Vault Door and Tornado Shelter Buyers Guide

Strictly speaking a storm shelter door needs to be of a certain thickness and supported on multiple hinges for ease of opening. No exterior lock is required, but the door must be able to be secured and released from the inside. A vault door provides all the benefits of an ordinary shelter door, but is built to higher levels of strength and security. Further – Vault Doors have external locks, which allows you to use the shelter safe room as a walk-in vault when not needed for potential storm shelter duty. Vault Pro doors are equipped with an internal quick release and come in outswing door and inswing door versions depending on customer preference. Inswing doors are easily opened after a major weather event and avoid possible blocking of the entrance that an outswing door might encounter from storm debris laying against the door. We recommend contacting us for more information and recommendations on door type.

The answer depends on what type of security you need. All our vault doors exceed FEMA 320, 361 and ICC-500 recommendations for Tornado/Storm Doors. If you are looking for the most secure door, more and thicker steel is the first thing you should look at. The more steel, the stronger and larger the door. Frame, hinges, bolts are all scaled up according to the overall size of the door. We recommend analyzing where and how you intend to use the door, then call us for suggested door size and a free quote.

The short answer is Yes. If you are primarily looking for a storm shelter door any of our doors will exceed strength requirements for tornados and hurricanes. If you are looking to create a high security walk-in vault or safe room one of our heavy duty doors should be considered. Not only do they provide superior break-in resistance, they can be designed for maximum fire protection using our 2300° ceramic fire blanket.

Most of you have witnessed the multi stepped doors used inside your bank or credit union. Still, most vault doors are flat doors that close on only one level against the body and are poorly sealed and easily defeated by simple pry-attacks. Properly built Step System Doors and frames are an effective means of deterring pry-attacks and are also the most effective means of achieving higher fireproof levels when used with proper fireproof materials. Most flat doors have a tendency of warping in fire, even the best of gaskets have trouble providing an adequate seal against smoke and heat damage inside the safe or vault. Step Systems are commonly built using bent steel on the outside edge of doors and layered steel within frames providing strength and a more rigid door that is more resistant to warping in the highest of temperatures and can be sealed using multiple gaskets. Essentially, a properly built stepped door locked against a stepped frame is far superior to a flat door.

Vault doors that use internal hinges are preferred by some for their appearance, but looks don't provide security. First of all, internal hinges usually only allow the doors to open to a 90º angle or straight out from the safe or vault door frame. This makes the space behind the door hard to reach and in some cases completely unusable. In the case of vault doors, internal hinges narrow the usable space thru the door. Many safes and vault doors that use internal hinges don't use locking bolts on the back side of the door making them vulnerable to easier pry attacks and simple one sided frame attacks.

External and exposed hinges are often attacked and in some cases ground completely off the door, with the thinking that without hinges, the back side of the door will pull open. Unfortunately for the would be thief, vault doors with exposed hinges normally have locking bolts (active or deadbolt) on the hinge side of the door. All Vault Pro Doors feature fully active or deadbolt locking mechanisms. Attacking external hinges is simply a waste of time. An external hinge allows for the door to swing open to it's full 180º - making the interior of the safe room fully usable and accessible.

Steel itself is pretty well fireproof but holds heat and readily allows for heat to penetrate into a vault room. While a bare metal vault door can be secure against attack it is only half of what it could be. 

Hi Grade Dry-wall provides an adequate level of fire protection inside vaults so long as it is used properly and should include several layers and be supported in a way so it does not pull away from walls and collapse into the vault during a fire. At best, dry wall is limited to the temperature it will withstand for a given amount of time before it breaks down.

Concrete makes safes very heavy and is a good fireproofing material, but it is my opinion that it should not be used inside a safe or against any bare steel barrier because it is a water based material that will cause corrosion in time, shortening the lifespan of the product.

The best fireproofing I have found to date is Kaowool Ceramic. It is not only a lightweight dry material that provides exceptional fireproof ability well beyond drywall, it doesn't have the corrosive effect and properties of concrete. If properly installed, Ceramic is by far the best available fireproofing. To see the fireproofing capabilities of our 2300 degree ceramic insulation check out our video in the reources (Video) section.

• Foam, basic closure
• Silicone, water tight (can be high temp)
• Palusol®, Fire gasket (expands to seal door in heat – Provides superior heat and smoke infiltration protection)
• EPDM, Chemical resistant
• NBC, Chemical resistant
• Knife Edge & Double Knife Edge, EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse)

Rotating Dial Locks (Spy-Proof & Locking Dials), arguably old fashion dial combination locks are still the most reliable all around locks. However, advancements have been made to electronic and digital locks that make them the new standard even to our government and military.

Digital locks are not only fast and simple, but they can have multiple users and combinations that can be changed or added to in order to satisfy the owner or manager of the lock. Most digital locks come with features that make picking almost impossible and will shut down temporarily if attempts are made to pick their combinations. Most rely on an electric source (battery or direct power). Some might argue that Digital Locks are somewhat vulnerable to Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) , however their are also Digital-Dial Locks-- that's right, I said Digital Dial Locks that are powered by the user rotating the dial and are protected against EMP.

Biometric or Fingerprint locks are fantastic for families and for children who might need to get into a storm shelter/vault room in seconds. Biometric locks usually hold multiple users and can be used as a Digital Lock as well. For a higher level security, most Biometric Digital Locks can be set up to require both a fingerprint identification and a combination.

High Tech Locks like the Bluetooth enabled AxisBlu combine security with state of the art technology. With a choice of either Medallion or Bluetooth Enabled Keypad AxisBlu, you don’t have to choose between convenience and security. AxisBlu combines the latest Bluetooth® technology upgrades with the proven S&G Titan lock body to create a radical new option for safe security—accessing your vault door securely via mobile app. AxisBlu is the first secure lock with a no keypad option. Users may choose from a sleek, modern medallion or our tried-and-true traditional vault door lock keypad.