Preparing Your House

Discussion in 'General Q&A' started by Kanagirl, May 31, 2017.

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  1. Kanagirl

    Kanagirl New Member
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    What sort of things are you doing to your home to prepare? Im currently adding a green house. I own chickens and am looking into a few cows and pigs. Just enough to provide for us. We have a generator, but want a bigger one. We keep adding firewood to the pile outside. We are looking into building our own solar panels, (SO much cheaper than just buying them!). I've done other little things like better locks on my doors and windows. Any other suggestions?
     
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  2. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    Sounds like you are on the right track Kanagirl & doing well. I still have to finish the enlargement of our chook run to give them more free range space. We got the outside laundry built but I still have to do the plumbing. We have ordered another water tank to supply the laundry. Wood cutting is a year round chore here.
    Keith.
     
  3. Kanagirl

    Kanagirl New Member
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    We haven't even began with water tanks. We have an underground well with an electric well pump. We need something else. I don't want to have to depend on that. We have the plastic barrels to collect water, but no kind of filter on top, yet. We are practically starting from the beginning as far as water.

    Our chicken coop needs expanding, too. They free range right now. But that's something else I'm not going to assume I can depend on. If they don't get out for a day or two they are trying to fly out of the 7 foot fence. And they get closer everytime.
     
    1. Ystranc
      Will your building codes allow you to put up a wind pump?
       
      Ystranc, Jul 26, 2017
  4. Harry Warren

    Harry Warren New Member
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    We just moved up to North Carolina from Florida last year, and we are renting at this time. We wanted to hold off on buying property until we get to know the region better. So far, we really like it here and have already begun some early scouting for maybe a 3 - 10 acre piece of land for a homestead. We are in the country north of Raleigh, and anytime we drive there or up to Virginia, we see cows, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. in the local farmland.
     
  5. GS AutoTech

    GS AutoTech Expert Member
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    Good work kanagirl. It is possible to attach a hand pump assembly to a well. If you have solar, it's possible to use that to power water pumping. Straight from the well, you'd not have to be concerned with water purification. As long as the original supply is not compromised.
     
  6. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Great start!! I like that you are into making stuff and not just buying things. That means that after things go down you can fix them as they age and need repairs.

    A few suggestions. Make a solar water heatewr. This can be as simple as putting a couple hundred feet of dark hose on your roof to actually doing it with pipe that is painted black. It makes an outdoor shower so much nicer.

    A solar air heater can be made much the same way with old florescent light tubes that are cut off cleaned out and then painted black and put in a wooden box that has foil on the back and glass on the front. Have it so that the intake of the cold air is on the bottom and the output into your house is on the top. Place the box on the south side of your house in a sunny area. Warm air rises and this in turn will suck the cooler air in the bottom. By baffling it you can make the air go through as many tubes as you want to warm it up. When I made mine I did it in pairs of tubes to increase the air flow and zig-zaged them in the box.

    This and so much more came from old issues of Mother Earth News and/or Backwoodsman Magazine.

    You can also heat water and air by placing pipes under your compost heap! It gets hot down under that heap and you can use that heat in several ways. If you have chickens and live stock you can have a very hot heap as you clean out your coup pig pen and stalls. You also can raise worms in this area and sell them to fishermen or use them yourself.
     
  7. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    They will come out ahead, if in no other way, in that if they make them they will know how to fix them and will have parts for that. The ones that are a dime a dozen are often worth almost that, but not always, and they are throw away items that you can't get parts for.

    Start now making most of your stuff and you won't be near as dependent on others after there are no others. I make anything that I can for this very reason. I can afford to buy a lot of the stuff that I make and some of it costs more to make than a Made in China version costs BUT mine are better and I can repair them and have a few parts on hand for the necessities.

    When I was younger I rebuilt several of my own engines. I could have bought a new motor for about the same price or maybe a little less but I had top quality parts and knew my engines from the inside out. They lasted longer too. Several went to about 300,000 miles and were still running strong when I sold them.

    30 years in the repair business has taught me one very important lesson. You know the old saying that you get what you pay for? That is a LIE. Most of the price of anything that is really expensive is BS add on profit and you are paying for a name not a product. That way the buyer can brag about how much HIS/HER big name blank costs. The top priced things are mostly crud with a bunch of plastic chrome and doodads that are only there for show... I call them gold plated cow patties. Your best stuff is in the mid range or you make it yourself. The top and the bottom are mostly junk but at least the cheap stuff is close to worth what you paid for it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2017
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  8. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I get a lot of cool info like that on Instructables.
     
  9. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Your home needs barriers to bullets -- especially if the house's structure is non-masonry. Only you can think-through the areas of your home, areas of property, or out-buildings that could take fire from interlopers, represents a likely target, or where you wish to establish a defensive position. If a heavy wall of interlocking stones -- such as people build around decorative trees or use to keep a wall of dirt in its place -- is too much, think about layering materials that will yaw bullets and eat their momentum.

    For instance imagine our first layer being wood (thick plywood, say), then gravel, then another wooden panel, then sand, then wooden panel, then a metal sheet, then gravel, ...

    See where I'm going with this?! As a bullet passes through these layers, it will be turned from its nose-forward path and as it goes sideways, it will dump its energy into one or more strata of the layered wall you have constructed. One layer could even be fabric -- rags and useless clothing you were going to throw out -- such a layer can catch a bullet whose forward position has gone nose-vertical to original path. Think, "eating energy" and "disruption of projectile path". Note that a barrier can be placed behind a door just beyond the door-width radius -- if someone shoots through the door, the barrier eats the bullet, keeping it from passing on into your dwelling.

    Underneath windows is one place where one might just want to build a barrier of sand bags or inter-locking masonry "bricks"/stones/paving-concretions -- those masonry types with which people build garden walls. If you drop down below a window, don't count on the structure of your home protecting you from a center-fire rifle round -- you need a robust wall.

    Note that you may wish to purchase large plexiglass to cover the outside of a vulnerable widow's ordinary glass. Here's a video of a brilliant rock-thrower:

     
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  10. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    Good post.
    Keith.
     
  11. TENNGRIZZ

    TENNGRIZZ Expert Member
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    I live pretty much off grid complete with rock house and fireplace , this is something to always think about a homestead is a fixed position and can be over ran no matter how much fire power one has, imho one has to consider doing what the Russians did to both Napoleon and Hitler. If i amd going to be driven from my home no one will sit in front of my fireplace and eat my food and or drink my coffee. I will burn the entire thing to the ground first. jmho
     
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  12. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    I am sure a lot of people think the way you do Tenn, but a home is not worth dieing for. If you leave, you may be able to turn the tables, or you can just go bush & survive. If they can't get you out, they may fire your house to burn you out. Anyway, I suggest you have an escape plan including a pack to take with you. If someone takes over your place, it will probably still be there when you come back. Take your food & coffee with you mate ;)
    Keith.
     
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  13. TENNGRIZZ

    TENNGRIZZ Expert Member
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    I am not new to surviving as a retired Infantry GySgt I have lots of E/E contingency plans and other plans as well, IMHO one should never go quietly into that long goodnight.
     
  14. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Don't burn the place. Escape. Then when the structure is occupied by your enemy, detonate it while enjoying the view from a nearby hill or mountain.
     
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  15. Ystranc

    Ystranc Master Survivalist
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    There are other more subtle ways to gain retribution and take back what is yours, as part of your contingency planning a safe tactical withdrawal and a method of attacking/re-taking your own home.

    If in doubt play the long game and fight them on your terms.

    This is another reason not to possess more firearms then you can use or carry at once. You don't really want to re-arm the people who take your property.
     
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  16. GS AutoTech

    GS AutoTech Expert Member
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    We live on 10 wooded acres attached to about 500 acres of forest. If SHTF, we will locate our goodies in cashes in the woods. My family can disappear into the woods within seconds. Retreat, regroup then assault.
     
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  17. GS AutoTech

    GS AutoTech Expert Member
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    I have put thought into blocking the road about a half mile in either direction of my homestead. That might prevent or slow down mobile bands of thugs. The down side is that's blocked road might attract more attention
     
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  18. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    I was just making a comment on the thread about bees / avoiding swarms of bees. Well, where I'm from, one also has to be careful of running into swarms of rednecks. Ignorant as they may be, many are good with their deer rifles.

    Don't block a road that isn't yours. Besides, rednecks have winches on their trucks and bolt cutters for breaking into places. "This here loggin' road iz fer everbody! I don't take kindly to this sheeut!"

    Post the land that is yours. Even "special" local folk understand "Posted" signs. If they don't like that and wish to make war, be prepared for war. If you live out in the boonies, then you need dogs. Note that rednecks are never without their dogs and truck guns. No human will ever have a teeny-tiny fraction of a dog's hearing ability nor their ability to smell. Learn how to manage hunting dogs; know how many you can feed and handle safely; learn how to patrol with them. Do military and police units keep dogs? Yes. There's a reason.

    I see these stupid movies where some city folk go out into the wilderness to have themselves some sort of vacation. The movie plot is to have some felonious sorts attack these people who are off their turf. Aggression is caused by the ready availability of victims, now that IS one very true statement. I want to see the movie where the vacationers bring their dog(s) and a couple of firearms. Especially if it is a group of females -- women need a real dog(s) (not "Fluffy") and at least a shotgun when out in the wilderness. Don't count on a cell phone finding a tower (got a radio?), plus think about how long it is going to be for a county mountie to find some group out in the middle of nowheresville!
     
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  19. GS AutoTech

    GS AutoTech Expert Member
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    Your right! We live in the boonies & I might be considered as one of those Rednecks. The road block idea was for one possible really bad SHTF situation with looting mobile bandits. If I did block the road, you'd need alot more than than a pickup truck to clear it. & I will have had plenty of time to retreat into the forest.
     
  20. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    "... road block idea was for one possible really bad SHTF situation ..." Yeuh, see what you mean.

    There's this one county near where I was raised -- a really, really "special" place. So, back in the 70's there were some fascinating folk back in the hollars who would get someone to call a deputy back up in their neck of the woods. They would then cut a tree down behind him -- this to let him know that they could kill him at their leisure. The sheriff then went through a federal agency to get his men the correct toys for such festivities. He got them the M14 variety complete with selector switches. The nonsense stopped.
     
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  21. GS AutoTech

    GS AutoTech Expert Member
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    That really bad scenario was one in which No Sheriff, State'ies or Fed's would be available anywhere. Only roaming looters & thugs.
     
  22. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    My house is on piers. I have trap doors in the floors of my closets and will defend it from fox holes underneath and back in a little bit. The solid concrete piers will make good barriers to hide behind.

    After things go south I will build killing fields and have traps for attackers. Dig them a nice ditch to hide in when you start shooting them detonate the bombs that have been placed in the bottom of their little hiding holes. You can do the same with any big trees that are in your way. A small shrapnel charge at the base of each tree will both mess them up and at the least move them out in the open where you can get a clear shot at them. As all these stupid terrorists have demonstrated, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make an effective bomb.
     
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