Securing your house (windows doors etc.)

[Dorky_D]

What do you have in place to secure your BOL or house, should ther be riots or civil unrest or whatever. How will you secure your castle to keep out looters/rioters.

Aside from the stand ard dead bolt/lock and locking your windows, what do you have in place, or will you put in place? Bars, 2x4 across the door?

I have given some thought to getting extra sheets of plywood for windows, and or boards across the smaller windows, so you could still see out, but not get in without some work.

Explain your plans. What tips do you recommend?

 

[Icarry2]

If you look into all of the options there are for the issues your concerned with there are a few affordable options that are still not guaranteed to keep people out plus if they just want to destroy stuff they will fire bomb your house.

Wood shutters, ok but can be shot through, pryed open, burnt off..
Steel bars, can be cut or pulled off with a vehicle and a tow strap..
2x4 blocking an inside swinging door, a 12 gauge and a few shots will take the hinges and bolts out so then the 2x4 won't stop them..
A chain saw will cut through most wood products used to build houses..

A truly "secure" home will look much like a jail but without the concertina "razor" wire

Block, stone or poured concrete walls
Steel sofit covers
Small windows with bars
AR Steel plate shutters
Metal roof
Reinforced steel doors with 6 hidden hinges, multiple bolts on both sides and possibly a couple of cross bars
Tamper proof roof vents, furnace exhaust, dryer exhaust, septic vents, chimney caps, etc.
A protected incoming power line, burried and fused and with a large disconnect.

Just a few ideas..

PM me if you want to know more..

TJ

 

[jeremy]

I'll be using either a .308 or a .300 WinMag...

 

[churchmouse]

Living in the Burbs there is not a lot you can do unless you rebuild from the ground up with security in mid. I have done the pinned hinges and dead bolt secured into the frame work but beyond that it is not far off from what Jeremy stated only I will be greeting visitors with a 930 mossy or an M-4.
Ya-All come on down now ya heer............

 

[Dorky_D]

I am not going to pretend that it would ever be fort knox, but I would want to keep us from being an easy target. I have thought of attaching some kind of wire mesh or rabit fence to the window frames. I have done the longer screws in the door frames and dead bolts. If someone wants in bad enough, they could get in. If need be, I would like to make it as hard a possible though.

 

[J man]

I have a bunch of wood from various projects so I guess using that would be my plan.

 

[Spanky46151]

Chainsaw will provide easy access to most non brick/stone buildings. You simply cut through the wall. Add a sledgehammer and those won't take much longer.

 

[jeremy]

Living in the Burbs there is not a lot you can do unless you rebuild from the ground up with security in mid. I have done the pinned hinges and dead bolt secured into the frame work but beyond that it is not far off from what Jeremy stated only I will be greeting visitors with a 930 mossy or an M-4.
Ya-All come on down now ya heer............

One huge advantage of living out here in the Country here on the Prairie...

 

[jeremy]

Chainsaw will provide easy access to most non brick/stone buildings. You simply cut through the wall. Add a sledgehammer and those won't take much longer.

Think you and your crew can cross a Mile of flat open fields carrying that chainsaw before you get noticed...

 

[tooleman]

I think the wood is to help you not to be seen. It is hard to shoot something that you cannot see. If you wait until they are burning the wood around windows to bug out....then I hope you have a plan B

 

[03A3]

What do you have in place to secure your BOL or house, should ther be riots or civil unrest or whatever. How will you secure your castle to keep out looters/rioters.

I've been looking at this lately. I have a stash of OSB and was thinking about using it to cover all windows and possibly some of the doors. Maybe even board them up from both inside and outside. I'm not sure how much good that would do.
For one thing you would not be able to see much of what was going on outside. Also you wouldn't last long trying to fight from a woodframe house. The SHTF hoodlums would riddle you and your house pretty quick. If nothing else they would burn the place down, and you could either burn up or die running from it.
My plan is to already be outside, or get outside quick to where we can fight.
Outside I'm working on my place to try to put things in my favor as much as possible.

 

[mike8170]

Think of Jeremy's previous post, a good offense is the BEST defense.

 

[03A3]

I think the wood is to help you not to be seen. It is hard to shoot something that you cannot see.

It doesn't take that many rounds to shoot up a place and the people in it, no matter if you can see them or not.

 

[churchmouse]

One huge advantage of living out here in the Country here on the Prairie...

I got the win-mag reference. I am a city boy and have been most of my life. Too late to move now. I am used to the city and can move around here fairly well. No one up this way but a few folks (X military) have any training at all so we are not to worried. The daughter and hubby live next door and we have a privacy stockade almost done around both yards. The are both very handy with most firearms, i have seen to that. We have a bit of a fortress here. Nothing is perfect but you do what you can with what you have.

 

[Iroquois]

Locked myself out last week and was embarassed how easy it was to break in.
I don't hold out much hope of the doors and windows keeping people out. Fortunately
not much gets by the four legged perimeter alarms. We have windows in all four basement
walls so thats where we defend from if SHTF.
Modern building codes mean easy escape and entree through most windows on the ground
floor . Getting in the basement is harder especially if we're shooting at you.

 

[churchmouse]

You can make the doors "Near" impossible to get through. Key word, near. Start with a steel door. If you pin the hinges, make sure they are screwed to the studs and not just the wimpy jamb. Get keyed both side dead bolts and secure the bolt striker plate to the studs or frame work as well. Takes a few hours a door but it is not that hard. You could get in through the door with "Major" effort and a battering ram but the noise will draw attention. I have done my doors in this way. I tried to throw a shoulder at the shop door and spent a few days hurt over it. Door was just fine.

 

[jeremy]

You can make the doors "Near" impossible to get through. Key word, near. Start with a steel door. If you pin the hinges, make sure they are screwed to the studs and not just the wimpy jamb. Get keyed both side dead bolts and secure the bolt striker plate to the studs or frame work as well. Takes a few hours a door but it is not that hard. You could get in through the door with "Major" effort and a battering ram but the noise will draw attention. I have done my doors in this way. I tried to throw a shoulder at the shop door and spent a few days hurt over it. Door was just fine.

I have known people who have built their own steel door jams for their steel doors...

 

[jeremy]

Think of Jeremy's previous post, a good offense is the BEST defense.

Time and place...

The tough part is knowing when you should take the fight to them, let them bring the fight to you, or just sit on your tail and hope like hell they don't notice you are there....

 

[Mosinowner]

I'll be using a IMS, pungi deadfall traps, and guns

 

[jeremy]

I'll be using a IMS, pungi deadfall traps, and guns

Pungi Deadfall Traps are not as effective as the Movies would lead you to believe...