Introduction:
At PRESERVATION HOMES, our buildings are individually designed to our client's protection program and long-term survivability requirements. Although the designs and systems are principally determined for disaster like conditions, it can be stated that a well-built Berm Home or Emergency Shelter also offers good protection against natural disasters and CBRE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosive) weapons. A Berm Home or Emergency Shelter can be designed and constructed in most locations be it rural, suburban or inner-city.
Underground structures are advantageous for several reasons;
they provide the added protection of being below the surface thus escaping a major portion of the effects from large-scale disasters, blasts, and radiation. They can be pre-stocked with provisions to sustain their occupants for as much as several years and, most important, they can be located connected to, or adjacent to, a client's primary residence, thus allowing for quick evacuation.
Selecting the Location for a Berm Home or Emergency Shelter:
Perhaps the most important element in design is its location or setting. Although the threat of damage from CBRE (chemical, biological, radiological and explosive) events may be the predominant focus of the evaluation for the structure location, additional threats may exist from forced entry, tornado, hurricane, flood and seismic events… Just to name a few. Therefore the evaluation should assess the entire range of possible threats to the site. It is for this reason that PRESERVATION HOMES employs a Multi-Hazard Engineering methodology.
That said… there are a myriad of useful factors in this building method. Least of which, they are known to be very durable and are almost guaranteed to outlast any other building method. So for your initial investment, you save time and money in the future and the building can be home for many generations to come!
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