How would you build your future home to withstand anything?

[1floridacracker]

poured concrete walls. i saw a lot of locals doing this while i was in thailand. if they can do it then it can't be that complicated. from what i could tell,since i don't speak thai, they made their vertical columns in four foot sections about a foot square (only they use the metric system). re-bar was used to reinforce just like we do here. it appeared as though the concrete was mixed on site on the level above the form and poured in.

[Chirpy]

Insulated concrete forms are pretty cool. Think giant foam Legos. Build the hose, pull electrical and plumbing through conduit, then fill the gaps with concrete. Hang Sheetrock on the inside, rock the outside or whatever you want to do and it looks normal,but it R 65 or something ridiculous like that. Put an extra row on the outside and your getting close to bulletproof.

[anonymac]

Geodesic dome...Of concrete, possibly earth-covered. Here is a fire station, made of 2 concrete domes and covered in earth:


Pretty much weather/earthquake proof and one could easily secure this in various ways.

The benefits of covering it in earth are many. Energy consumption is one, as the inside temp hovers (usually) in the upper 60's, much like a root cellar. I also like the hurricane dome:

http://domeofahome.com/sale.htm <lots of dome benefits described here

[Jeriah]

Geodesic dome...Of concrete, possibly earth-covered...Pretty much weather/earthquake proof and one could easily secure this in various ways. The benefits of covering it in earth are many. Energy consumption is one, as the inside temp hovers (usually) in the upper 60's, much like a root cellar. I also like the hurricane dome.

This. But, they're not "geodesic," those are those Bucky Fuller polyhedral things. The concrete domes are called "monolithic domes," and they are my dream home for sure.

[anonymac]

Geodesic dome...Of concrete, possibly earth-covered...Pretty much weather/earthquake proof and one could easily secure this in various ways. The benefits of covering it in earth are many. Energy consumption is one, as the inside temp hovers (usually) in the upper 60's, much like a root cellar. I also like the hurricane dome.

This. But, they're not "geodesic," those are those Bucky Fuller polyhedral things. The concrete domes are called "monolithic domes," and they are my dream home for sure.

You are correct, that one slipped my mind

[Jeriah]

Geodesic dome...Of concrete, possibly earth-covered...Pretty much weather/earthquake proof and one could easily secure this in various ways. The benefits of covering it in earth are many. Energy consumption is one, as the inside temp hovers (usually) in the upper 60's, much like a root cellar. I also like the hurricane dome.

This. But, they're not "geodesic," those are those Bucky Fuller polyhedral things. The concrete domes are called "monolithic domes," and they are my dream home for sure.

You are correct, that one slipped my mind

That's okay, thanks to you, I now want to build a geodesic dome house, and paint it to look like a d20.

[azrael99]

i founded that 2 years ago or so

Concret Canvas




depending of the price, those look REALLY interesting

[Norwegian]

Hi Folks!

I have a small question about wells, maybe a bit late but whatever. How are drill wells built in the US (and other countries) and what are the regulations on them? My reason for asking is the lightning strike issue discussion. Are these wells drilled just in soil? Normally around here a well would be drilled in bedrock, and the steel casing would just be a few meters at most, not the lightning magnet described here. We have a drill well here and it does not even have any steel casing, but it's drilled in bedrock under just 40cm of soil so it has a concrete wall and lid and thats it. And for the tech guys: it's 170 meters, submerged pump and pressure pump and tank in the basement. Feeds a family of four with nice clean water all year with capacity to spare.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Hi Folks!

I have a small question about wells, maybe a bit late but whatever. How are drill wells built in the US (and other countries) and what are the regulations on them? My reason for asking is the lightning strike issue discussion. Are these wells drilled just in soil? Normally around here a well would be drilled in bedrock, and the steel casing would just be a few meters at most, not the lightning magnet described here. We have a drill well here and it does not even have any steel casing, but it's drilled in bedrock under just 40cm of soil so it has a concrete wall and lid and thats it. And for the tech guys: it's 170 meters, submerged pump and pressure pump and tank in the basement. Feeds a family of four with nice clean water all year with capacity to spare.

Here, in NY State, we drill them with 6" steel casing down to the bedrock, sometimes into it. And yes, they CAN be lightning magnets- I've made a lot of money replacing the fried pumps. It depends on location, of course, but there are also lightning arrestors that can be wired into the pump circuits to help protect the pumps- I've replaced a few of those, too. The thing is, the motor windings are only made to run on 220 volts, the heaviest insulation in the whole deal is only good for 600 volts, and when you pump a gajillion volts through that with a lighting strike, things are going to give out. The good part is, the well casing is a built in ground rod, and the 1/2"+ wall thickness, all steel, conducts the vast majority of a strike. But, it's lightning- even the minority of the charge can be thousands of volts, which is well above the tolerance of the materials in the pumps.

Where you drill is sometimes not a matter of choice- you have to put the well where the water is, or what's the use? IF you can, you locate it in a lower lying portion of your property, in a way that other land features make a better lightning rod than your well casing. If you can't, you do what you can to protect it, and take your chances. This is another reason I recommend well owners to keep a spare pump on hand, along with the wires, rope, and fittings (the water line usually weathers the strike just fine). Learn how the submersible pump is replaced (it's not complicated), and with the spare on hand, you can save a ton of time and money getting your water back on.

[Tater Raider]

I get a normal home on an acreage with a bit of a hill to it. In this area that includes some sort of basement for the home because you have to dig deep enough that it's not much more money to just put one in. No garage, detached garage, or small attached garage are, in that order, my preference. Toss in a small barn appropriate for a hobby farm. Having your own well and septic system mandatory, but being tied into the grid in addition to this is a good thing.

Next, excavate into the hillside space to pour a concrete slab 30' wide and as deep into the hill as you like. For me that's about 45', though a trucker might want to go something more like 80'.

Dig a trench leading from this to the house and lay 8' inside diameter concrete culvert from the slab to the basement of the house.

Go with a monolithic dome construct quonset hut type deal, half arch covering slab. Ensure the culvert is connected so you now have a tunnel going from the new building to the house.

Close back side, close front side while leaving space for a garage and a pedestrian door.

Build retaining walls.

Bury it like the fire house above.

Enjoy your affordable, energy efficient, EMP proof, tornado proof, earthquake resistant, fire resistant, easily concealed fallout shelter/garage/stockpile warehouse/machine shop. Bonus - it's not so unusual that the property will be difficult to move when you die and the kids want to sell the place, and since we prep this needs to be a consideration as well.


Power: Mix solar and wind turbine - when wind is up solar tends to be down and vice-versa so they work well together. Add in a methane digester and generator to maximize the ultility you can get from the bit of livestock you have (couple pigs, chickens, pair of cows, goats, whatever) and use the digested waste as fertilizer in the garden. Water power can be iffy and is no good if the creek freezes in winter, but in the summertime when the AC drives up power usage an undershot water wheel on floats would help and has the advantage of not caring how deep the water is provided there is enough to float tenvironmentalhas 0 eviromental impact for those who deal with DNR laws/EPA laws/environmental impact.


Geodesic dome for a greenhouse would look odd here, but at the same time is not a lot of money, relatively speaking, and allows for year-round fresh produce.


Livestock: chickens or rabbits (thanks to ZS for letting me know they don't do well together), goats, hogs, cattle, and/or whatever floats your boat. Start with smaller livestock and add the next critter every 2-3 years until you have what you can manage to prevent being overwhelmed and to learn the proper care and quirks of your critters.


You can, according to what I've researched, be pretty self-sufficient off of as little as 1 acre, but 5 seems to be an ideal number. Anything more than 5 should be a mix of tillable land and woods so you have a fuel source for the woodstove/fireplace/whatever (I want a fireplace and don't care if they aren't efficient - they make me happy and that matters) and you can grow supplimental grains in for the critters.


Augment with a bit of hunting for lean meats. Tree rats (squirrel) and rabbits can be mighty tasty.


Surround the inner property with a hedgerow ohedgerowng according to desires (hedgerows appeal to me) and put in a treehouse for the grandkids to play in/use as a watch tower. A replica fire tower would make the property more difficult to sell (damn those kids for wanting to get rid of what I built up over my lifetime - oh wait, I'm dead and don't have a say now ) and be rather obvious in a PAW but, done right, isn't too gaudy to attract unwanted attention pre-PAW.


Modify according to your diet, morals, desires, and abilities.


There are a a lot of folk here that know a lot more aobut this stuff, but I know what I want and this is it.


KotR - hadn't been reading the thread but caught the Brady home when I did. I now feel old. Thanks for that.

[KnightoftheRoc]

I get a normal home on an acreage with a bit of a hill to it. In this area that includes some sort of basement for the home because you have to dig deep enough that it's not much more money to just put one in. No garage, detached garage, or small attached garage are, in that order, my preference. Toss in a small barn appropriate for a hobby farm. Having your own well and septic system mandatory, but being tied into the grid in addition to this is a good thing.

....

KotR - hadn't been reading the thread but caught the Brady home when I did. I now feel old. Thanks for that.

I'm glad SOMEONE caught it.

Tying together a home's systems for water and sewerage between municipal and off-grid systems is difficult to do within building codes, if it's allowed at all. The reasons are that the always pressurized municipal water system could, in theory, be constantly shooting INTO your well, should a check valve fail (and they do). Wells often work at a pressure range different from municipal systems, too.

A lot of places that provide a municipal sewer system do not even ALLOW septic systems, even if piped completely separate from each other. The first thing people usually think of when considering the combination, is along the lines of "if the muni system backs up, my septic can take over". Even with backflow prevention in place, this comes down to a possible nightmare from the practical application point of view. Piping it is easy- keeping your septic system from trying to treat an entire portion of the city, not so much. The possibility of a biological waste nightmare is very real, and very high. It would be better to pipe separate systems that never share connections, not even to a single fixture or appliance. For example, in the back of the house, it's all well/septic, in the front, all municipal water/sewer. Should either system go down, this would still leave you a working option, but it means doubling your fixtures, including the kitchen sink. IF the city even allows you to do so, like I mentioned.

[Tater Raider]

I get a normal home on an acreage with a bit of a hill to it. In this area that includes some sort of basement for the home because you have to dig deep enough that it's not much more money to just put one in. No garage, detached garage, or small attached garage are, in that order, my preference. Toss in a small barn appropriate for a hobby farm. Having your own well and septic system mandatory, but being tied into the grid in addition to this is a good thing.

....

KotR - hadn't been reading the thread but caught the Brady home when I did. I now feel old. Thanks for that.

I'm glad SOMEONE caught it.

Tying together a home's systems for water and sewerage between municipal and off-grid systems is difficult to do within building codes, if it's allowed at all. The reasons are that the always pressurized municipal water system could, in theory, be constantly shooting INTO your well, should a check valve fail (and they do). Wells often work at a pressure range different from municipal systems, too.

A lot of places that provide a municipal sewer system do not even ALLOW septic systems, even if piped completely separate from each other. The first thing people usually think of when considering the combination, is along the lines of "if the muni system backs up, my septic can take over". Even with backflow prevention in place, this comes down to a possible nightmare from the practical application point of view. Piping it is easy- keeping your septic system from trying to treat an entire portion of the city, not so much. The possibility of a biological waste nightmare is very real, and very high. It would be better to pipe separate systems that never share connections, not even to a single fixture or appliance. For example, in the back of the house, it's all well/septic, in the front, all municipal water/sewer. Should either system go down, this would still leave you a working option, but it means doubling your fixtures, including the kitchen sink. IF the city even allows you to do so, like I mentioned.

People don't like to play Trivial Pursuit with me either. I don't get it.

Iowa has county water in some places. Worst case run 2 double sinks in the kitchen and put a deep sink in the wash room. Have one toilet run on well and another on county. 2 systems, no doubling up except in the kitchen where 4 sinks can come in handy sometimes.

Another way would be to forget the check valve and have manual shut-off for both inlets to the household. To keep the well working, run the rest of the acreage off it and the household off the county with the cut-out valve to shut off county and another to open from the well. Install a holding tank for well water and then toss in a pump from it to the house to build pressure up to correct levels.

I'm sure there are a couple other ways of doing it, but those come to mind right away.

[Ad'lan]

2 systems, no doubling up except in the kitchen where 4 sinks can come in handy sometimes.

My Mum would think I was finally keeping Kosher, while I'm thinking Prep for the Zombocalypse. Genius!

[vegasguy]

a moat of acid, i thin would would stop them, for a while, would acid desolve zombies?

[Tater Raider]

a moat of acid, i thin would would stop them, for a while, would acid desolve zombies?

Pretty sure that falls under illegal, no matter how much I wish it didn't.

[KnightoftheRoc]

a moat of acid, i thin would would stop them, for a while, would acid desolve zombies?

Pretty sure that falls under illegal, no matter how much I wish it didn't.

That, and highly problematic to actually DO- anything strong enough that you could DEPEND on it to dissolve the undead, would be strong enough to dissolve whatever you lined the moat with. Not to mention the horrendous odor- and I bet the acid would be pretty strong fumes, too.

[Tater Raider]

Then you've got the EPA to deal with Pre-PAW...

[vegasguy]

a moat of acid, i thin would would stop them, for a while, would acid desolve zombies?

Pretty sure that falls under illegal, no matter how much I wish it didn't.

is lava cool? no pun intended.

[KnightoftheRoc]

a moat of acid, i thin would would stop them, for a while, would acid desolve zombies?

Pretty sure that falls under illegal, no matter how much I wish it didn't.

is lava cool? no pun intended.

Well, I'm no lawyer, but I'd hazard a guess that lava would be legal IF it was there naturally. If you somehow make or import lava just to fill your moat, I think you'd have some legal issues in your near future.

So, just to be on the legally safe side, no- lava is NOT cool. In any sense.

[ineffableone]

Just thought I would post up a link to another thread here Door Jamb Armour, Security Screen Door , Install and review.http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58410

This I think is a very practical thread that goes along with this one very much. Your doors and windows tend to be a very weak link in your home security. Beefing up your door jam so it is not easy to kick in is a much needed thing for security that a lot of people don't think about. If your planning a home to withstand anything don't forget the mundane issue of a beefed up door jam. It doesn't matter how strong your door is if it just gets ripped out of the jam.

[hudd357mag]

No home can withstand everything so you have to increase your odds by diversification. Making a sectional home out of those prefab bunkers would be good. Having several of them both above ground and below ground and having them connected means if an earthquake happens or tornado its not going to damage all of them. It may move them or shift them but if prepared correctly they can be moved back in the very unlikely event they got hit by a F5 which is about the only thing that can move them. Earthquakes will shake them and may shift them unlevel but that can be fixed. Having them too large is when the whole structure is compromised.

[Marxist]

On top of a mountain (the Adirondacks, specifically),(near the top, not on the top) but very well concealed so that it wouldn't look ugly with the beautiful mountain scenery. Just a log cabin(fireproofed), but with a flat roof so I could have a garden on top of it. I would build it with a stream (by stream, I mean like six feet across, and around three feet deep) running along the side, for obvious reasons. I would have a twenty foot concrete wall with ramparts covered in vines for more concealment. However, besides the cabin, there would be mini houses built in trees along it, just to act as bedrooms or personal spaces. The windows in the cabin would have steel shutters and sliding doors for the entrances. The cabin would be mostly covered in earth, and I would have solar power, a mini water wheel for the stream, and maybe some hidden turbines in tree. My main problem with those is lightning. They'd be a bitch to repair. I would have chickens, and maybe a goat or two.And of course, the all important Llama. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Useful pack animals, and wool. I would also grow pine trees around my complex, for more concealment. The rest of the land I would farm with. I would also keep bees. some may say they're too much work, but in an apocalypse, honey would be an amazing morale booster. Also, beeswax candles. I would also have a small raised bed to grow marijuana in. This is because it would be an amazing trade resource and painkiller. I would grow lettuce, maybe a small amount of raspberries, thimbleberries, and other vegetables and grains. Obviously, human waste goes to act as fertilizer. I would also have a root cellar.
I DO NOT ADVOCATE THE SMOKING OF MARIJUANA FOR ANYTHING BUT MEDICAL PURPOSES Just a disclaimer.