Underground Bomb Shelter Kits
Safe, discrete, inexpensive, DIY/Contractor Installed
You can build a professional engineer certified underground bomb shelter for an in the ground cost that is thousands of dollars less than a prefabricated steel bunker.
Your shelter is your business. No need to bring in a crew with a crane to hoist it up for your neighbors to see.
We supply all of the critical components like the engineered trusses, the blast hatch, and the NBC air filtration system. The heavy (and expensive to ship) blocks and concrete are purchased locally. Or, instead of laying blocks, you can form up and pour solid concrete walls and then cap them with our engineered steel truss ceiling kit.
This is a 14 x 50 foot shelter kit
700 square feet inside
All the space you need in your bomb shelter
These kits go up to 14 feet wide – much wider that the narrow prefabricated shelters that are constrained by maximum shipping widths.
You can easily extend the length of our standard shelters by ordering additional trusses. Contact our sales department to get a quotation for your shelter kit!
Steel beam reinforcement
What sets this system apart is the integrated design and manufacture process that decreases the cost and build time while increasing the strength and features. The engineered wide flange steel beam trusses allow you to pour the concrete ceiling without erecting temporary cribbing. The steel trusses stay embedded in the concrete, giving additional strength over and above what rebar normally provides.
Certified blast load rating
The trusses and the rebar are what give this bomb shelter its certified blast load rating of 2,980 pounds per square foot (20.7 PSI). This is a professional engineers certificate of the true blast load rating. The weight of the ceiling, the backfill, and even a vehicle parked on top were added in before the blast load was calculated.
We have yet to find any other bomb shelter that comes with a blast load certification. When you go into your shelter you are in a man-made underground void with thousands of pounds of earth right over your head and the possibility of a much greater dynamic load during a nearby detonation. Somebody should have done a little math to ensure your safety – we have.
Comprehensive installation manual
Every step to build this bomb shelter is outlined the manual so you can pre-plan to have your materials, equipment, and skilled labor onsite when you need them.
Having a detailed manual also greatly simplifies the quotation process if you are hiring a contractor to build your shelter.
Why steel reinforced concrete is best
There’s a reason why all known government bomb shelters are made from steel reinforced concrete. Steel and concrete work well together.
Steel is expensive, concrete is cheap – together they are affordable
Steel has high tensile strength, concrete has high compression strength
Steel can be cut with a torch, concrete can take the heat
Steel takes a shop full of tooling to form, concrete is easily formed in the field
We supply all of the critical steel elements for this underground bomb shelter kit – brackets, fasteners, trusses, rebar, ventilation pipes, and the electrical, water, and septic penetrations.
Equipped with the best air filtration system
Each shelter kit comes with a Safe Cell NBC air filtration system that includes:
- One 60 CFM Safe Cell with a full bank of filters
- One backup hand crank
- Two 7 bar blast valves
- One overpressure valve
- One automatic ventilation system
The Safe Cell is the only NBC air filtration system with a built in battery backup capability.
Shelter Build 1 – Series 400
A series of pictures showing an extended length bomb shelter being built. It’s 14 x 50 feet on the inside and has has many optional items: a blast door, three blast hatches, an external generator room, and an escape tunnel.
Shelter Build 2 – Series 400
A series of pictures showing a 14 x 20 foot bomb shelter kit being built. This one has an optional blast door.
Shelter Build 3 – Series 100
A series of pictures showing an 8 foot, 8 inch by 20 foot bomb shelter kit being built. Another one with an optional blast door.
Putting it all together
This is the riser hatch on the riser trusses with the rebar in the background.
This is the riser truss pair. This pair of trusses are welded together and form a pallet for the rest of the trusses to be shipped on. Note the “tunnel” that the riser sits on is a form. The concrete is poured all around it and the riser hatch is mounted on top.
In the background is a truss showing the holes we punch for the rebar as well as the two small holes for the form board bracket in the end of the truss.
This is the single leaf blast door that was shipped with this kit.
This is the riser hatch. It is an older style without the internal cam latch. All hatches we build now have a cam latch that draws the blast lid down onto the frame, compressing the seal.
The emergency escape jack has not been installed. The two ears on the right side of the blast lid accept the top end of this three ton jack.
Note the deadbolt lock mounted on the blast lid right above the pull handle, the EPDM seal around the top lip and the wide angle viewer ports on each side, just below the top lip.
For more information on our hatches, see the flat blast hatch and the riser blast hatch pages.
These are the ventilation pipes. One air intake, one air outflow, and one septic drain ventilation pipe. All ventilation pipes need a blast valve to protect the occupants from a nearby detonation.
Also shown are the angle brackets, the form board brackets, the deadbolt cap for the riser blast hatch, the electrical, water, and septic penetrations as well as the bottom struts for the ladder.
These are the ventilation pipes strapped to the blast door for shipping.
Here is the riser blast hatch and the trusses on the flatbed truck.
Prices, availability, and ordering
(PLEASE REQUEST UPDATED QUOTES)
(Please note: we do not handle installs at this time)
There are four standard sizes of shelter kits:
Series 400 (14′ wide x 20′ long) – $33,500, plus shipping
Series 300 (12′ wide x 20′ long) – $31,500, plus shipping
Series 200 (10′ wide x 20′ long) – $29,500, plus shipping
Series 100 (8′-8″ wide x 20′ long) – $27,500, plus shipping
Each standard kit includes:
Seven steel trusses with all the brackets and fasteners
All the cut and formed rebar for the floors, walls, and ceiling
A riser blast hatch
A 60 CFM blast protected NBC air filtration system
Two 72″ steel ventilation pipes
Ceiling penetrations for electrical, water, and septic
The 14 x 50 foot shelter kit. Note that this length is not in the manual. We highly recommend a 24″ x 24″ perimeter footer be incorporated into the floor slab to strengthen the foundation over this longer length:
Series 400 (14′ wide x 50′ long) – $42,500, plus shipping
All standard items listed above are included, except:
There will be 19 trusses instead of 7
Rebar is not included with this price
Special order item: we usually need four weeks of build time. You arrange a 50% deposit at time order, we build the part, you arrange payment for the balance due, and we ship it right out. See our policy page for the full set of terms.
To have a shelter kit like this show up at your house, please contact our sales department.