In ground tornado shelter lid questions

[Stephen]

I need some help with ideas. I have a underground tornado shelter in the single car bay of the three car garage, and the lid of the shelter is 3" above the floor.
Normally, that is the good thing so is not easy for water to get down there.
But the problem : I have side entry the three cars garage and is at rear section of the house, and the single car bay which the shelter is located is near front and behind the corner and don't have wide enough driveway for me to make a wider turn, every time when I back out of garage I have to turn the wheel before the car complete cleared of the shelter.
So my questions:
1.Can I somehow replace the lid to make it flush to the garage floor?( without a new shelter)
2. Is there something out there can rises the floor to be even with the lid?( look good)
3. Can I move the small section of wall between two bays, so switch the garages around? Make the one car into two car and two car into one, that will also take care of the problem.( I only need to park two cars inside)
Which is more cost effective?

 

[chuter]

I don't know if this will help, but it might trigger another idea: we have a shelter like that and had a car that was so low it scraped the shelter, so I put a 2x12 on each side of the shelter to raise the car up a bit.
Simple, cheap, looks a little jaky though.

 

[Stephen]

Yes, I was thinking something like this:
but they're 4"minimum.

 

[Stephen]

Anyone have a idea how difficult is to cut and re wield the lid, two strom shelter companies I called tell me they can only replace the whole shelter with the new one!

 

[FRISKY]

The main trouble with modifying a storm shelter is they are government regulated.

 

[Stephen]

I have no idea! So you can't do it even you are the home owner?
Maybe I will just pour a concrete ramp on four side be done it and maybe coat the floor to look better.
Right now, we can only parked one car in the three cars garage. ( without too much effort or causing the damage to the wheels!

 

[yukonjack]

The main trouble with modifying a storm shelter is they are government regulated.

Bull pucky! After you buy it and have it installed you can do anything you want to it. There is no government agency that is gonna fine or arrest you if you put a midget sized stripper pole in your shelter. Folks just making stuff up. I'm still waiting for the cops to show up and bust me for cutting the tags offa my mattress, pillows and underwear. I heard that was a crime too!

 

[adamsredlines]

I'm still waiting for the cops to show up and bust me for cutting the tags offa my mattress, pillows and underwear. I heard that was a crime too!

We got a badass over here

 

[yukonjack]

 

[FRISKY]

Bull pucky! After you buy it and have it installed you can do anything you want to it. There is no government agency that is gonna fine or arrest you if you put a midget sized stripper pole in your shelter. Folks just making stuff up. I'm still waiting for the cops to show up and bust me for cutting the tags offa my mattress, pillows and underwear. I heard that was a crime too!

My comment about it being regulated was directly after this post:

Anyone have a idea how difficult is to cut and re weld the lid, two storm shelter companies I called tell me they can only replace the whole shelter with the new one!

After a tornado shelter design gets tested and approved by FEMA it can't be modified by the storm shelter company unless they get the modifications re-certified. That is why they would only replace it and not modify the installed unit.
After you buy it and have it installed you can probably do anything you want to it without worry...even put in a midget sized stripper pole.

Maybe I will just pour a concrete ramp on four side be done it and maybe coat the floor to look better.

That sounds like a good idea. You will probably need to make some type of cover you can drive on to put over the storm shelter door.