of the boogeyman, but if you live in tornado alley, there could be funds out there for you. 

The next is ICC 500 which is officially titled the ICC/NSSA Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters.  This standard establishes minimum requirements for the design, construction, and installation of storm shelters. 

Like FEMA P-320, this standard is not enforceable law, but rather a consensus standard that provides guidance and design. However, if a local municipality or jurisdiction adopts ICC 500 into their building codes, compliance could become mandatory. Personally, if we're paying someone good money to install one for us, we're going to make sure that it lives up to the highest standard. 

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Cost of Building and Funding Options

Costs of building such a room can vary wildly based on materials used and whether or not prevailing wage applies in your area. However, you can guess an estimated $150 to $300 per square foot. 

If you're looking at a 4x6 to 4x8 room, it could be between $3,600 and $11,200. A larger 14x14 room could cost between $12,000 and $14,000. Steel construction is going to run you more than concrete and it is more expensive to retrofit an existing home than it is to build the room during new home construction.

Then you have to think of all the equipment inside. Ventilation, communications equipment, and more. This includes what you have stored inside your safe room. Food, water, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment. It doesn't do you any good to run into a safe room if you can't survive when you get out. 

A safe room is a great place to store your family's gas masks as there may come a time when you need to leave under toxic circumstances. If you have our CM-8M mask inside, you can walk out in the funkiest of air and the worst of circumstances. 

Benefits of Having a Safe Room

Having a safe room comes with a cost, but the benefits are enormous. The most immediate and daily benefit that you will enjoy is peace of mind. The reality is that you're not going to be hit by a tornado or home invasion every single day. You will however enjoy the peace of mind every single day that if today is the day, you and your family are ready. That is priceless. 

A safe room can also enhance the property value when it comes time for resell. Again, everyone wants one. They just don't think they can afford it. When they see that they can pick one up and wrap the cost of it into their mortgage they are ecstatic.  Better than a pool or marble countertops in our book. 

Finally, you get to actually live to fight another day. This isn't the 1950's and we're expecting this room to keep your family fed for the next 30 years while the radiation dies down. These rooms exist to survive the immediate danger of the moment. While survival is indeed a great benefit, it only matters if you have a plan for what happens when it is time to come out. 

How to Survive When It is Time to Leave the Room

Your room is protected from injury or death when an intruder kicks in the door. Great, but what do you do if he is still there and no one is coming to save the day? You can wait him out a bit, but what if he sets fire to the house to draw you out. You need to have a plan to fight your way back out. 

The great thing about a fortified room that is installed for protection is that they do a great job of just that. The only problem with a room designed to meet that purpose is that it can be like painting yourself into a corner. 

That's why we say the room is a great place to store all of your gear. Think firearms, ammunition, gas masks, body armor and more. The occupants of a safe room have to have a plan to fight your way back out. 

The intruder may think he has one when he forces you into your refuge. However, if he screws around sticks long enough to see you bust out sporting our Level-4 Body Armor and an AR point directly at his chest, it's going to be a bad day for him. We're not saying that should be your immediate response, but there will come a time when you have no option. 

You also have to have a plan to survive the chaos that may be unfolding outside in the event of a natural disaster. It's great that you survived the natural disaster, but if your firearms were outside and were swept away, will you be able to survive the looting? 

Source: MIRA Safety

Conclusion

The team here at MIRA Safety is dedicated to notions of safety, self-reliance, and preparedness. As such, if you ask us if you should have a panic room, safe room, emergency shelter and more, our answer will be an enthusiastic yes.

However, we recognize a $10,000 addition to your home may not be in the budget right now. Installing a safe room is a great idea, but if you can't afford it please don't let that stop you from preparing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has its guidelines, but if all you can afford are reinforced doors and windows, do it in the meantime. 

Understand what you are trying to protect yourself from when you do decide to move forward with construction. Is it natural disasters, criminals, or both? Lean into the more likely scenario and make sure it lives up to that standard first and foremost. Remember, this is risk mitigation and not a guarantee. 

If you choose to go with design professional and professional installation, make sure they know the standards and live up to them. Conceal your new refuge as much as possible. If others are not part of your plan there is no reason to share sensitive information with them. We know you want to show off your high-end safe room, but keep that information to yourself. 

Finally, have a plan to fight your way back out. When severe weather or terrorist attacks are over, the outside world is going to look very different. Make sure you can survive in that environment. You made a great hiding place for yourself, but the fight for survival carries on. Keep training and preparing for the day that most people dread and the team here at MIRA Safety will be right here beside you.