MADISON, AL (WAFF) -
Kevlar is a material used to protect policemen and soldiers, and now it can protect you during tornado season. Crews with F5 Solutions worked to install a storm room with Kevlar in the basement of WAFF 48's Chief Meteorologist Brad Travis's home.
"The main reason I wanted a storm shelter at my house is because I am at the station when there is severe weather and I want to make sure that my family goes to the right place," Travis said. "I'm confident that they are going to go to the storm shelter when I say seek shelter."
The shelter takes about three weeks to order, but one day to install. F5 Solutions owner Matt Ragland said you don't have to be building a new home to get this type of storm room.
"We can go into a house as long as it's on a slab and retro fit a closet, a bedroom, any room in the house as long as it's on a slab," Ragland said. "A lot of people are getting them put in their garage now. We can actually go in and put them in closet, laundry rooms, so they are very easy. They just use the same Kevlar technology like our soldiers wear in the bulletproof vests and our policemen wear and they incorporate that with storm protection in the walls. So it's just a composite wall made up of high density foam, Kevlar and plywood."
Ragland said the rooms can vary in size from 4x4 feet all the way to 12x12 feet. The rooms range in price from $6,000 to $18,000.
Chip Cribbs got his shelter put in his garage after his home was hit in April. He was the companies first customer. "It's nice because it's very sturdy but it's also very light," Cribbs said.
Ragland said he expects demand to go up once tornado season is in effect. For more information on Kevlar and the building process of storm rooms you can contact F5 Solutions at (256) 508-8559 or (256) 852-1279.
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You can turn any room in your home into a Kevlar storm shelter.
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