Back in November, I posted a few times about the “fortress” I am attempting to have built (just search for “fortress” at right if you’re interested in the history). Since then, I’ve been suffering from a contractor who just wouldn’t live up to his side of the bargain (e.g., building my fortress), though he was happy to take my money. Things have been slowly escalating, most recently to the point where lawyers have been consulted and threats made. Last night, I met with my contractor — and maybe, just maybe, got things back on track. As it stands right now, we’re scheduled to pour 14 cubic yards of concrete next Saturday.
If that actually happens, there will be some celebrating here on that evening!
Since those first few posts, several people have posted comments or written me privately, wondering why I felt so threatened that I felt compelled to build a fortress. So let me explain to anyone who may be wondering…
The “fortress” is not a defense against burglars, nuclear weapons, or any other act of man.
The “fortress” is a defense against fire — the kind of wild, crazy, fast-moving wildfires we get out here in the chaparral. What makes this compelling is two things: (1) The knowledge that a wildfire in our area, within my lifetime, is almost inevitable. It has already been almost thirty years since the last fire burned what is now our property — and that means thirty years of chaparral growth, and thirty years of fuel accumulation. (2) The unexpected discovery, after the last fire that burned close to us, that steel buildings are vulnerable to wildfire. As we drove around through the burned areas off Montiel Road after the fire, I was stunned to see that virtually every steel building had either completely collapsed or had partially collapsed.
That latter discovery prompted a lot of research on my part into exactly what kinds of buildings can survive a fire — as I had purchased the components of a steel building, and was planning to erect it. And as usual, it turns out there are lots of ways to skin that particular cat. However, one particular building design combined several things that I really liked: low cost, completely reliable even with no power or water, and simplicity. That design: a concrete building with a double-walled, thick steel door.
After completing my research, I engaged a contractor and a structural engineer, and we came to a firm design. It’s only called “the fortress” because the solid concrete building evokes the image of a military bunker. It starts with a 6” thick reinforced concrete slab, 20' by 20'. Centered in that slab is a 16” deep, 24” wide footing for a 16' by 16' building. The walls of the building will start with hollow cement blocks, with the inner ceiling being 8' high. Every second run of blocks will have horizontal steel reinforcement. Once the walls are built, vertical steel reinforcement will be inserted, and concrete poured to fill the walls. Then a steel reinforcement mesh will be wired into place for the roof, and a 10” thick concrete roof poured around it. Sounds like a bunker, doesn’t it? But all that strength is what’s required to make a solid concrete building meet our building codes, including for earthquake safety.
It has nothing to do with withstanding mortar bombardment, and everything to do with withstanding a magnitude 6.0 temblor.
And a fire.
The fires we have out here in the chaparral pass very quickly. It’s unlikely that the fuel in the immediate area will take more than 30 minutes to burn. Inside the fortress, if we or our animals need to escape to there, we won’t even get warm.
And that’s the whole point of the exercise!
