Went to see a house yesterday afternoon....

[SacredCow]

I'm house hunting, and a listing near where I am looking caught my eye... It's a Mid Century gem; A ranch from 1957 with a lot of updates, but done so as not to mess up the mid century vibe. It's bigger than what I need, and a bit more than I want to spend, but it's in phenomenal shape and move-in ready...

Here's the kicker: It has an underground bomb shelter. This is kind of weird in Louisiana, where the water table is not usually all that far below the surface of the ground. But sure enough... There it is. I couldn't go into it, as there was no ladder. There was some water collected in the passageway around it, but I don't know if it's in the shelter, itself. What I could see looked like solid, uncracked cement, so perhaps it's sound.

I'm perplexed- what in the hell would I do with a freakin' bomb shelter?

[BarenakedLady]

1. Zombie attack!

Dude, you'll be golden when the zombies take over. Be sure to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting. :P

[Crazy Dave]

4. Or those f**kers in "I Am Legend"

:scared:

[SacredCow]

8. And 12 gauge shotguns to blow their arms off....

I know- it won't kill them or anything.... but it'll be something to do to pass the time.

:p

[underpants]

2. Keep your bombs out of the rain?

:shrug:

[SacredCow]

30. Yes... Some bombs should be saved for future generations....

:hide:

[mulsh]

3. wine cellar, library, "man cave"

if you can take care of the water problem you can do lots of stuff with old bomb shelters. A couple of neighbors on my parent's street have bomb shelters,this is in an affluent area of Oakland,Ca. some people just sealed the shelters but at least one guy turned theirs into a wine cellar and the people next door turned theirs into a library. My parent's house was built in the 60's the foundation was carved into a solid rock so no bomb shelter.

[SacredCow]

13. Wine cellar is an option....

I'm not THAT into wine, though. (I mean, I don't drink boxed wine or anything but...) I guess a lot depends on how big it actually is.

[3.14158675309]

5. Bomb shelter = Music Studio/Rave Room!

I would just make sure that everything you put down there remained elevated off of the floor, and have a good sump pump installed, just in case of flooding.

:hi:

[BeachBaby]

9. I would think it would be too humid down there for that.

We don't want him to have warped guitars and stuff! :scared:

[3.14158675309]

14. Hot and sweaty chicks dirty dancing like they were some sort of extra from a Matrix scene?

Bring it on! :woohoo: :headbang:

[SacredCow]

21. I guess I could rent it out for such things.....

but I think the pesky zoning laws might be a problem....

[SacredCow]

10. I'm thinking it'd be WAY to risky to put any musical equipment down there....

what with the moisture and all. AND.... there is also a loft over the bomb shelter- that's where I might end up keeping all of my stringed babies. But then again, it is a 4 BR house, and I live alone. I might see about revamping the loft as a small apartment to rent out for a little extra income.

[BeachBaby]

12. Woot! You owe me a beer!

:rofl:

[SacredCow]

16. Indeed, I do!

Duly noted!

:hug:

[Nickster]

6. BatCave! YAY!

[SacredCow]

24. It might be fun for halloween...

to make a haunted cave out of it...

[yellowdogintexas]

76. that would be so cool. I am now officially jealous. It might also make a good root cellar

[PassingFair]

7. Live through it.

Like in "Blast from the Past"...

[SacredCow]

26. That was one of the first things I thought of, actually.....

If I could market living in such a thing for umpteen years, then emerging with the ability to woo Alicia Silverstone, I could get hella-rich, I think.

[BeachBaby]

11. Sounds like a great thing to have in the event of another Cat 3-5.

:thumbsup:

[SacredCow]

15. Yeah, true dat....

Unless it's a hurricane that dumps a gazillion inches of rain- in which case I'd drown down there.

But I do have a generator, and I can get a pump...


I wonder if I could make it a torture chamber or dungeon? I could use it to punish people who wrong me... :rofl:

[BeachBaby]

17. That's what I have!

Ask Pi Guy and Dr.Strange - they are all too familiar with it. :hide:

[SacredCow]

19. In that case....

If I decide to jump on this house, I'll fly you down as a consultant for outfitting the dungeon. I'm thinking something kind of medieval, but with the modern creature comforts. Maybe an electro-shock therapy rack? I'm just brainstorming here....

:spank:




:hide:

[jobycom]

51. Um, basements aren't good for floods.

You tend to want to be higher than ground level, not under it.

Then again, i don't know where in La to OP lives.

[SacredCow]

52. Baton Rouge....

Other than a few unusually low-lying areas, flooding isn't an issue here.

:hi:

[jobycom]

57. Hey, I was born there! You could be my brother.

Or father or nephew, depending on your age! (I was adopted, so who knows? I figure I was probably the after-effects of a one nighter with Jimmy Swaggart).

I drove all through the north shore area after Katrina. You might not get flooded, but I'd sure worry about being down there when a tree fell over the door. Or any other debris.

[SacredCow]

60. I guess it would be better than having a tree fall on me, though...

:hi:

[jobycom]

62. Dunno.

Being stuck in a cellar for a few weeks without food or water, screaming your lungs out at neighbors who aren't there, could be a bummer all its own.

[SacredCow]

65. Yeah, that it would be.....

I think there IS another way out of the thing, though- there was a manhole-type cover nearby that may be an alternate entry and/or ventilation shaft.

[Brewman_Jax]

18. Lagering cave

if it's cool enough, you could make lager beer. :beer:

[SacredCow]

20. SCORE!!!

I used to homebrew back in the day, and I've thought of getting back into it...

[hedgehog]

22. I live in an old Italinate farmhouse in upstate New York and am

having trouble wrapping my head around the words "It's a Mid Century gem; A ranch from 1957 ". Does this mean that some day people will be restoring McMansions?

[SacredCow]

23. Who knows.....

Here where I live, one of the original "subdivisions" that was developed in the 1920's to 1930's (and was everything from 1000 sq. ft. cottages to 6000 sq. ft. near-mansions) became VERY sought-after. In the 1990's, people were buying them for almost nothing, gutting them, and either selling them for profit or living in them. Now, the area is highly-valued.

This subdivision is from the 50's and 60's and at the beginning of the same trend.

If I'm thinking of the same McMansions you are... I kind of doubt they'll hold up that long. When you get much beyond 1970's construction, the build quality takes a HUGE nosedive- particle board and other engineered products start becoming more prevalent and they just don't hold up as well.

[hedgehog]

25. We still have the original clapboard which gets repainted about every 10 years or so.

Any damage is easily repairable. Just how will people go about repairing vinyl siding in 20 years without re-doing the entire house?

[SacredCow]

28. Not possible, I don't think.

I have a friend who lives in a 1980's house, and it's a struggle. Everything about it was cheap and crappy. When he had to get a new roof, he got hit with about $8000 extra to bring some of the structure up to snuff. And that's a recurring theme for him- every little improvement project he does ends up costing him more in order to fix the other problems he invaribly finds.

I think a house from the late 50's will be FAR more solid than that.

[XemaSab]

75. "If I'm thinking of the same McMansions you are... I kind of doubt they'll hold up that long."

That's sort of my point a little downthread.

In California there aren't a lot of houses for sale built before the war, and the stuff after 1970 gets real crappy real fast. :shrug:

[XemaSab]

74. In California the midcentury homes are the best deal around

Here's my old house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.551673,-121.508467&spn=0,359.980388&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.55167,-121.50837&panoid=R3bAsauumOocLiTrfYv9ZQ&cbp=12,197.9716642005298,,0,5

My current house is a similar style in a similar neighborhood.

[merh]

27. tornado shelter

Louisiana has it share of tornadoes

What a conversation piece, I'd have fun decorating it in the early civil defense motif.

[SacredCow]

29. Yeah, a tornado shelter is surely a functional thing....

As for decoration, maybe I could do a mix of early civil defense and the more current "duct tape and vinyl sheeting" :rofl:

[merh]

31. Why of course, they go hand in hand.

Duct tape is a must. - don't forget the wooden and canvas cots - a chain saw or two and plenty of water storage jugs.



Some ideas for your wall art:










Years ago I worked with a very famous Civil Defense Director on the MS Gulf Coast - he and his wife were considered the parents of emergency management services in our state.

He had a house built with a bomb shelter and lived there for years, until his wife decided they needed something more in line with their position in the community. I tried to buy that house when I was looking to own. It didn't work out though.

He was truly prepared for anything, he always had earthquake insurance. LOL, since Katrina, I have all forms of insurance available to me, to include earthquake.

[SacredCow]

32. I used to have one of those cots!

I guess all of the talk about decorations is contingent upon (a) me actually getting this house, and (b) how habitable the shelter actually is. If it's damp and nasty, then I'd probably just end up using it for storage and the periodic tornado sighting...

But if it IS habitable... Yeah, it's likely to get done up all retro!

Shelter aside... it's a nice house that appeals to me on a lot of levels. I've got some thinking to do with this one.

[ohgooglemebaby]

33. What about hurricanes and tornados?

I would think it would be a good place to wait out a storm. I hope this isn't a silly question, but in a hurricane with flooding, can a bomb shelter protect a person?

[SacredCow]

35. Baton Rouge can't flood in the way that NOLA did....

The only levee running through BR is the Mississippi River Levee, which is only needed in the spring- when the meltwater starts coming downriver. Otherwise, the river level is FAR below the levees.

There ARE low pockets in the city that CAN flash flood, but this area isn't one of them- it's never flooded to my knowledge. That said, this shelter probably would hold water if not pumped out regularly (there was a few inches of it in there yesterday).

[AlCzervik]

34. is this one we saw the picture of?

anyhow i think having a bomb shelter would be cool, lots of things you could use it for.

[SacredCow]

37. No, this is another one, but just around the corner....

The other one I was looking at was nice and cute, but REALLY small once you got inside. Granted, I live alone and don't need a big place, but for about $29K more- the place with the shelter had about 1000 more sq ft of living space, an enclosed garage, newer air and heating equipment, was freshly painted in and out, and was generally in much better shape, overall. VERY move-in ready- truly, I wouldn't have to do a thing right away.

[AlCzervik]

38. having the garage and extra sf would be the winners for me.

when we move out of here and buy or rent something else a garage is my one sticking point.

[SacredCow]

40. Yeah... It's more than I really wanted to spend....

but the bang for the buck is clearly there. I don't really need a garage (and it has a huge carport, too) but it might be a nice place to work on my beetle.

And the house is seriously solid... The subdivision is known for foundation issues due to all of the trees and some poor grading when it was originally developed. But this slab was updated to a post-tension some time back, so there isn't a crack to be found in the bricks or plaster- and I was looking closely for patches.

On edit: here's the link to it, but the pictures don't really do it justice.
http://www.cjbrown.com/RLNet/Listings/ListingDetails.aspx?listingid=1150473&list=N

[AlCzervik]

41. Has the price been lowered since it came on the market?

[SacredCow]

42. I don't know....

My realtor called the listing agent, who said that the seller was pretty anxious to get it moved. To that end, she said that any offer "in the ballpark" of their asking price would be accepted, AND they would pay at least half of the closing costs.

[spinbaby]

36. Wine cellar, of course

Or you could age cheese.

[SacredCow]

39. Everybody keeps coming back to wine or beer related uses....

And depending on what it looks like, I probably could make a cool bar out of it (or a speakeasy!).

The cheese thing is a new one, though!

:hi:

[3.14158675309]

43. And don't forget about mushroom production!

:think:

[SacredCow]

44. Magic Mushrooms?

:evilgrin:

[3.14158675309]

45. THAT could be the name of your house band!

:rofl: :woohoo:

[SacredCow]

47. Featuring....

Rex Stardust on lead electric triangle....

:bounce:

[3.14158675309]

56. Rock notes! A classic!

You DO know that that is from where Toad the Wet Sprocket got their name....

[SacredCow]

59. Absolutely....

I'm a Python addict....

[3.14158675309]

61. Dude, I never knew!

And speaking of names, I am wondering if the pythons derived THEIR name from the bond movie GOLDFINGER. Know anything about that? I'm referring to Pussy Galore's Flying Circus.

[SacredCow]

63. I never heard any of them mention that as a reference....

But yeah- My high school had a Monty Python club. Buncha anglo-nerds, we were.... I think I still have my club t-shirt stored away somewhere...

Just the other night, I came across a youtube clip of the "fish slapping dance." My roommate asked what I was laughing about, so I showed him and he just did the old :eyes:

:rofl:

[Shell Beau]

46. IT may be a good thing to have when bad ass weather hits!

[SacredCow]

48. Perhaps....

One direct hit from a tornado, and I'd surely be glad it was there....

[lazyriver]

49. Two words: grow room.

[SacredCow]

50. It would be the perfect place for one....

I don't indulge in that anymore, though- not since entering a career with many, many random tests throughout the year.

[lazyriver]

54. Random tests...

:-(

But it sounds like the career is leading to buying a house so...

:-)

[SacredCow]

66. Yeah....

I like my job, but I wouldn't mind the freedom to take a little puff every now and again.

Oh well- you win some, you lose some!

[jobycom]

53. Rent it out to George Lucas for his next film.

:shrug: Just a thought.

[SacredCow]

55. If I could find a way to supplement my income with it....

That'd be faboo!

[jobycom]

58. Well, Lucas needs some shelter against bombs lately. nt

[SacredCow]

64. That was briefly touched upon...

in reply #30 upthread...

:evilgrin:

[jobycom]

67. Oh, is that what that meant?

I thought it was a reference to a couple of other bombs in the photo.

She's had more number one hits than the Beatles or Elvis, you know.

[SacredCow]

68. Yeah, it was a reference to the bomb...

in the form of the movie "Glitter."

Clearly Mariah's music appeals to many... but I'm not amongst her fans.

[jobycom]

69. Wow. She made a movie?

I just thought that was an album cover.

[SacredCow]

71. She did, indeed....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118589/

[Deep13]

70. Super-cool TV and bar room? nt

[SacredCow]

72. Lots of votes for a bar or otherwise alcohol-related room....

which is SO me!!!!

[NV Whino]

73. Wine cellar.

[RedCloud]

77. Start a python rescue shelter...

They have been spreading since Hurricane Andrew let them out. Perhaps a nice home will soothe their easily crushed feelings.

[leftofthedial]

78. First, invite Bobby Jindal over...

[SacredCow]

79. Ewwwwwww.....

I'd have to sterilize everything... LOL