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The prescriptive designs that are in FEMA 320, for the most part, use material and construction
processes that are common to the building industry. And that's intentional because we
did not want to introduce some exotic concept that would, say, have a higher price tag or
would be totally unfamiliar to residential construction contractors. And that is still
true today, however, now manufactures have indeed inovated and have products that were
not available to us earlier, for example...
let me back uo a little bit and talk about one of the concepts, the plywood concept.
We started with multible layers of plywood, two that's not enough. Three that's not enough.
Add a forth layer and we thought that would do the job. And yet, that makes an afully
thick wall with four layers of three-quarter inch plywood. So, we said, look it would be
better to usee two layers of plywood and a steel sheet to stop the debris. So that's
what the current concept is... the current design is.
Now some producers have produced a ... steel plate is heavy, it's hard to handle and hard
to machine. So some inovative people have come up with a lamanate that substitutes for
the steel plate. And it's machinable and much more friendly to the user. So that kind of
innovation has occured, but for the most part, you're correct, the designs published in FEMA
320 utilize materials and processes that are familiar
to the home builder and the manufacturer. And that's intentionable. So one experienced
in construction who can read blueprints should be able to construct an above ground storm
shelter as per FEMA 320.
There are a multitude and I would guess a high percentage of the shelters being installed
today are manufactured products: concrete boxes, steel boxes that are located in various
places. There is even one that locates underneath the slab that as you go into the garage, cut
out a section of the slab, excavate, put a shelter under there and put a sliding door
on it. it provides safety and you don't even lose a parking space.
So, it seems to me there is a solution avalable to every challange today. And many concepts
shelters are available.