You realize, worse case you could end up in OZ. Make sure you have your special shoes. with you. :)

I'm curious for the structural engineers out there. We have a frame house with an interior hallway that can be closed off to the rest of the house. The interior walls are constructed with metal studs instead of wooden ones. Is there a big difference in the vertical strength of the wood studs versus metal or vice versa?

I'm having a debate with myself over this. I have a walk in closet and one wall faces the garage so I guess that's an inside wall. But our laundry room has three interior walls and one that faces the garage but also has two doors.

I'm thinking that the laundry room might be easier to escape from with the two doors. It also has a sink that could be used as a toilet in case we're trapped. I have all of our hurricane supplies stored in the laundry room.

Am I wrong or is the walk in closet with only one door and no sink a better spot?

not a structural engineer but, impo, insignificant difference re pullout, shear, or compressive in residential const,,, absent below-grade shelter, conc & steel reinforced cmu cubby in garage would be my opt in

So disappointed to hear rec centers are not available for shelter, but this link is very useful. Thanks.

we have a large walk-in closet that is a distance from an exterior wall that we consider to be our 'go to place' in the event of hurricanes or tornados

So if a hurricane is forecasted to come up through central Florida and possibly pass through the TV there are no open shelters? I find That hard to believe with all the rec centers and safe places in the area.

When Irma was about a day away from us in The Villages The Paradise Recreational Center was Opened as a Shelter. At that time we had a Doggie so that ruled out that place as a possibility. I don't blame them for that. It was nice that they offered the building to those without animals.

The biggest problem even with a week's advanced notice would be where do you evacuate to an area that isn't suffering from COVID? There are over 4000 Manufactured Homes just in the Villages not counting the surrounding area. Where do you stuff all those people in they need to bail out?

It was a tough decision but I chose a Manufactured Home because for about 30 previous years there were no major weather events in Lady Lake. These guesstimations :1rotfl: are from my memory of an investigation I made about 5 years ago in regard to weather. We move in and everything changes. So it's all our fault. I feel better now that I owned that. :1rotfl:

On YouTube you can find videos about building tornado shelters of wood, bolted into the slab. This could be done in a larger walk-in closet, for example. But they take a lot of wood and cost quite a bit. Fun project, though.

Constructing a Wood Tornado Shelter (1 of 6) - YouTube

Ohiobuckeye
 

Do we have Tornado shelters, yes, they’re called your bathroom!

Bathroom has windows so thinking not so safe.

Might be better than our walk in closets. Two ways out and a source of water.

The issue with bathrooms might be mirrors shattering and then pieces of glass being tossed around to cut people. I wanted a room where it would be comfortable to stay for a while during a tornado watch and or a hurricane. As I stated in 2015, it would be helpful to have someone provide better information on where to shelter in TV houses that many times have the same basic floor plan.

During the tornado here I sustained a lot of damage but the lucky part for me was , I woke up quick and ran to the bathroom, as the whole house felt like it was as coming down and then it was gone and then I realized I was standing in the glass shower . The house had lots of damage but I considered myself a lucky man

If it's a hurricane you have time to go to a shelter. If it's a tornado you won't have time to leave the house so you have to have a plan within your home. We have a Gardenia and will use my closet after I dig out the mess in there.