Romtec designs, manufactures, and supplies storm shelter buildings that are capable of surviving environmental disasters. We currently have approved storm shelter designs that meet ICC-500 and FEMA P-361 guidelines, and Romtec is an NSSA Producer Member. Romtec also offers the capability to redesign any of our concrete block buildings as a functional storm shelter to protect lives from tornadoes and hurricanes.
Concrete Block Structures
Many Romtec buildings, like restrooms, utility buildings, gatehouses, and community centers are designed to be constructed with CMU block. These building models just need a little tweaking to become reliable, and life-saving, storm shelters. The reason Romtec does this with concrete buildings is that a standard building design can be reinforced with more concrete, rebar, and grout to become much stronger. Engineering the walls to be reinforced in this way gives them the ability to stand up to high speed impacts from debris, as well as the wind and other turbulent forces associated with tornadoes and hurricanes.
Reinforcing Walls with a Concrete Slab Roof
Reinforced walls is just one step. Romtec also provides a concrete slab roof that is reinforced. Like the walls, this roof is designed to withstand a lot of force. This design essentially creates an above-grade concrete bunker. It is functional but not terribly attractive for long-term use. Romtec can design these buildings with an aesthetic roof system that is functional as a gable-style roof but does not provide the protection rating of the slab roof beneath it. This combines robustness, safety, and protection with a pleasing to the eye roof design for days in better weather.
Implementing Storm-Rated Components
In addition to the structural design, Romtec redesigns the building with storm-rated components. On restroom buildings, features like doors and louvers need to be rated for specific wind and storm conditions. For example, Florida maintains its own rating system specified to Miami-Dade County requirements. For hurricanes, these are some of the strictest storm requirements in the United States. Romtec can engineer any of our buildings with storm-rated components suitable for withstanding hurricane and tornado conditions.
Storm shelters are important community buildings in regions with frequent hurricanes and tornadoes. Restrooms and other park structures are also important community buildings. With Romtec, you can get these two types of buildings combined to provide a safe and fully rated storm shelter building and a functional community building for the better weather seasons.
