Category: Storage Spaces

The Art of the Cache, by James C.

I am sure many of you have planned for the possibility of a wide scale disaster, but you cannot carry all of your equipment when you get out of dodge. So caching is the best option however your cache cannot just go anywhere. Obviously certain locations experience heavier traffic, so in time of natural disaster, large scale riots, or terrorist attacks, it is good to choose locations away from this traffic. These caches also need to be on your bug out route, so if you have not prepared an escape route, do not plan your cache locations yet. These locations …


Letter Re: Advice on Constructing a Hidden Basement Room

Greetings Jim, I am finally closing on my house next week and have been putting together a plan (on paper) for turning the back half of my basement into a secret room accessible via a hidden staircase from one of the main-floor bedrooms. The basement is currently accessible only via a door in the floor of a utility room on the back side of the house and I plan to build a closet over the door to conceal it. However, making another hole in the floor to add a staircase leading to the basement will require far more skill than …


Organizing as an Important Part of Prepping, by K.S.

I’ve enjoyed the SurvivalBlog.com site and articles for some time now, but I never thought I would contribute an article! I have been prepping for a few years, and my husband and I have secured enough food, guns, ammo and other necessities to care for ourselves and a few relatives for at least 12-18 months. We live in the country, have spring-fed ponds, gardens and lots of game in our immediate area.  Still, we can never get cozy with the idea that we are fully prepared.  Prepping, I am finding, is a lifestyle and life skill that continues as long …


Three Letters Re: Keeping Secrets in Suburbia–Constructing Our Hidden Basement Room

James Wesley: In the article “Keeping Secrets in Surburbia–Constructing Our Hidden Basement Room, the author describes the difficulty they had removing hard-packed dirt with the consistency of dried concrete, and using an air chisel to break it up for removal and excavation. I’ve faced a similar problem with an underground excavation of a basement and egress tunnel in the granite and sandstone beneath the foundation of my own retreat home in the Western US. My answer came in the form of a good deal on a slightly used Bosch #11304 “Brute” breaker hammer electric jackhammer, suitable for use either with …


Keeping Secrets in Suburbia–Constructing Our Hidden Basement Room, by A.

A year ago our preparations had grown to a point where it was becoming noticeable to the guests who visited our home. Our ability to keep our tin foil hat craziness under raps was becoming increasingly difficult. Aside from the fact that we have teenage boys and a daughter and all of their friends regularly tromping through our house, for security reasons alone, all of our assets were virtually displayed in our basement and needed to be hidden. Yes, our guns are in safes, but the last thing we need is some parent freaking about ammo cans, reloading equipment or …


Letter Re: Bug Out Vehicle – Re-Inventing the Car Trunk

Hi SurvivalBloggers, I just watched this video: Bug Out Vehicle – Re-Inventing the Car Trunk (more of a slide show) that was mentioned in SurvivalBlog. I see a couple of obvious problems. Firstly; If he is going through all of this trouble to provide space for emergency/survival gear in case of emergency, why is he leaving the small donut spare tire in there? They are not rated for high speed, heavy loads, or extended distances. Go pick up a spare rim and tire! Yes, a full size spare weighs more, and takes up a bit more room… but in my …


Letter Re: Ecuador’s Uplands as a Retreat Option

Dear Jim: Amid decisions about planning to weather the storm after TSHTF I see people dangerously narrowing their strategy options. They are putting all their eggs in one basket when conditions could require them to abandon those plans. The typical options are flight, fortress, and community and any of the three could wind up being best… or worst! Let me share a few thoughts on the flight option. Flight usually involves bug-out bags, bug-out vehicles, defensive armaments, haste, maybe stealth, with hopefully one or more pre-stocked destinations. But what if a hazard has affected a huge region, making your pre-stocked …


Lessons from Eastern Siberia, by S.P.

Lessons from Eastern Siberia, by S.P. When I was 18, I spent six weeks in the Sakha Republic (or Yakutia) of Siberia. It is roughly three times the size of Alaska yet has a population of less than 1 million. With the Arctic Circle bordering the north of the Sakha Republic and the Lena River winding its way through it is a largely rural population of self sufficient farmers, fishermen, and reindeer herders. My time there was spent living in a soviet era apartment in either Yakutsk (its capital) or Moxogolloch (a small port town along the Lena River) or …


Two Letters Re: Food for Long-Term Survival

Hi Jim, Sheila’s article [“Food for Long-Term Survival”] contains a lot of good information, but seems to me to take the safety consideration of canning low acidic foods a little lightly. I’ve been canning for more than 30 years and even if you follow all of the rules, you occasionally get a bad jar of food. Low acid food, which include most vegetables, and all meats must be either pressure canned, or have their pH lowered (made more acid) below 4.6 by adding an acid like vinegar or citric acid. I’ve had good luck using a boiling water bath with …


Letter Re: Archiving Downloaded Instructional Videos

Jim, With all of the talk about the so-called Internet Kill Switch, and more and more people referencing online instructional videos, it might be time for people to start downloading these videos to their local computers. An easy way to do this is with the Firefox Fast Video Download plug-in. While watching an unlicensed video on YouTube and other sites, select the Tools menu, Fast video download, and then select the video you want to save. The videos may have the name of the video or a generic name like youtube_video. The extension may be .flv or .mp4, or there …


How it Started to Where I Am, by C.C.

Introductory biographical note: The author is 64 years old, father of nine children, BSAE Aeronautical Engineering, Ex-Army Infantry Training Officer (1970-1974), former Gym Trainer (1996-1997), Firefighter and EMT training and certification (2009-2010), Real Estate Broker/Owner Phase I I began realizing my vulnerability in 1998-1999, when Y2K-induced turmoil was a potential real possibility. I began, in all haste to find and prepare for the possible disaster that might come when the clock struck 12:00 midnight and 2000 would ring in. My first step was to find enough land that would be secure enough for my family and to design a place …


Some Experience in Storing Items in a Humid Climate, by Michael Z. Williamson

Recently, I had the opportunity to perform a long term test of goods improperly stored. A friend of mine placed his possessions in storage in a hurry in 1999, left the state, and did not arrange for anyone to maintain them. He returned last year, and we recently opened his storage locker and removed the items. Items stored in the Midwest, in an outside, sheet metal storage facility with no heat or AC, placed on minimal dunnage and piled in without neat packing or stacking. The interior was dark. Duration was 11 years—1999-2010. The lows near 0 Fahrenheit, highs near …


Letter Re: A Source for Rifle Racks and Build-It-Yourself Rack Plans

Jim, I found an Internet vendor who makes and sells gun racks right here in the USA! His prices are good and he publishes the dimensions of the racks on his site so anyone who is handy can build them at home. I know you hear this everyday but I’ll say it anyway. I sincerely enjoyed your books and SurvivalBlog. I am sorting my way through the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. I want you to know I appreciate your attempts to open the public’s mind to the crisis which is coming to our country. Knowledge gained and then …


Letter Re: The Disappearing Suburban Basement–Questions and Answers

Dear Jim: There has been such a great response to the article I wrote about using the basement in my home as a survival retreat, and I want to thank everybody for taking the time to read both parts—and to respond with some great questions. I wanted to take a moment and address a few of the questions, and perhaps give a little deeper insight into the arrangements, processes, and the solutions I have found to each of the various questions. First, and most importantly, I would like to stress that I’m not claiming this to be the ideal solution. …


Letter Re: A Suburban Bug-In Problem (Or Maybe a Resource)

Since the 1950s many homes have had them. Since the 1970s many building codes have required them. What? A sump pump. Yeah, that thing in the hole in the corner of the basement that kind of hums every once in a while. You don’t think about it much do you? But it keeps your basement floor dry. If the electric goes out, for any reason, for very long, you may have a big problem. I have seen over a foot of water in a 30×25 foot basement after just a mild spring rain. They make “battery back up” auxiliary pumps, …