Safe Room & Shelters

Protection for your family and loved ones is paramount. UDC offers several design solutions to fit a wide array of threats and isolation durations for all budgets. Our safe room and protective long duration shelters are designed to military specification and can protect you and your family for long periods from both man-made and natural contingency events.

If you wait until an emergency occurs- Its to late! Prepare today.

Call us today. We can show you how.

While preparing for every constringency may be an impossible task there are some things that you can do. First identify all risks in your area that you and your family may face. Then determine what is the probability or frequency in which the event may occur. From place to place throughout the United States this may vary greatly. There are two types of rooms UDC design for protection. One is a safe room and the other is a shelter. What are the differences?

A safe room is a room located within a building (above or below grade) that can be used primarily as a short duration protective area. Safe rooms typically do not allow for extended stays of more than a day or so- they are designed to protect the occupants from an immediate threat for a short period of time.

A shelter is a room located within a building (above or below grade) that can be used for short or long term duration. It is specifically designed for extended periods of occupation and come equipped with the greatest amount flexibility designed into them. They can be used to shelter the occupants from one or more threats and often have stored water and food within their protective walls, as well as; firearms, ammunition, communication equipment and medical supplies.

UDC divides threats into two categories; Naturally occurring and manmade. While naturally occurring will vary in frequency from place to place, most man made threats, on average , remain the same from place to place.

Naturally occurring

Threats that occur nationally throughout the United States such as:

· Tornadoes

· Hurricanes

· Volcanic Eruptions

· Earthquakes

· Drought

· Famine

· Flooding

· Tsunami

· Wildfire

· Solar Flare

· Celestial Impact event (Asteroid or Comet strike)

· Polar Shift

Manmade threats

Are threats that do not naturally occur but are influenced by human actions such as:

· Terrorism

· Theater wide War (Conventional, Nuclear, Biological, Chemical War)

· Radiological, Biological, Chemical Disaster/ Accident

· Electrical Blackout

· Global Warming/ Climate Change

· Electric magnetic Pulse EMP

· Home Intrusion/ Forced Entry

· Explosive Blast

Once we have identified the threat and the probability or frequency in which the threat may occur, then we can begin our planning. All planning should revolve around three basic needs:

· Shelter

· Water

· Food

UDC has designed a series of protective measures specifically for the area you reside. These protective measures are developed based on occupant’s needs and duration of sheltering required.

Our custom shelter design are identified by three categories:

· Family Shelter (single family of 1 to 5 occupants)

· Multi-family Shelter (more than one family or 5 or more than occupants)

· Community Shelter (more than family of 25 or more than occupants)

Shelters are further broken down into operational configurations based on isolation duration:

· Short Term

Shelters equipped to sustain life 1 to 7 days in complete isolation.

· Medium Term

Shelters equipped to sustain life for 1 to 30 days in complete isolation.

· Long Term

Shelters equipped to sustain life for 365+ days in complete isolation.

While sheltering occupants underground is the preferred configuration for most safe rooms/ shelter applications, it is not always cost effective to do. This is due primarily because it safeguards against the majority of threats, however, it often will require more than one family to defray the construction cost. Underground facilities that are designed for maximum protection from naturally occurring and manmade threats are best configured for multi family so that one or more families can share the construction cost. This further makes since; if the facility is utilized for which it is designed- the increase in occupancy could allow the survival group better odds of survivability because they will have more personnel to help with daily operations and tasks after the event.

UDC has perfected the above ground custom safe room/ shelter. These safe rooms/Shelters come standard in all series 007 and better homes and are designed to withstand 250 mph wind loads and 100 mph missile impact. In addition, they are configured to provide shelter, and access to clean food and water to the occupants after the event further increasing survivability for the occupants. We accomplish this by locating the aboveground safe room/ shelter in a area of or room in the house that will allow the hot water storage tank and food storage such as a kitchen pantry to be inside the protective walls of the shelter; ensuring survivability after the event by protecting the homes food and water resources. If the building should be completely destroyed and food storage and water lines disrupted, the water and food stored inside the protective walls of the safe room/ shelter can be utilized to maintain life until rescue forces arrive. In some cases this could be days or even weeks. This was realized in hurricane Katrina as some home owners in isolated areas had to endure several weeks without outside assistance.

While any room can be designed to protect the occupants inside of a home or commercial building, UDC prefers to use the kitchen pantry. This guarantees that the occupants will have food and water after the event, even if the home suffers a direct hit.

Short Term: Safe rooms

Short term safe rooms/ shelters are designed to provide protection from winds and blowing debris associated with sever whether, tornadoes and hurricanes up to 250 mph wind loads and 100 mph missile impact. The provide limited protection against biological and chemical events and depending on material used to construct the exterior potions of the shelter can provide some protection against nuclear events. The short term safe rooms/ shelters are not designed to withstand the forces and effects associated with a nuclear blast or nuclear fallout, though depending on proximity to the detonation they will provide some protection. They are primarily designed to withstand forces associated with tornado, hurricane and home intrusion.

Medium Term: Safe rooms/ Shelters

Medium term safe rooms/ shelters are designed to provide protection from winds and blowing debris associated with sever whether, tornadoes and hurricanes up to 250 mph wind loads and 100 mph missile impact. The provide increased protection against biological and chemical events and depending on material used to construct the exterior potions of the shelter can provide some protection against nuclear events. The medium term safe rooms/ shelters are designed to withstand the forces and effects associated with a nuclear blast or nuclear fallout, though depending on proximity to the detonation the degree of protection will vary. They are primarily designed to withstand forces associated with tornado, hurricane, Biological, Chemical accidents (of extended duration) and home intrusion for a period of isolation not exceeding 30 days. They are typically equipped with firearms, ammunition, communication equipment and first aid medical supplies.

Long Term: Bunkers

Long term safe rooms/ shelters are designed to provide maximum protection from winds and blowing debris associated with sever whether, tornadoes and hurricanes up to 250 mph wind loads and 100 mph missile impact. The provide maxium protection against biological and chemical events and depending on material used to construct the exterior potions of the shelter can provide some protection against nuclear events. The long term safe rooms/ shelters are designed to withstand the forces and effects associated with a nuclear blast and nuclear fallout, though depending on proximity to the detonation the degree of protection will vary. They are primarily designed to withstand forces associated with tornado, hurricane, Biological, Chemical accidents (of long duration) and home intrusion for a period of isolation not exceeding 365 days. They are typically equipped with a surplus of firearms, ammunition, communication equipment and first aid medical supplies. They are designed and equipped to maximize survivability from the greatest degree of threats. If the facility is located underground the facility could provide protection from most, if not all of the naturally occurring or manmade threats.