I am the type that cannot sit still for very long, my down fall is that I will take advantage of sleeping in late given any chance I get. Then I get up and feel guilty and the cycle starts all over again.
I also have a knack of getting a hold of a subject, reading everything I can about it and then trying my hand at “it”. “It” being the subject that I am fascinated by, computers, radios, weapons, history, etc, etc. At times I have to many things going on that I have to step back and prioritize a bit.
So here I am, reading all this prepper information and the thoughts start (which I have know idea how I came across the subject). I am not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch. I believe in funneling as much information as I can from multiple sources and then coming to my own conclusion. My conclusion? not particularly sure yet. But I know I want to keep what is mine and protect myself and family until we decide to either stay put or move out.Until that decision is made I want to eat and be relatively safe.
What I did start was work on a safe room/storm shelter/bug in room. I am not complete yet with the project and still have a few things to do.
What started as a removal of some old walls in the basement because after 90 years the wood was dry rotted, the plaster stunk, and it just looked like crap down there. I have had to make some concessions (mostly in the budget area of the project) in order to accomplish everything.
See a safe room, a storm room and a bug in room all are different entities. Each has their own set of requirements and are created for different threats or reasons. For me the budget is the biggest the hurtle. I do not have the property for a bunker or the budget. A safe room by definition should have bullet resistant walls. I have priced Kevlar panels, again the money thing gets me. A storm room, again falls into the out of my budget area.
So in my mind I have taken what I already have and tried to meld it all together and still be able to eat. Now I know your thinking the ceiling or floor of the house is a weakness. That is part of my compromise. Down the road maybe I can beef up the ceiling. I am also trying to keep some sort of resale value in the house. I don’t plan on staying here forever.
Hard to tell but this was the old shower. Kind of a “T” wall with a shower on one side and a toilet on the other.
This is with the walls torn out. All the debris filled a 10 yd dumpster. A lot of plaster. A lot of 5 gal buckets carried up the back steps to the dumpster.
Just another shoot of the wall gone, you can see an outline on the floor where the walls used to be.
This is the replacement wall that I put in. We made a wet room out of the whole thing instead of putting all the walls back in. I poured cement along the front of the shower area and toilet to keep the water in. We mostly just wash the dogs down here for now. The wall is free standing and not attached to the joists overhead.
This the backside of the wet room area and the main safe room. Along the right side of the image will be shelves to store food and water. The bottom bunk is just that a bunk, 80×39″. There is room for storage under the bunk itself.
The top bunk is actually a shelf for future electronics. I am thinking a computer to track weather and a camera monitoring system. A ham radio and other sundry’s. It will also double as a kind of a roof for the bunk. I added two separate 20 amp circuits for power along the top of the shelf. Someday I when I get a genset I will wire the circuits straight into the generator in the event of a power outage.
A small closet for more storage. Kind of a neat thing about the house, is running down the middle of the basement is a brick wall (load bearing) this adds a bit of protection for the room. The wall is 8″ .
To the left of the water softener will be another wall closing off the room from the rest of the basement. I am going to loosely follow the FEMA guidelines for wall support. Double 2×4’s on 16′ centers, bolted to the floor and free standing unattached to the overhead joists. 3/4″ thick plywood walls (two layers), first layer grain running horizontally and the second layer vertically. A layer of steel mesh will sit between the plywood layers.That is just the interior side of the wall. On the exterior side (or facing the wood shop) will be 3/4 plywood. FEMA calls for 14 guage steel to be hung for penetration resistance. I figure if a a tornado drops into the basement we are fucked anyhow and the walls wont matter anyway.
The door into the safe room will be steel with 3 deadbolts, each across from a hinge. I think I will try and find some recycled steel to beef the door up.
Now I know your sitting there reading this thinking why so paranoid? Not paranoia, preparedness. I figure if persons try to get through the walls via chopping or shooting, the extra bit of thickness will slow them down until I can get a weapon out of the gun safe and return fire. The brick wall? well? get swinging with a pick. The windows I am not sure just yet on how I am going to secure them. I have a few ideas and will have to think some more. Again there are some holes in my protection but that is part of my compromise.
Comments?
Ad Parare 