Housing

This house on Walnut Avenue in Norman does not have a storm shelter, but it will get one if I buy it. It was built in 1963, designed by an as yet unknown architect, and has a beautiful and simple layout, with Roman brick walls, floor to ceiling windows with 1/4" thick glass, and slate floors in the entry and dining room. It has a few problems, but the attractions outweigh them, and the location is perfect; I could walk to campus and the houses nearby are beautiful and well-maintained. On the opposite side of the street the houses back onto a creek where there is a community swimming pool, and it seems that the soil here is well-draining sand and gravel, the legacy of an old river bed. This is important, as most of the earth in Oklahoma is red, red clay (of such an amazing color that I will post a photo), and dense and difficult for plants.

Between Thursday evening and yesterday, I looked at about 30 houses, and quickly eliminated any that didn't have mature trees on the property. It was great fun looking at all these houses, and I amused the realtors by insisting on going into the storm shelters. Of the 20 houses that I actually went into, only about 5 had storm shelters, and they varied in their locations and details. All of them except one were in back yards. They all had heavy wooden or metal doors about 4' x 8' that were hinged on the long side. The best ones had a weight and pulley system that made them easy to open. I understand that the new ones have hydraulic lifts inside so that if you need to get out and your house has moved over on top of the shelter it will enable you to escape--maybe! Most of them had concrete stairs that went down into a chamber, either a concrete chamber or a metal cylinder like a culvert, and they are vented, so you see the little vents poking above the ground outside. They had varying degrees of moisture in the bottom--there is frequently a high water table here (blame that on the clay), so it's difficult to keep below ground structures dry. They all had spiders. One, the nicest, was dry and clean and the owner had plastic boxes with the emergency essentials stacked below. That was my model for what I will have.

I've learned that the winds come from the north and south and the heat comes from the west (as it does everywhere), so the ideal orientation of a house would be a diamond shape on a lot that following the US grid system. There is actually a part of Norman that shifts the grid (just as Yesler and Denny do in Seattle) so for this requirement that would be the perfect part of town to live in to protect yourself from weather. But that part of town is commercial and close to the RR tracks, so no dice. However, the Walnut Avenue house is oriented pretty well for protection, so I'm happy--or will be if I get it. If my offer on this house isn't accepted, there are a few other options that will work, but this is by far the most interesting of the lot, and in the best location. Wish me luck!