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I decided, since I'm at home alone, with diddlysquat responsibilities for the day, to cruise netflix and watch Rocket City Rednecks. Good judgement not required.
I watched the first couple of episodes, laughing, and reminding myself I'm probably related to those guys and/or their "unrelated" friend, at least by marriage, because there's 3 generations of them in the state of Alabama.
The failed container submarine was a good example of being ready to respond to a failed experiment, divers were on hand, they had dedicated tanks for breathing if the scrubbers failed (NASA legacy,) and the two who went in it were already divers and knew how to use the regulators.
Then I scrolled down, tornado-proof outhouse. An episode made after the April tornado outbreak across the south not too long ago.
I wouldn't advocate too many people trying to build a 100 mph 2x4 tosser for backyard experiments, but I do currently dwell in the land of freedom and pumpkin cannons, so wtf, on your own head be it.
They set out to prove that you don't have to be an engineering & construction genius to build something that will withstand an F5 (maximum force detected in tornadoes up to now,) twister throwing parts of the neighborhood against it. They did build small, but it passed. Then they dropped a car on it for good measure. The car did not fare well, but the structure was fine.
They used common cement blocks and rebar, and if they gave any details on what the cement truck delivered I missed it, sorry. Probably a common mix for pouring slab foundations and filling in cement block walls with rebar. The structure was small enough, they didn't even support the middle of the plywood that held the top part of the pour for the roof (and there was rebar up there too.)
Looked like some skill would be useful for making a steel door, but I didn't think it looked like anything a moderately intelligent person couldn't figure out.
Expand on the design, make changes as needed to meet code, and you'd have an excellent hardened ground floor or basement shelter.
I watched the first couple of episodes, laughing, and reminding myself I'm probably related to those guys and/or their "unrelated" friend, at least by marriage, because there's 3 generations of them in the state of Alabama.
The failed container submarine was a good example of being ready to respond to a failed experiment, divers were on hand, they had dedicated tanks for breathing if the scrubbers failed (NASA legacy,) and the two who went in it were already divers and knew how to use the regulators.
Then I scrolled down, tornado-proof outhouse. An episode made after the April tornado outbreak across the south not too long ago.
I wouldn't advocate too many people trying to build a 100 mph 2x4 tosser for backyard experiments, but I do currently dwell in the land of freedom and pumpkin cannons, so wtf, on your own head be it.
They set out to prove that you don't have to be an engineering & construction genius to build something that will withstand an F5 (maximum force detected in tornadoes up to now,) twister throwing parts of the neighborhood against it. They did build small, but it passed. Then they dropped a car on it for good measure. The car did not fare well, but the structure was fine.
They used common cement blocks and rebar, and if they gave any details on what the cement truck delivered I missed it, sorry. Probably a common mix for pouring slab foundations and filling in cement block walls with rebar. The structure was small enough, they didn't even support the middle of the plywood that held the top part of the pour for the roof (and there was rebar up there too.)
Looked like some skill would be useful for making a steel door, but I didn't think it looked like anything a moderately intelligent person couldn't figure out.
Expand on the design, make changes as needed to meet code, and you'd have an excellent hardened ground floor or basement shelter.
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