How about bugging out in my own home?

[Gazrok]

I think the iron bar suggestion was just for the lower windows (that would be mine). Too impractical for the above ones.

I think the plywood from the inside reinforced by 2 x 4 s would be ok

Make sure to leave some gun ports (and I'd recommend a small cinder block wall against the plywood under those gunports) and viewports (maybe use a metal grate there). These things you could have stored, so not out until needed.

Our water can be accessed by our well but we will have to use our generator to run it if the power goes off

May want to rig it solar if you can (I have the same dilemma so looking to do the same solution). Also, there is a specially shaped bucket you can use for modern wells in an emergency. It's only like $15, so may want to get one.

Check into making your basement into a fallout shelter. Hardly anything is needed to do so, since most of it is already done. Have you made secret doors before? I've helped on a few, and will be putting my own in next month, so feel free to message me if you have any questions. I'm certainly far enough away from you to not be knocking on your door, hehe....

Oddly, my secret door is really more about clever storage and taking advantage of the house design, than really needing it to be secret, but since it lends to it, I figured "why not?". Always wanted one of my own after helping build a few. Mine will be a classic bookcase one (need the book storage). I've helped build and install a couple of wall panel ones, a secret closet room, and a large painting door (which is cool, but a pain to remember to step up and over).

Sounds like you'll be using your door a lot (since your basement), so a big design concern for you is going to be to not leave evidence of the door's motion. If the door can open IN to the room, that is really the best way (as you don't care if there's a path in the hidden room).

 

[artbylorraine]

It sounds like your hidden door is a good one. Unfortunately, I don't have room in the area for a book shelf. My husband is having some trouble figuring out how to do the "wall" but we will get it done if I have to do it myself. Yes, the motion of the door going in and out can be a problem but I believe that if we make it just a little higher than the carpet it won't make any marks. Then the molding can go over it and unless you are looking for a trap door, you won't see it. Getting him to do it is another story. I am ready to start.
Thanks for all of the great ideas. I appreciate them, especially the ones about the cinder blocks over the wood panels on the large windows and the holes for guns to stick through.
God bless.

 

[Gazrok]

Glad to help. If the carpet DOES start to show the motion of the door, another idea is to cut out that area of carpet (to the size of the mats you get), and buy a bunch of the same rugs to lay in the carpet opening, (a bunch so you can periodically replace). A true secret door is only valuable if it STAYS a secret.... With ours, it's on tile, and will be holding books, so has it's own challenges. Don't want to show the path (and has to open out, no choice), so I'm opting for an actual soft rubber wheel to hold it up on that side, and prevent scuffing the tile. Another trick is painting it black (which makes it hard to tell where the bookshelf bottom is vs. shadow). The catch? a fake book of course. I'll definitely post pics when I get it up and done. I'm really hoping to do it next month.

 

[artbylorraine]

Wow, that sounds great. I wish you were building our wall.

 

[Gazrok]

Well, feel free to hit me up for advice. If you don't want to share with all, just use the conversation feature of this site.
I have friends who are or were amateur and professional illusionists too, so I learned a few things from them about misdirection and fooling the eye, that can be applied to such projects too.

Note, after you get it all constructed, you will want to repaint the room, molding and all, that way, no differences to detect.

 

[artbylorraine]

Thanks, I did send the information about the walls and room to you, I thought on this site. It may be kind of confusing, because everyone who comes into our "hallway" in the middle of the house and sees five doors gets confused at first. I think I sent it either to this conversation or another I had with you.

 

[Gazrok]

Not in the inbox (conversation) so must be another thread?

Though I do recall the details from one thread (or this one) of what you were trying to do. I think the molding idea is a good one. Just be sure it's even with the surrounding molding. What about the top of the wall? Crown molding is a similar solution, if not there already. Also, you have to think about a handle and if it will lock (or bar from the inside, etc.). If there's any way to do a peep-hole and camouflage it, that's a good idea also (like a false smoke alarm).

First couple of weeks in our house, we'd often get stuck in a particular hall. Guests still do. It's a decent-sized place, and while not a different "wing" from the outside, effectively it is inside, and dead-ends at two bedrooms and a bathroom.

 

[Overlord]

Maybe you might want to add a dummy light fixture. It can hold the handle and at the same time have a peephole built in.

 

[artbylorraine]

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks Clyde and Overlord.

 

[mustang592]

like someone said earlier i would think about getting a couple more people to help with securing the parameter when your asleep or for that matter 3-4 couples
with your husband having military background in making bombs and other devices your have an advantage
also id advise you get someone in with you with medical training (military or doctor) because you will get hurt weather its a gunshot, broken leg, or any other injuries)
id also plant a garden to help with prepping and the horderes can go for your garden instead of your food (stash them while u can)
id advise you to have your husband teach the other men and women if they like to about tactics (building sweeping, defensive tactics, and all the fun stuff also no im not military but i like to learn about that stuff)
also id advise having a security system so you can see where intruders are and tell the person on watch where they are
get a ham radio and a ham radio liscence so you can see how the situation in other stats/countries are

thats all i can think of right now

 

[DrHenley]

Los Angeles, 1992:

 

[Evolon73]

Most of my prepping so far has been research and planning. Bought my mother's house and its needed fixing up. So I decided to make an action plan that would take advantage of the home improvements. Been building everything around my Prep plan. Had to replace screen doors so I got the black iron security ones.

So had the bug in idea all along. However I've since realized that I need a bug out locale in case stayin home proves unwise (for whatever unknown reason) still have no idea where but have been prepping bobs and arranging things for mobility. I really feel that even if you intend to bug in... have a back plan to bug out. As well as preps for if you're caught away from home to help you get where ever.

 

[William Spicer]

My husband and I are new to prepping but our home is like a fortress and has a basement that will soon have a hidden door. Our house is on a hill in a rural area, overlooking the other houses and it would be easy to fortify if we need to. Suggestions?

make sure it will withstand fire and that there is a hidden exit if not fire resistant if your house is burned also cameras of outside areas and monitors and power units and all supplies are in basement and build ventilation hidden fake plants or fake rocks so robbers cant smoke you out or cut you air off. Also make sure you have a bid sanitation pits that seals if you are on a hill a leach pit will work well. If you have a area of the roof that cant be seen from the ground put up solar panels in that area because when it happens people will look for supplies and power units to steal. I have tons of skills if you have any questions just ask

 

[William Spicer]

Also tell your husband I said Semper Fi

 

[artbylorraine]

We are VERY well armed....and ready for anyone that will try to take what we have.

 

[artbylorraine]

Oh, and Semper Fi to you, too...by the way, our roof is not flamable...it is steel, or iron or what every those roofs are...but fire is always a concern to everyone.

 

[Warriorhealer22]

Well you have received quite a bit of information here. If I may add a couple pennies: to remain low key, remember not to buy bulk items locally. You never know who's paying attention to the goings on around town. There is safety in numbers so it is good to find others. Bring up surving weather disasters as a general topic, you'll get a good feel for how others think to bring into the fold without tipping your hat about your plan. Good luck.

 

[artbylorraine]

Our neighbor just went out and bought himself one of those bug out houses that you bury...and I thought we were the only preppers here!

 

[Gazrok]

Must be nice to have that kind of dough! (burying a bugout house). Me, my preps have to have an immediate benefit too, for me to make the investment.

 

[reLight]

Most of my prepping so far has been research and planning. Bought my mother's house and its needed fixing up. So I decided to make an action plan that would take advantage of the home improvements. Been building everything around my Prep plan. Had to replace screen doors so I got the black iron security ones.

So had the bug in idea all along. However I've since realized that I need a bug out locale in case stayin home proves unwise (for whatever unknown reason) still have no idea where but have been prepping bobs and arranging things for mobility. I really feel that even if you intend to bug in... have a back plan to bug out. As well as preps for if you're caught away from home to help you get where ever.

 

[artbylorraine]

It is not going to be a pretty picture...people will be wanting food, ammo, anything you have that they don't have and want. If you think that Hurricane Katrina was bad on having people break into stores and rob others, it will be a hundred times that bad all over. I hope that we all, preppers, that is, are ready for it.

 

[artbylorraine]

Must be nice to have that kind of dough! (burying a bugout house). Me, my preps have to have an immediate benefit too, for me to make the investment.

Yeah, we don't have that kind of money either....if we did we would be doing that, too. Oh well...

 

[Potter County Man]

If a foreign nation drops a dirty bomb, nuclear bomb, or invades, they are not going to be after your food or your possessions. Their goal will be to take over as much land mass as possible. You will have to comply with their demands or die.
Putting plywood over your windows to stop a hoard of intruders would be like putting a tissue over your male organ to keep someone from getting pregnant during ***.
Even worse is the fact that our own government has chemicals so dangerous, one oz. of one type of chemical would be enough to pollute all of the great lakes which would kill millions of people as soon as they drank the water.
I do not see any home that has a road going up to it as being a secure place to stay, not even for the short term.
Once the roads have been blocked by disabled vehicles, there will be no way to get out of your situation.
Just compare it to hunting in a Zoo - its not hard to poke the gun through the bars and shoot. IF you are hiding in the rocky mountains, they might find a few of you, but some of them will pay the ultimate price for following you into the bush.
This is the reason why we lost so many people in Vietnam.
The one thing that Vietnam taught us that there was no place where we were safe.
If they wanted you bad enough, they could kill you in your own bed while you slept.

Mass huddling - having whole families converge upon one location - just makes it easier for them to round you all up.
I would live in a tent with a sleeping bag and a fishing pole and a .22 rifle out in the woods by myself before I would want to subject a whole family to this type of horror.

 

[Potter County Man]

If an Army marched up to your house and you started shooting at them, they would either fire a RPG or shoot a Howitzer from their tank or call in an air strike and a bomb would be dropped and you would all die.
If the ultimate goal is to live, then you need to figure out how to get out of Dodge!

 

[Gazrok]

Obviously, bugging in isn't going to help against a modern, professional military, but that's no reason not to prep against other disasters that DON'T include that component. Being in the bush isn't going to be much better though. These days, they'll just fly a drone over the woods and bomb you using thermal/night vision, etc. Just because you can't prep for EVERY scenario, it isn't a reason not to prep at all. My preps have had many uses over the years for different non-SHTF situations.

 

[artbylorraine]

Trouble is, if you live in a high mountain desert, there is NO PLACE TO BUG OUT!!!...You can't even dig a hole, it is all rocks. Ideas about that?

 

[Gazrok]

If you live in a desert, WHO is going to come at you? LOL....

 

[Potter County Man]

I think that some of the best books on survival skills in the desert was written by the Desert Fox... Granville King... Sometimes the most ingenious people are the ones that lives off grid and by themselves. Super dawg and Granville were two of the most colorful characters you could ever meet.

 

[artbylorraine]

Yes, but the high mountain desert doesn't look like a desert...we just have very little rain and few trees...but we are on the grid.

 

[Roelf]

Everywhere you go, you have a risk being attacked by "professional army type" gangs. If your place is rather secure, then why not stay where it is most familiar to you.