Serving the Greater Tulsa Metro
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Storm shelter built by Property Arts

Storm Shelter Design in Broken Arrow and the Tulsa Metro

Property Arts designs storm shelters to ICC-500 and FEMA standards, sized and placed for how a specific home, school, or business is actually used. The firm has over 75 years of storm shelter design knowledge across educational, commercial, professional, and residential applications.

Engineered, Not Improvised

A room, closet, or basement built to ordinary residential code does not meet ICC-500 or FEMA P-361 requirements for wall and door construction, anchoring, and wind and debris impact resistance. Oklahoma shelters are designed to a 250 mph wind speed. Property Arts designs to those standards whether the shelter is stand-alone, garage-integrated, or built into a new home’s foundation.

Structural Types

  • Reinforced CMU (concrete block) walls with steel bar joists and concrete roof decks
  • Tilt-up concrete walls with steel bar joists and concrete roof decks
  • Monolithic dome reinforced shot-crete walls and roof
  • Poured-in-place concrete walls and roof deck

Placement and Access

A shelter only works if it can be reached quickly from where a household actually spends time, so Property Arts designs shelter placement around the floor plan rather than wherever is easiest to build. For a new custom home, that usually means the garage slab or a location central to the main living areas.

Existing Building Audits for Schools

For schools, Property Arts also evaluates existing buildings to determine the safest places to put students during an emergency event, producing school-specific refuge site assessments and assessments of individual buildings. The firm’s architects have completed “Safe Schools 101” training created by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and FEMA.

Serving Broken Arrow and the Tulsa Metro

Property Arts designs storm shelters throughout Broken Arrow and the greater Tulsa metro, including Tulsa, Bixby, Jenks, Coweta, Owasso, Sapulpa, Wagoner, Collinsville, and Pryor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What standards does a Property Arts storm shelter meet?
ICC-500 / NSSA 2008 is the base code, with FEMA P-361 for commercial applications and FEMA P-320 for residential. Oklahoma shelters are designed to a 250 mph wind speed, with code-required sanitation facilities, backup generator power, ventilation, and third-party construction inspection.

Can a storm shelter be added to an existing home, or only a new build?
Both. A shelter is simplest to build into a new home’s foundation, but Property Arts also designs shelters added to existing properties.

Request a Storm Shelter Consultation

Call (918) 893-5560 or request a consultation online to talk about a storm shelter in Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Bixby, Jenks, Coweta, Owasso, Sapulpa, Wagoner, Collinsville, or Pryor. See the full Storm Shelters page for the design standards in detail.