Home Depot testing pre-built storm rooms

CNN Money.com ^ | September 1 2006: 2:08 PM EDT | Parija B. Kavilanz

[beltfed308]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home Depot and DuPont have teamed up to launch pre-built storm rooms for sale to consumers in a few test markets.

Home Depot (Charts) will debut the in-house shelters in a store in Houston. On Sept. 11, the company will roll out the product to four additional locations in the Texas market.

DuPont says its 'storm room', made of bullet-resistant Kevlar, can provide protection against wind speeds of up to 250 miles an hour.

Depending on customer response, the retailer aims to expand the offering to storm and hurricane-prone regions across the United States.

Consumers can also order the storm rooms directly from DuPont.

[beltfed308]

A neat concept but too expensive in my opinion. If expecting a CAT 3 you need to be outta there.

[Red Badger]

When I was a kid in Northern Mississippi, we had a "storm shed" half underground. The neighbors had one, too, but theirs was an old chevy panel truck, fron end removed and sealed and buried under ground halfway with the rear doors opening out......

[Thrusher]

The Home Depot "storm room" will be marketed under the catchy name Death Trap®.

[elfman2]

"DuPont says its 'storm room', made of bullet-resistant Kevlar, can provide protection against wind speeds of up to 250 miles an hour. "

Can it provide protection against the neighbor’s house traveling up to 250 miles an hour?

[KarlInOhio]

DuPont says its 'storm room', made of bullet-resistant Kevlar, can provide protection against wind speeds of up to 250 miles an hour.

And it's quite fun to ride in because you saved money by using a half dozen Home Depot 1/4 inch bolts to tie it down.

[goldfinch]

Does it float? I thought I read somewhere that the biggest killer in hurricanes is water, not wind. It might be a good thing to have in tornado alley, though...especially if is could be fastened down...

[GeorgiaDawg32]

my parents had a storm cellar put into their house in ohio back in '69 when they built it..it was in the basement, off a corner and was roughly 10' x 10' with rebar reinforced concrete walls and ceiling and a steel door that opened inward..my mom used it primarily as a place to keep all her canned veggies (home canned)..luckily, they never did have to use it for its intended purpose..

[1rudeboy]

I've always meant to ask: when the Weather Channel does their OMGWTFPWN3D tornado specials, the ones where it shows just a bunch of concrete slabs stripped bare? Why don't people have an underground shelter like the one in Wizard of Oz? I'm mystified.

[Sax]

Doesn't mention the most important aspect - how is it anchored into the foundation? There's a reason that after killer storm all you see in devastated neighborhoods are foundation and the toilets anchored to them.

Of course if you're beach side, your going to be underwater in that little box of yours.

[1rudeboy]

LOL . . . The Mausoleum^® (motto: Save $ on Funeral Costs!!!)

[4yearlurker]

Well,the doors have been around for years...

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Can it provide protection against the neighbor’s house traveling up to 250 miles an hour?

I watched a design training film years ago for engineers designing nuclear power plants. The plants had to withstand the effects of tornadoes. The test included loading a telephone utility poles into a special cannon and fire them at the built concrete containment domes.

Kevlar is not going to be much help with airborne debris from a 250 mph wind.

[KarlInOhio]

Why don't people have an underground shelter like the one in Wizard of Oz?

1. It's cheaper to not have a basement.

2. Sometimes the water table is too high so if you dig for a basement you'll just have a dirty inground pool.

[NeoCaveman]

IF the can make a room, why not make a whole house out of it?

(/humor)

[duckbutt]

As comedian Ron White says, "it's not THAT the wind is blowin....it's WHAT the wind is blowin'..."

[1rudeboy]

Makes sense. Maybe Joe Tito did have an idea, after all.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

There's a reason that after killer storm all you see in devastated neighborhoods are foundation and the toilets anchored to them.

Screw Kevlar. I am gonna go invest in a 10' by 12' crapper. Fixes the whole flooding problem, and you can use what is in the tank for drinking water.

[CindyDawg]

We get tornado's too. I'll believe this when I see it though. HD had hurricane shutters in their storm brochures too but no one up to cooperate office seems to know anything about them. IMO , those would be more practical and probably sell well around here.

[AzNASCARfan]

One question... is there seat belts in this room??

[pgkdan]

I really doubt they're going to find a market for a Kevlar room...the stuff costs approximately $70.00 a lb in semi finished shapes. Polycarbonate's alot cheaper.