Category: Retreat Architecture

Nine Letters Re: Questions on Underground CONEXes

Dear Jim And Readers, As Jim said, [CONtinental Express] CONEX containers are not designed to be buried. They will stress out and leak. (I know of an [illicit] drug lab that was in a buried Conex container, it did not do well.) Having said that, a better choice is a buried culvert pipe. You can use 8 foot or 10 foot diameter. Remember the Roman Arch. “Earth Arching” will make it strong. There are a lot of buried culvert pipes in the world that have survived decades of heavy traffic. Weld end caps on the ends of the culvert pipe …


Letter Re: Questions on Underground CONEXes

Hello Mr. Rawles I’m a fairly new reader of your site and have been meandering through your archives and checking back periodically. It’s a wonderful site you have here, and I’ve found your articles to be quite interesting and informative. My personal concerns for the future are more focused on nuclear events than fiscal ones, but in either case I’m likely screwed as I am living on the east coast in close proximity to dense population centers and terrorist/military targets. As of late however I have been considering buying a few acres in one of the rural areas a few …


Letter Re: Information Security Considerations When Selling a House with “Special Features”

Mr. Rawles- I truly enjoy and appreciate your site and hope to soon be able to express that with a [10 Cent Challenge] commitment. Perhaps one solution to the marketing of property with “special features” would be a multi-layered approach to advertising and responding. First present the property with a limited description such as general location and non-specific amenities using descriptions such as “special”, “hardened”, if appropriate and perhaps a philosophy statement and pricing that would lend a sense for the property without risking over-exposure. Interested parties could pursue a phone interview or email exchange to determine actual depth of …


Letter Re: Information Security Considerations When Selling a House with “Special Features”

James May I give an anecdote about being very careful about the hidden value/risk of shelters and other preparations when selling a property. In Portland, Oregon a person I know purchased a property which after closing was revealed to have a medium sized manhole entry type fallout shelter in the back yard. This person was quite annoyed to have what he considered a dangerous hole and had it filled in by a cement pumper and the doors and frame broken away and sodded over, after documenting the total costs he filed a lawsuit against the seller for reducing his property …


Letter Re: Information Security Considerations When Selling a House with “Special Features”

James, Thank you for the SurvivalReality.com web site. I check the listings regularly, hoping for my own retreat purchase in the future. The Bunker Home Retreat caught my eye since I’ve been to Pueblo Colorado many times. The bunker sounds very well designed and built. But the aerial views show exactly where the home is located, including street names. I don’t see how anyone can consider the bunker as secret, or “stealth” any more. Also, the seller includes a picture of the hidden entrance plainly open in broad daylight right in the middle of his front yard. I can only …


A Trip to the Yucatan–Observations of Mayan Primitive Living, by Michael G.

First, a preface on my background: I can’t decide if I should be a Cassandra (Sunspot cycle, Peak Oil, suitcase Nukes, Mayan Calendar mythology) or a Pollyanna (Y2K Flop, Heaven’s Gate, 2003 Hindu prediction Flop, and the 6-6-06 Flop; not to mention all of the countless predictions of the beginning of the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” rapture, et cetera, that hucksters and zealots have hawked for thousands of years). I believe whatever happens will happen and be over very shortly, and it will either leave us relatively unharmed or (given that I live in a city and work at an …


Two Letters Re: Advice on Construction a Hiding Place for Precious Metals in a Home

James Before building a house with a walk-in vault, for years I stored firearms and ammo in an old soft drink vending machine. Bought the non-working machine for next to nothing, removed the guts, and had a cheap gun safe (if necessary, a locksmith could re-key an old machine for a few bucks). It held a lot, had an excellent locking system, would be hard to break into, but best of all was invisible. Placed in my garage and later a barn, with a few tools and old boxes stacked on top, no one ever gave it a second look. …


Letter Re: Advice on Construction a Hiding Place for Precious Metals in a Home

Jim, After being scared Schumerless by the potential US economy meltdown and reading various related posts on SurvivalBlog, I finally took the plunge and purchased some junk silver coins. Since I plan to store these at home rather than a bank safe deposit box (because of potential accessibility problems), would you please recommend a strategy for storage. I’m assuming a small, somewhat hidden, safe bolted to the floor/wall would be reasonable. Any recommendations? Thanks, – Russ S. JWR Replies: Unless you already own a large home vault–such as a gun vault–I recommend that you construct one or more secret caches …


Letter Re: A-Frame Houses for Retreats?

Dear Mr. Rawles, Do you have any thoughts on the use of A-frame homes as a retreat? I can see the positive negative points, and would appreciate your thoughts (and those of your readers). For: They are economical to build and maintain. The extensive roofs offer lots of space for PV panels or solar water heaters. The steep roofs are good for distributing heavy loads (whether from heavy snow falls or volcanic ash). They look like most people’s stereotype of a vacation home, and not like a survival retreat (good for hiding in plain sight). Against: More difficult to harden …


Letter Re: Food Reserves and Summer Kitchens

Hello James, Not long ago, our friends at FEMA destroyed six million MREs, (which we taxpayers had purchased at a cost of $40 million). Why? Because of storage conditions. Now this is an extreme example: FEMA placing food products in unrefrigerated containers under the Gulf Coast summer sun. But it does serve to illustrate that no matter how large one’s pantry may be, to avoid turning that food into so much garbage, you have to monitor storage conditions. Our “summer kitchen” at our home/retreat occupies a 200 square foot area in one of the outbuildings. This room is double insulated …


Letter Re: A New Lock Bumping Threat–Medeco M3s at Risk!

Hi Jim, Regarding a previous thread in the SurvivalBlog archives, some news has come to light about picking [some varieties of] “high security” Medeco locks.The article begins: “A group of researchers has cracked the security features in what are supposed to be some of the world’s most secure locks — locks that are used at the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other critical locations. The researchers presented their findings for the first time at the DefCon hacker conference this weekend and showed how they could easily bump and pick the newest high-security M3 locks made by Medeco, a company …


Letter Re: Garage/Shelter for RVs as a Retreat Option?

Jim- A few days back a contributor asked about hardening up her mobile home. That reminded me of a plan I have been considering over the last couple of years. This might work for those who can’t relocate now to their retreat. I was motivated to write because I just saw a news report of a family offering a considerable reward for the recovery of their ATVs which had been stolen from their vacation cabin.[My idea is to] develop a retreat location with: 1. A water supply and septic tank and [leach] field (all disguised, to discourage squatters.) 2. Underground …


Four Letters Re: Advice on Protecting My Home from Gunfire

Sir: Regarding the question you received from a reader regarding protection from gunfire. Might I suggest a decorative planter made from poured concrete or concrete block? Brick would do in a pinch, assuming it was face brick (which has holes in them) with rebar and mortar or cement in the holes, although brick shatters easily. (Concrete block should have the cavities filled, with vertical rebar in the cavities and horizontal strengthening rectangular wire loops in the mortar every other layer). An inexpensive and attractive one or two tiered planter 16-24 feet long and 4 feet high can easily be built …


Letter Re: Advice on Protecting My Home from Gunfire

Jim, I am currently in the position of not being able to leave in the event of collapse or epidemic or whatever God may throw our way. I do, however, have the opportunity to build a “storage” area that may also be able to severe as a safe haven for my family when the hordes come out of Atlanta. Thanks to your blog we are way better prepared to survive than we were five months ago. However I feel we have virtually no gunfire protection in the mobile home we currently live in. I am going to be extremely irritated …


Letter Re: Advice on Under-Slab Underground Shelters

Mr Rawles, I was looking at the construction of different areas of my home and trying to think of the best area for a fallout shelter or bunker. I have a basement with access to the area under my garage and under a slab addition. I figure that it would be too dangerous to tunnel under the garage but was wondering if it would be feasible to tunnel under the addition slab. If this were an option I could really have a large bunker area, especially if there is a way to use the garage slab. Thanks, – ART JWR …