Category: Retreat Architecture

Letter Re: Hidden Entrances, and Secret Rooms

If you do a web search for “hidden entrances” or “secret room” you’ll see some photos and video of various novelties like bookcases on hinges and stairways that open up to reveal hidden rooms behind/under them. While these can be a lot of fun before SHTF, especially for kids, I just wanted to put out a warning that these types of entrances aren’t really concealed at all in a TEOTWAWKI situation. For starters, if you found these solutions on the Internet, then bad guys can find them too. Even if they didn’t do their online research beforehand, you can bet …


Letter Re: Greenhouse Heating

Dear Jim, I was very interested to read about the heated greenhouse in this article. I wondered if people have also tried insulating a greenhouse and designing it to maximize solar gain? I’ve seen a design used in the Himalayas which allows them to grow vegetables throughout the year despite -25C conditions, designed by the charity GERES. I uses a UV-resistant polythene sloping roof facing south, high-mass insulated walls to store the sun’s heat and keep it in, some internal walls painted black and others white to help the solar gain, and finally a manually controller ventilation hatch – though …


Emergency Shelters From Materials On-Hand, by SnoMan

The key to building an emergency shelter is knowing how to improvise. Whatever the situation, whatever materials you have, if you need shelter from the elements, you’ll have to make do. Be efficient; every calorie spent is a calorie you’ll have to replace, so build your shelter using the least time and energy you can. For the purposes of this series of articles, we’re assuming you’ll be on the move, and that your shelters are truly just for temporary, perhaps even one-night use. If you’re going to be in place for awhile, then the rules about minimalist construction are off, …


Letter Re: Some Comments on Safe Room Design

Mr. Rawles, I read with interest the blog today and then clicked over to the link suggested by Brittany K.: Deconstructing a Safe Room (infographic)” I appreciate all the information your site gives. I wish the writers of the Allstate Blog had consulted your site and listed it in their sources. One glaring item in their graphic is that the door opens outward. If debris falls in front of the door a person may not be able to open it. [As has been mentioned several times in SurvivalBlog, inward-opening shelter doors are the norm,] Another point worthy of mention: In their …


“I Can See You” — A Digital View of Your Survival Preparations, by Dave X.

Foreword:  I design and operate databases for a living.  The newest of these are assembled on analytic platforms structured to “draw conclusions” for clients in a wide (and formerly random) variety of scenarios.  One of my developers is an analytic tools assembly expert who also works for some “security, emergency, and enforcement” government agencies in Washington, DC – all formerly separate agencies, and because of advancements in the technologies — now “interoperating”.  I am also a prepper with a Bug Out locale that fulfills my “survival vision” and inherently has most of the natural survival essentials on site, but one …


Letter Re: Rawhide and Brain Tanning

James, J.M.’s article on brain tanning mentions buildings and furniture held together with rawhide straps, and I thought I’d mention another such building. The roof of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah is a particularly innovative design for its time, and because of the builders’ lack of available metals (the few metal fasteners in the roof were made from discarded ox shoes) most of the structure depends on wooden pegs to hold it together. The builders wrapped parts of the wooden trusses in green rawhide; as the rawhide shrank during drying, it formed tight, strong straps around the …


Learning To Prepare, The Hard Way, by Barbara L.

I cannot even remember a time when I wasn’t a “prepper”.  Although until a few years ago, I had no idea of what I was preparing for.  Before the dawn of my awakening, I had serious urges to learn how not to kill plants and flowers. I wanted to grow my own food eventually, so I started with a trip to the local Big Box store, and bought some bare root fruit trees. Now in my mind, they are already dead, so if I could resurrect them, and keep them going, I was on my way. If they didn’t survive …


Letter Re: Electric Garage Doors as a Point of Entry for Burglars and Home Invaders

James, To follow up on a couple of recent letters about Electric Garage Doors as a Point of Entry for Burglars and Home Invaders: Keep in mind that pulling the [emergency] disconnect rope on a garage door just leaves it in a position where it can be rolled up by hand.   The motor for our garage door is not hardwired, but plugs into a standard receptacle box in the ceiling.  I keep a power strip plugged into that ceiling outlet, and the garage door opener plugs into the power strip. The power strip  dangles about seven feet off the …


Two Letters Re: Electric Garage Doors as a Point of Entry for Burglars and Home Invaders

Jim – I read with interest Dave in Oregon’s letter. This happened to a friend and co-worker: He had parked his pickup truck on the street, locked. Thieves broke into his truck, accessed the garage via the opener he had above the visor in the truck. Thankfully, this was in the morning when all were home, and the thieves were scared off by family members, but not before they stole his truck. I would also add that many electric openers have a rope attached as a release if the power fails. However with a larger overhead door, say a standard …


Letter Re: Multiple Advantages of ICF Construction

Jim: I am considering using Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) for building my next house/retreat back in the United States  for when I feel that it is not longer safe to live abroad.    For a relatively small incremental cost in a new home (3-5%), you have disaster proof, fire resistant, fortified home. I found this brochure (in PDF) that describes some of the advantages of ICF construction.   Best Regards, – AmEx (American Expatriate)


Letter Re: Electric Garage Doors as a Point of Entry for Burglars and Home Invaders

Hi Jim, Just a short comment: As I read the piece about preventing home invasion robberies, I thought of another thing most people don’t think too much about regarding this issue. Most people who have electric garage door openers tend to leave the remote on the visor of their vehicle. If the car is left unlocked in the yard or street, it is very simple for a ne’er-do-well to snag the controller and wait until no one is home to invade the garage, Or in some cases when you are home.  I would recommend removing the controller from the visor, …


Ultimate OSPEC in Your Underground Shelter–Or Just Do Your Best, by Charles D.

I needed a road trip to clear my mind and consider my G.O.O.D. route while on a road trip.  My Saturday journey was west on I-70 from Denver on a sunny fall day.  Around 60 miles up the hill from Denver is the gateway into the Colorado Rockies which is the Eisenhower / Johnson Tunnels that cross under the Continental Divide into the Summit County. These tunnels help avoid the winding but beautiful Loveland Pass that is often closed due to snow and poor conditions in the winter. They send the Hazardous Material trucks over the pass when the road …


Letter Re: It Takes a Brickmaker To Build a Village

Mr Rawles & Co., I recently found a project on the Kickstarter web site while browsing for good DIY options for brick making machines. The project seems right up any survivalist’s or prepper’s alley in that it involves designing cheap and durable machinery for use after the collapse of civilization, using mostly only scrap metal or other junk. If successful, the end result is going to be an open-source database (and various CDs) containing schematics and instructions for the construction of at least 50 machines and vehicles. These include brick makers, primitive CNC machine tools, tractors etc. (You get the …


Letter Re: Earthquake Retrofit an Old House

Hi Jim, Living in an area that’s earthquake prone and overdue for a large one, I’ve spent a fair amount of time researching ways to limit any damage that we might experience in our home.  In 1994 the Northridge earthquake and the resulting fires were the cause for the creation of a device that, I feel, is instrumental to possibly saving any home with a gas-line.  It’s commonly referred to as a Northridge valve.    Simply, it’s a seismic device that stops the flow of gas at the house meter should there be any seismic event over 5.2 on the …


Earthquake Retrofit an Old House, by Greg E.

2011 was a year of deadly and devastating tornados, and an earthquake that shook the east coast.  One of the largest tornados hit a suburb in my county in the Birmingham Alabama area. We are also only one state over from the New Madrid earthquake zone that starts in the Memphis area.  After taking several closer looks at the foundation and basement of our 50 year old house, I realized we were living with a false sense of security. After researching online, I learned that in certain large events, mainly earthquake, but also from high winds, if the house gets …