Rob the shelter will be built in place. My understanding is reinforced concrete walls and ceiling in the basement, then the house built on top of it! We started to put it under the garage but I want it close to the stairs. Mike barely made it to the basement this time. We have a corner where it can be put and should be 6' x 10' ish to make the walls easy. Pretty big so we will probably stock it well. Stormy nights we can just sleep in the basement.
Miriam,
Sounds like a good plan.
We've installed some underground, and above ground shelters here in Illinois.
I'm not sure I trust the above ground shelters, and the below grade shelters leak (at least the two piece fiberglass that we tried).
A basement shelter would be my first choice too!
If you can afford to increase the size a little, it would be a great place to keep all those canned goods and supplies.
Since you're building new, you could make it a safe room too.
A few years ago a tornado took out most of a small town near us.
In the downtown area, the only thing left standing was a reinforced concrete box...the bank's vault.
It was above ground.
If you make one below ground...you should be able to rest easy!
Rob
Waiting for "someday" will leave you on your deathbed wondering why you didn't just rearrange your priorities and enjoy the time you had, instead of waiting for a "better" time to come along...