Letter Re: Advice on Building Harder Off-Grid Houses

James,
The article on perennial food sources was both timely and excellent! Kudos. We are already planning to introduce many of the species into our farm.

Next, a question. Since your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” has caused me to re-think several things — and after I have spent 20 years being a prepper –I figured I should buy your book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”. Chapter 14 is of special interest to me right now as we are building a snug little adobe house on the farm we just bought. We don’t want to call it a cement bunker do we?

Chapter 14 [of the book] is a good starting point but I was wondering if you have a source of more detailed information. I’ve researched many different “housing styles” around the world and across time. But turning them into a modern grid independent house.

There is the crux of the matter: I was wondering if in addition to the books you listed there might be others. Or if you know of a good architect you have worked with to create a “green” off grid bunker?

We envision a semi-buried adobe style house that will have a full basement and a bunker off of the basement (for NBC protection) as well as a flat roof. We are in a low rainfall area. This provides a place to mount PV panels, and a flat roof with a solid wall around it gives us a good “high ground” to defend the house from.

But we are open and interested in contacting anybody who might have professional experience building such a retreat house.

JWR Replies: Three of SurvivalBlog’s advertisers could assist you:

  • Safecastle specializes in combination walk-in vault/fallout shelter/storm shelter rooms, both below grade and above grade.
  • Hardened Structures is an engineering and architectural firm that does “start to finish” hardened retreat home design and construction management.
  • Ready Made Resources can help you specify and assemble a complete off-grid power setup. They do free consulting on alternative power systems.

I also recommend that you get a copy of the book The Secure Home by Joel Skousen. Also, keep in mind that there are also more than 450 articles in the SurvivalBlog archives that relate to retreat security. There are some real gems there–everything from thorny bush and cacti plantings to ballistic hardening.