It is also important to have the placement of the concrete blocks or bricks to exceed to about a quarter of the entire ceiling area to ensure optimal protection and safety. This effect is like the natural defense from the ground for the external basement walls. These are placed in between the existing beams above, providing overhead protection from radiation. The ceiling area above the chosen corner can then be fitted with bricks and concrete blocks to reduce potential radiation. Modifications to the ceiling above the designated shelter corner are necessary as they will shield you and your family from unwanted radiation seeping in through the roof.Īcceptable shelter from fallout radiation can be provided by adjusting the ceiling construction. Most radiation leeches in through the roof and ceiling, as the roof is externally exposed and incredibly vulnerable. This fifty square foot space will sufficiently protect up to five people, with potential to tightly squeeze in a few more. Then, you create a triangle by drawing a line connecting those two points. From the corner, measure out ten feet along each wall. Once you have determined the corner of your basement that has the highest external ground level, you need to plot out and measure the space for your shelter. This is key to building an efficient shelter, the corner needs to have little to no external wall exposure, this reduces radiation contact in a fallout situation. Find the right corner, about fifty square feet, to be the build site for your fallout shelter. When converting your basement into a fallout shelter it is important to find the strengths and weaknesses of the area. If you want the safest and most protective shelter, then it is essential to build in an area with some natural radiation protection, in an area that can withstand the necessary fallout shelter modifications.

If it was possible during the Cold War to build your own fallout shelter, then it is still plausible to build one now.Īs basements are primarily underground, there is a natural ground protection that will help block radiation from getting into your shelter. Have you ever wondered, how to build a fallout shelter in your basement? Or if building your own fallout shelter is too difficult? Well, during the 1950’s hundreds and thousands of Americans built and maintained their own fallout shelters.

The best fallout shelter layout