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What are some alternative ways to store food, make your house safe that are effective?
Around here there aren't a lot of houses with full basements. Older homes are generally on crawl spaces and new homes are on slabs. Most have attics though and some have outdoor sheds.
Any suggestions other than move to a house with a basement or add an addition with a basement?
Has anyone (without a garage) built a safe room in their house?
I thought I read once that to protect against a nuclear bomb, all you need is mass on the ceiling and the walls. I forget how thick I read it was, 4 ft maybe? I wonder if you could just get a bunch of styrofoam blocks or other foam (maybe bags of styrofoam peanuts) fill those up and place them in your attic above the room you want to use to bug out in and do the same for the walls -- especially exterior walls. Is this a dumb idea or do you think it would work?
Under the bed, bottom of closets, behind the couch, etc...
Of course there is that but won't that be the second place people raiding your house for food will look after they find nothing in the fridge and kitchen cabinets and pantry?
I was hoping there would be some ways to hide it in places where people might not look.
Of course there is that but won't that be the second place people raiding your house for food will look after they find nothing in the fridge and kitchen cabinets and pantry?
I was hoping there would be some ways to hide it in places where people might not look.
Limited options for that. Inside the walls, buried offsite where it can be somewhat easily retrieved. Downside being the better it's hidden the more difficult it is for you to access.
I'm of the mind it's easier to make your home look like a less appealing target (think noise and light discipline, old furniture scattered in the yard to give the appearance of the house already having been looted) than it is to hide something in such a way that a determined searcher won't find it.
I thought I read once that to protect against a nuclear bomb, all you need is mass on the ceiling and the walls. I forget how thick I read it was, 4 ft maybe? I wonder if you could just get a bunch of styrofoam blocks or other foam (maybe bags of styrofoam peanuts) fill those up and place them in your attic above the room you want to use to bug out in and do the same for the walls -- especially exterior walls. Is this a dumb idea or do you think it would work?
Mass is a scalar value that is a quantative measure of an objects resistance to a change in its speed.
You're confusing mass with "thickness", normally a fallout shelter is considered nominally safe if there is 4' of packed earth surrounding the shelter on all sides, it is possible to achieve the same shielding from styrofoam as earth, you'd just need more of it, packed earth has a mass of 95 lbs/cf, Styrofoam as a mass of around 0.2lb/cf, so to create the same shielding as 4' of packed earth you'd need 1900' of styrofoam that's about 1/3 of a mile. However as a benefit you would have incredible insulation, I'd guess at least R2000 on the walls and ceiling, of course you may need to register with the FAA since you're in excess of the normal building height.
Where you live, emily, it is hard to build a basement because of water table height; you'll have water intrusion. However, it is possible (depending on where you are, what neighbors you have, the height of the water table in your area) to put in a cellar. It doesn't have to be deep enough to stand in (you could crouch) but it does have to be strong enough to withstand collapse. Clay soil is better than sandy or loamy soil, but it can be done. We dug a 10 foot hole when we lived on an island near you before we had water intrusion.
Also things have to be sealed better because of humidity; a clay hole in the ground will retain moisture. Ex; out here we can just put wheat, corn, even flour, etc in garbage pails without liners; there is little to no humidity. Where you are, this is what we did - purchased sealable, 30 gallon plastic garbage cans and HD plastic liners. Line the trash can securely with the liner. Dump the grain into the liner/can. Pop a CO2 cartridge and throw it in, and immediately close and seal the liner tightly. Then seal the trash can. Then what you have is innocuous trash cans lined up against the wall in your cellar. Just make sure that YOU know what is in them!
You can also use wide PVC pipe lengths to store dry beans and other things. Put in a dessicant package to absorb moisture around dried foods, and seal the ends with pipe ends secured with clear sealant (comes in tubes that fit caulking guns). I had friends who also stored/hid their guns this way; heavily grease them, put them in a PVC pipe, and seal the ends. These can be put on shelves or in the ground in a cellar or even buried about your property; don't forget where you buried them! A pipe end sticking up out of the soil is often ignored by people because it could be a sealed-off sewer, gas, or even electrical line; no one thinks "Hey! Food!" Whatever you put in the pipes, remember that moisture in the ground is your enemy, and plan for it. Grease metal, use dessicants, and make sure that your seals are secure.
Where you live, emily, it is hard to build a basement because of water table height; you'll have water intrusion. However, it is possible (depending on where you are, what neighbors you have, the height of the water table in your area) to put in a cellar. It doesn't have to be deep enough to stand in (you could crouch) but it does have to be strong enough to withstand collapse. Clay soil is better than sandy or loamy soil, but it can be done. We dug a 10 foot hole when we lived on an island near you before we had water intrusion.
Also things have to be sealed better because of humidity; a clay hole in the ground will retain moisture. Ex; out here we can just put wheat, corn, even flour, etc in garbage pails without liners; there is little to no humidity. Where you are, this is what we did - purchased sealable, 30 gallon plastic garbage cans and HD plastic liners. Line the trash can securely with the liner. Dump the grain into the liner/can. Pop a CO2 cartridge and throw it in, and immediately close and seal the liner tightly. Then seal the trash can. Then what you have is innocuous trash cans lined up against the wall in your cellar. Just make sure that YOU know what is in them!
You can also use wide PVC pipe lengths to store dry beans and other things. Put in a dessicant package to absorb moisture around dried foods, and seal the ends with pipe ends secured with clear sealant (comes in tubes that fit caulking guns). I had friends who also stored/hid their guns this way; heavily grease them, put them in a PVC pipe, and seal the ends. These can be put on shelves or in the ground in a cellar or even buried about your property; don't forget where you buried them! A pipe end sticking up out of the soil is often ignored by people because it could be a sealed-off sewer, gas, or even electrical line; no one thinks "Hey! Food!" Whatever you put in the pipes, remember that moisture in the ground is your enemy, and plan for it. Grease metal, use dessicants, and make sure that your seals are secure.
Hate to argue with you since you're usually right on the money....but....
Were I a looter, and I went in to someone's cellar, basement, home whatever, any container, ANY container, I'm going to open it up and look inside, including trash cans.
The ground scenario with pipes is better, I think.
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