Shannon Snow

Thekla McDaniels, Good thoughts on the gas exchange. We have 2 vents in the inner fire door and 1 vent at the far end of the shelter with a little fan blowing out. If we need to shelter, we have caps for the vents, and duct tape for around the seal of the door + 2 scuba tanks for oxygen. Best estimates are we would need to shelter up to 3 hours in case of wildfire that takes out everything.

Robert Marsh, Our house roof, and now the shelter overhang are composite shingle with the highest fire rating available. We have roof sprinklers which we test periodically. In fact, we had a big fire get close last week and were able to go through our whole plan. We had 4 adults, a 4yo, 3 big dogs and a puppy. It was an adventure for sure, but we were able to run through everything without panic and our plan is solid. We didn't need to use the scuba air, and the 3 hours sheltering went fast. (nobody had to pee, but we were prepared for that too) We did this because our only egress was cut off by fire. Otherwise we would have certainly evacuated.

Meadow Cern, we have though about the HEPA filtration, but after last week's run-through, we decided we don't need it. It takes up space, and while sheltering, we are on internal battery. Would rather have the lights.

Oh, and some fantastic news: for the past 20 years, we have been working on our land to make it more fire safe. The property owners for the land that abuts ours has done nothing. It gave me anxiety. Well, last month they brought in a team with a masticater and did their entire property! All the big trees were left, the dead ones were taken down, and all the small trees and tan oak got masticated. It looks great. I am the head of the Firewise Community here and they sent me a sign.

It seems our learning curve is vertical, but we took our licks and are making things right. All the books said a root cellar needed to be 90% humidity. Okay. NOT okay. It's drippy wet in there and the wood is going to rot. We took out anything that needed high humidity, ordered a dehumidifier, and are going to be okay with the root cellar being warmer than the standard 55F, and we're shooting for 30% or less humidity.

I researched the difference between CO2 (carbon dioxide) and CO (carbon monoxide) and will remove the CO meter from the cellar. Having two O2 (oxygen) sensors will be enough.

The roof part is coming along nicely. Photo attached. The outer door is temporary and we now have the materials to make the permanent one.

Hello Chi.
I think you may be mixing up my post with the yurt post. I do not have a yurt, but his is coon nonetheless.
I'll post progress of the permanent outer door and the roof overhang in a few days.

Hi Jay. Thanks for the thoughtful advice.

I do have 4 gallons of water in the back under one of the shelves. We moved here partially to get away from the Bay Area earthquakes. We've had a few since moving here, but they're smallish...however, you never know when a big one will hit. Our last one was a 5.2 cobblestone rumbler. Nothing fell.

We secured the scuba tanks to the wall with earthquake in mind, but I didn't think of the cases of canned goods. I will go and rearrange stuff tomorrow and also ask my husband to make a wooden bar for at least one of the shelves. Store bought jelly is on a high shelf. What a mess that would make.

I'm sure appreciative of yours and everyone's thoughts and advice. I don't know what I don't know, but am willing to learn.

Hello Josephine.
I'm wondering if an above ground cold storage is feasible. Maybe think of a TuffShed sort of building and then insulate the crap out of it. ?  Or just an un-insulated shed for canning supplies. We started this project as something to keep us busy during Covid lockdown. A year and a half later, still lockdown, still no work, BUT the cellar is coming along nicely.

I know it looks like I'm a prepper or a hoarder, but the fact is the grocery store is a 52 mile round trip, and driving the river grade isn't something I want to do very often. I call it, "going to the store" when I get something out of the root cellar. I started making a peach cobbler today with some peaches I got for a potato trade. The peaches were awful and unusable. Thankfully, I didn't waste the flour, butter, sugar and milk already mixed in the bowl because I had a can of peaches in the root cellar. No way would I drive 52 miles for a can of peaches.  

Photos of inside.

Well hello Carl. Thank you for the informative post. To answer some of you questions, the 2 vents have airtight caps if needed. Fire door is all but air tight, and a roll of duct tape is already in the shelter to seal it if necessary. A section of the cinder blocks has no rebar, and there is a sledge hammer in the event the door becomes blocked. Leave it to a severely claustrophobic to think of these things (my husband). We got the scuba tanks because we have 3 husky dogs who vehemently refuse to wear an oxygen mask. The roof is milled wood because we can mill our own wood from our own trees with an Alaskan chain saw mill for free, and concrete is expensive. We spent our concrete $ doing the floor, stairs, and filling the cinder blocks.

I am delighted you counted the cinder blocks and estimated the sq. footage. We concur. There are food stores that take up some space along the sides, but doing the air x time x space math, we came up with different numbers every time we calculated, but it doesn't matter. We will only use the cellar for a fire shelter if there is absolutely no other option.

Thanks for the CO link. We will definitely check it out. I have 2 O2 sensors and a monoxide meter in the shelter.

We live just west of Paradise California and have seen how big and fast and ferocious a forest fire can be. Presently we have a fire to the north and one to the south. Smoke has been really bad for a long time. It's harrowing, but being as pro-active as possible gives us a sense of control even if it is in reality no control.

I would post a photo of the inside, but I haven't figured out how to attach in a reply. Would love to see photos of your cellar.

Hello JT. Yes, HAM is on the list. First we have to upgrade our solar. (in the works) We have a police/fire scanner that really helps, and yes, we are one way in and one way out. When we moved here 20 years ago, big fire wasn't really on the radar. We've spent that time getting more fire safe by managing the forest properly, roof sprinklers, 3000gal holding tank, fire hydrant, etc., and yes, we volunteer for the local fire dept. I'm an EMT. I don't want my forever home to burn, and I want either a way out and off the mountain, or a safe(ish) place to hunker down.

The roof part is coming along. It's painstaking to mill the wood, but we're on track to finish it before snow. I'm still learning to navigate this site and someone mentioned CO2. We have a monoxide meter in the shelter, 2 big new SCUBA air tanks, 2 - O2 sat meters, and a Diazepam for my dear claustrophobic husband. I also have duct tape in case the benzo isn't enough. ALSO -- this shelter is a last resort in case we cannot evacuate. We had a couple of weeks of 100F+ days, and now the root cellar is hovering around 66F, so I took out all the butter and will can that tomorrow.

I take that as a compliment. Wait until you see the inside. Also, it has a stand alone solar panel that charges a battery so we can have lights. Recently purchased are 2 scuba tanks for air in case of sheltering during wildfire (last resort of course).
How did you build your root cellar?