His first stab at a safe room doesn’t have the protective concrete ceiling but still offers four walls of protection, drawers for valuables and a phone to call for help. tinkered with a modified version at a model house in the Lake Forest community near Sanford. Ric Heidenescher of Heidenescher Homes Inc. “You can hide from a burglar, and they can’t get to you,” Hewitt said. The setup can range from simple to elaborate, with separate telephone lines and power generators adding high-level efficiency. Hewitt designed his model as a “hidden vault,” cloaked behind a shoe rack in the master closet. These concrete cages also can be cleverly designed to elude home invaders. “Even though a home would withstand the hit, you can still get hit with debris flying by,” Hewitt said. The safe room seemed a logical solution – even in a home already made with sturdy concrete. Basements won’t always work, as some areas of northern Texas have the same high soil moisture as Florida. Hewitt grew up in the vicious Texas tornado beltway and long hankered to develop a suitable means of protection. The utility room would be an ideal spot for a safe room in a more moderate price level, he said, because the concrete also would reduce the noise level of washing machines. “If I find the land, I’m going to build some in the lower price ranges,” Hewitt said. Hewitt’s homes start at around $400,000, but he plans to incorporate safe rooms into more modest abodes. “All my new houses have safe rooms,” he said. Michael Hewitt, a builder with Royal Oak Custom Homes in Plano, Texas, began integrating it into his homes this year and has been besieged by requests since the event. In fact, it’s simmering as a national design trend.Ī concrete home featuring a safe room made a splash in January when it was featured at the National Association of Home Builders show in Dallas. The safe room concept isn’t novel to this region. Options include a phone jack and emergency lighting. The rugged, final product can withstand winds up to 260 mph. The nature of the panels prevents the conversion of existing structures. The business installs pre-engineered concrete panels in pantries, laundry rooms and closets under construction. “People don’t want to spend the extra money until something like this happens,” said Dennis Towell, vice president of Insulwall. Now, in the advent of storm destruction, the company has lined up 12 parties craving the polished caverns. Insulwall, an Orlando venture which counts safe room construction among its specialties, began offering the sheltered parlors two years ago. “People are just scared to death of these tornadoes,” he said. The flame-retardant quality isn’t what’s attracting people as of late. “It’s something you could stay in for several hours,” Nasrallah said. Many homeowners want the concrete nooks built in bedroom closets in case a blaze traps them with no place to run. “Nobody wants people to know they have one,” he said.Īnother element safe rooms can help deflect is fire. Nasrallah uses code words on blueprints to mask the room. Because it’s designed for security and safety, few owners discuss the feature. Perhaps the sluggish buzz is due to the room’s cloak-and-dagger nature. “A year ago no one had heard about it, but people are slowly finding out.” “Primarily, it’s for the safekeeping of personal items and the safety of the person,” Nasrallah said. Nearly 15 area homes he designed boast the accouterment for a variety of reasons. Winter Park architect Mark Nasrallah has been sealing up safe rooms for the past three years, primarily in tony estates. Lucia modeled his safe room design after fallout shelters, which were all the rage during the Cold War climate of the 1950s and ’60s. A total of 42 people perished, and millions of dollars in property damage were left in the wake. He got the idea after a lethal pack of tornadoes swarmed across Central Florida in February. So far, only three of his clients have chosen the safe room option, but he expects interest to pick up once word gets out. But the main thing we want to do is keep anyone from getting hurt.” “It doesn’t really change property damage. “It’s still pretty new, and people are taken aback for a moment, but then they go home and think about it and decide to do it,” Lucia said. It’s a makeshift cave with comfort – and it’s wooing parties, mostly upscale so far, interested in such protection. The room can be painted, wallpapered and designed to suit any needs, whether it be a den or a home theater. To top it off, the ceiling also receives a thick layer of concrete, lacing the space with five tough walls of protection, and a steel door is added. The concept is simple: Lucia designs a room, whether it be a living room, a pantry or even a bathroom, and builds four concrete walls surrounding the space with structural beams bracing each wall.
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