Personal & Home

Being Prepared For Those You Love
"Panic rooms, more commonly known as safe rooms, are spaces inside a home or business where people seek refuge in times of perceived or imminent danger. Designers and builders of safe rooms are reporting increasing inquires since September 11 and according to the U.S. Department of Justice, every year there are close to half a mil lion violent crimes involving handguns that happen in or near the home. The number of residential break-ins and forced intrusions is even higher." "Once limited to the rich and famous, safe rooms are now within reach of the average homeowners."

"…safe rooms can…provide protection from tornadoes, intruders, ballistic, and even chemical weapon assaults. These types of safe rooms require reinforced concrete walls and ceilings, specialty ventilation and plumbing systems, oxygen systems, a back-up generator, food and water supplies, closed-circuit video, and phone lines that are impossible to locate or cut. People can stay in this type of safe room for as along as events warrants, whether it is a few minutes or a few days."

The safe room closets are framed with "steel or wood studs @ 16-inch on-center" and then secured with a "heavy-gauge steel mesh system known as the Secura Room…this system is specifically designed to delay or defeat attempts at forced entry or intrusion using axes, sledge hammers, chainsaws, or wrecking bars."

Excerpts from Wayne Hampton's "A Chicken In Every Pot And A Safe Room In Every Home"
in DCD Insights