About the service
I install underground backyard storm shelters built to protect your family through tornadoes and severe weather, handling every stage from the first soil assessment to the final walkthrough. Site work starts with reading your yard's drainage pattern and water table depth «before» the excavator ever breaks ground — the wrong shelter placement on clay-heavy or high-water-table soil is the single most common cause of shelter flooding, and I catch it early with test pits and a percolation check.
For the structure itself I work with both prefabricated steel and fiberglass shelters lowered by crane, and site-poured reinforced concrete rooms for clients who want a custom footprint. Either way the shelter gets a compacted gravel base, proper backfill compaction in lifts — not just dumped and packed once — and a sealed lid gasket rated for sustained water pressure.
Ventilation is not an afterthought: every shelter gets a properly sized intake and exhaust pipe pair with debris screens and a hand-crank backup fan option, sized to the shelter's air volume and expected occupancy time. Access is finished with a slip-resistant stair or ladder system and a counterbalanced hatch that a child or an older family member can open unassisted.
Waterproofing is multi-layer: exterior membrane on poured units, sealed panel seams on prefab units, and a sump or gravity drain depending on your site grade. Typical turnaround from initial site visit to final inspection sign-off runs one to two weeks depending on soil conditions and concrete cure time. I carry my own excavation equipment and coordinate any required permit inspection directly with your local building department.
For the structure itself I work with both prefabricated steel and fiberglass shelters lowered by crane, and site-poured reinforced concrete rooms for clients who want a custom footprint. Either way the shelter gets a compacted gravel base, proper backfill compaction in lifts — not just dumped and packed once — and a sealed lid gasket rated for sustained water pressure.
Ventilation is not an afterthought: every shelter gets a properly sized intake and exhaust pipe pair with debris screens and a hand-crank backup fan option, sized to the shelter's air volume and expected occupancy time. Access is finished with a slip-resistant stair or ladder system and a counterbalanced hatch that a child or an older family member can open unassisted.
Waterproofing is multi-layer: exterior membrane on poured units, sealed panel seams on prefab units, and a sump or gravity drain depending on your site grade. Typical turnaround from initial site visit to final inspection sign-off runs one to two weeks depending on soil conditions and concrete cure time. I carry my own excavation equipment and coordinate any required permit inspection directly with your local building department.
