joessportster Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 I live in a Mobile Home (It aint much, but its paid for and sets on 5 acres of land) I have been thinking about an above ground storm shelter. A year or so ago I saw a site dedicated to building with EARTH BRICK which I thought was cool as hell idea. But I would have to truck in a LOT of clay, thats cost prohibitive I live on a fixed income. With the recent storm Dorian I started thinking about sandbags looked it up and apparently they have used EARTH BAGS for a long time. Where I live I have SAND SOIL literally no top soil, no clay, just straight up sand. I am VERY serious about this idea building a medium sized room using sandbags I am not sure about a roof structure YET I am of the mindset it would need to be HEAVY to be sufficient as an above ground storm shelter While I am disabled sandbags would be something I can enlist the help of the boys 11 & 12 and the wife, Leveling the ground would not pose much of an issue our 25 HP tractor has a front end loader and a land plane I use for the 1/2 mile sand drive. I can get all the sand I want Anyone have experience with this stuff ? Know of a GOOD web site that would include images or videos of the build process ? Anyone know of a good source for Bags ? How about a form for Concrete MASSIVELY Temporarily supported as a roof once set coat it with rubber or tar and leave some supports full time. I also thought a room built in this manner would make a superb music room walls floor and roof basically dead Anyone ? This would also be ECO Friendly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 17 hours ago, joessportster said: I am VERY serious about this idea building a medium sized room using sandbags Worked in Viet Nam and Afghanistan... If it is all sand, do you have good drainage? You could scoop out a foot or two, to use that sand for the bags, and not have to build as high. If you mix cement when you fill the bags, as they are stacked, pound rebar through them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceptorman Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 The bad thing about sand is it isn't very stable, but it does dissipate water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 7, 2019 Author Share Posted September 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Marvel said: Worked in Viet Nam and Afghanistan... If it is all sand, do you have good drainage? You could scoop out a foot or two, to use that sand for the bags, and not have to build as high. If you mix cement when you fill the bags, as they are stacked, pound rebar through them. The threads I have been reading say to lay barbed wire between the layers. I have decent drainage its all sand so water seems to soak in real quickly not much ponding happening here at all. I also live on a hill kinda, I am the lowest home on the over 100 acres but all water runs off into a cavern (ish) trench behind my home the state has high tension lines running down following the trench. Like the idea of digging out will give that some thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 7, 2019 Author Share Posted September 7, 2019 55 minutes ago, Ceptorman said: The bad thing about sand is it isn't very stable, but it does dissipate water. Agreed generally but placed in the bags it cant spread out or wash away. what I have read says to wet the bags, then tamp each row while maintaining level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceptorman Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 Just now, joessportster said: Agreed generally but placed in the bags it cant spread out or wash away. what I have read says to wet the bags, then tamp each row while maintaining level. It would probably work. If you could add a little Portland cement into each bag while it's wet, then after it sets up could end up pretty strong. I know the cement would add labor and cost. Mounting a roof could be difficult to the sand bags. Could you mount the roof to vertical wood columns in the corners, then fill in between the wood with sand bags? If you were inside and a storm came through, an it collapses, that would be hard to survive with all that sand weight. I'll bet sand weighs around 100 lbs per cubit foot....dry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 On 9/7/2019 at 2:29 PM, Ceptorman said: It would probably work. If you could add a little Portland cement into each bag while it's wet, then after it sets up could end up pretty strong. I know the cement would add labor and cost. Mounting a roof could be difficult to the sand bags. Could you mount the roof to vertical wood columns in the corners, then fill in between the wood with sand bags? If you were inside and a storm came through, an it collapses, that would be hard to survive with all that sand weight. I'll bet sand weighs around 100 lbs per cubit foot....dry. LOL Yea I doubt anyone would survive I will have to use portland cement to stucco the in & outsides it may not be an issue to use some in the bags depends how much would be needed per bag Good points all. I will have to investigate some more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Finally was able to look at the earthbag construction... not at all what I was thinking. Pretty cool. Back in my younger days... while in high school, my brother and I worked with the local civil defense. Their operations building had an entrance that had stacked sandbags on each side as you went to the main door. They were actually filled with cement and stacked, with rebar going through them and eventually, the canvas bags rotted away leaving the concrete. I'm sure that today they would just build forms and pour the concrete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emile Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Interesting Sure @joessportster has seen this "manual for building an earthbag shelter" ( http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles/akiohowto.htm ) but thought it might be interesting to those reading this post. But ... question if this is necessary These shelters seem to be constructed for earthquakes, etc. I am sure they can take Cat-5 hurricanes (w/o the water). Joe is in North Carolina; no clue what the maximum winds are ... 100mph? Seems like a conventional structure would be sufficient. Since Joe has good drainage and lives on a hill, how about excavating 4 feet, build a "box with a door," and add a slanted roof? Haha ... make it nice so Joe can put his stereo inside Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emile Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Sounds like the old root cellar. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emile Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 One more ... steel tornado shelter ... about $3-7K depending on size Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 Good Links Emile. Price is certainly an Object on a fixed income to build Earthbag they say between 1 & 5 K all in.................. I am approx 100 Miles off the coast as the crow or storm flies. So 100MPH+ winds are very possible depending where a storm lands and the size of the storm the last 2 storms I followed were in excess of 200 miles wide meaning when the EYE hits land I can still get rough wind then there is the phenom of Hurricanes spinning off Tornadoes (Dorian spun off like 16 in just a few hours, Florence had us in a Tornado warning only a couple miles from where it landed) Im not big on depending on Grace or Luck. I will take Prepared all day long. Conventional Building is great but not much for a storm shelter a 2X4 hurled at 100 MPH is akin to a rocket and will puncture a steel clad door with ease plywood is not what you want to be behind with that same 2x4 headed your way. Cinder block filled does a nice job but the Price gets ugly quick & I am no brick layer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Prepared brings luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted September 9, 2019 Moderators Share Posted September 9, 2019 2 hours ago, joessportster said: Price is certainly an Object on a fixed income to build Earthbag they say between 1 & 5 K all in....... And a whole lot of heavy lifting and moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 12 hours ago, dtel said: And a whole lot of heavy lifting and moving. not necessarily lifting depends on bag size and amount of fill, or fill in place instead of carrying a full bag. plus I have 2 boys 11 and 12, they need the exercise & time outdoors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 13 hours ago, oldtimer said: Prepared brings luck. I think you are right. we prepared for Dorian and it skirted the coast rather than hit land. I wish I could depend on that to be the case everytime, but you cant trust mother nature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillyBob Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 1 hour ago, joessportster said: fill in place that's how! Saw a show where the bags were loooooooooong. 20feet long. They were building a house. Dome-ish. An Arizona igloo. The show was shot in Tucson. I would build above grade to avoid drainage probs. The barbed wire is used to help gravity hold things in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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