I decided to build a scale model of the original plans, 1/2" to the foot, primarily to see how the roof and its angles would best be framed out. This original plan had only two bedrooms, so I thought I'd better expand it to a four bedroom house.
THE FIRST FLOOR.
This floor had the living room, family room, library, kitchen, 3/4 downstairs bath, utility room and furnace room.
THE SECOND FLOOR
This floor had three bedrooms and a nursery (bedroom two). The bedroom two closet had a ladder and trap door going up to the bell tower. Since this was to be a Spanish Mediterranean style home, I thought a bell tower would look proper. All bedrooms, excluding the nursery, had porches with wrought-iron railings.
THE BASEMENT
This was a shelter, no question about it.
Concrete floor, concrete block walls, reinforced with rebar and durowall(horizontal rebar), filled with concrete, concrete ceiling, all electrical wiring done in conduit.
It had a drainage system for the shower, sink and toilet and a cess pool 16 feet underground.(Cess pools are now illegal)
There were six rooms:
-1) Multi-use
-2) Vault with steel door
-3) Pantry
-4) Storage
-5) Bathroom
-6) Mechanical
The mechanical room had a 250 gallon water storage tank, air inlet, filters and air pump, and an exhaust fan.
There was a 24" x 36" concrete block crawl tunnel exiting the mechanical room 30 feet out into the yard, ending in a small 4 x 4 x 5 underground concrete block structure with a steel manhole at ground level. It was built above the cess pool. (Used the same hole twice)
I say "was", because a later owner filled in the tunnel and its exit.
The circular staircase was poured concrete steps, enclosed in a concrete block structure with concrete ceiling, and had steel doors and frames at top and bottom.
Why all the security? This was northern New Mexico, where radical factions of La Raza and the Brown Berets were having actual gun battles with the police. Best to be safe.
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