Moving back to tornado alley - Is concrete stone a solid investment?

>>1173581
That pic is bullshit. Why would a magnetic storage system give birth to a solid state system?

i'm fucking pissed.

File: 1494089224904.jpg (133KB, 728x636px) Image search: [Google]

133KB, 728x636px

>>1173586
Right, this is fucking outrageous and OP should feel bad. Not Okay. Not Okay.

Concrete with the cells filled is a good way to go, but tornadoes still can rip your roof off. Poured concrete roof is a thing and then it is pretty sweet.
It is expensive. You can also do solid concrete walls by pouring them flat then tilting them up.
Some buildings are made with a roof that is poured on the ground and then jacked up and the walls put underneath it.

Easiest for a owner builder is insulated concrete forms , ICF.
http://bluemaxxbuilders.com/ (for example)
Costs more than concrete blocks but it is a monolithic pour (stronger), easy to shape differently than a cube, and pre-insulated.

>>1173591
Do you have a ballpark on cost difference?

>>1173592
My ICF research is 20 years old, but you can do lots of the basic work yourself.
In the long run, the ICF is cheaper and much faster than pouring walls with wooden forms which are usually done in sections so it is not a true monolithic pour.
Concrete block and a wooden roof is cheaper, but then you have to insulate.
Contractors want to build stick houses or block houses, their semi skilled workers are familiar with the process.
The insulation benefits of ICF are huge and make heating/cooling much cheaper, that factors in to the overall cost and hard to quantify.
You could also build a small solid concrete bedroom/bath with an attached wooden structure. Use the concrete part as a stormshelter and have insurance on the whole thing. If you are at risk for hurricanes, then concrete monolithic domes have value.

>>1173581
But how worried are you though? How active/previous history in your area?

I've lived in tornado alley for 20 years and have yet to actually live through a life or death situation.

>>1173602
We had about 5 die in our last tornado season. Two were in a basement that collapsed.

>>1173592
ICF is crazy expensive. its mainly good for getting a job done quickly. if you have more time than money, i'd suggest you look into slipform masonry.

as for the roof, use steel beams.

>>1173630
I will have more time than money, so this is perfect. Any starter sources for it?

instead of making your whole house tornado proof, just make a small panic room that is tornado proof
spend the money you save on good insurance

done

Look into precast concrete products for integration into your structure. Also if you build in stages you can do the whole house in concrete.

You can build a tall berm around the structure just as one does with a military post. Berms deflect wind, are cheap and robust.

>>1173630
>as for the roof, use steel beams.
What did he mean by this?

>>1173635
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-csxSe9jEeY

this guy kind of nig rigged it a bit, but you get the idea.

the hardest part is designing a form that you can move around by yourself and accurately position. its a very tedious method, but also noob friendly.

> $100,000 in walls and roof that will probably survive, really decent

>$50,000 in a single room that will look upon a nuclear blast and laugh heartily

>>1174926
>not building a smaller ICF house inside an ICF house.
You fucked up.