The Tactical Home - Ideas for New Construction?

[alabasterjar]

Place your bedroom in a spot that must be reached before your childrens, place your fatal funnel in front of your room, the intruder must make it through the funnel, then through you before ever reaching your children. Just my opinion

Definitely one of the critical elements we are making happen. We have 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. ..my initial thought is to have the master bedroom in the center of the second floor, with the kids rooms flanking on either side. The kids room would open to the hall and to the master bedroom so we have multiple paths to get around the upper level. Thanks for the comment. ..

 

[alabasterjar]

No, thanks. On outward-opening door precludes the option for a screened security door.

Yeah, I was working through that, as well. I'm not interested in giving up a screen door for moving air through the house on cool evenings. I anticipate 6 well armed occupants - I guess that may make the purpose of this thread moot...

 

[hysteria]

An often overlooked opportunity for this saferoom in a basement is the area under the porch. The bump out is there and with concrete above and all four walls.

Had to do over again...

We built our home in '98. I designed it and built most of it. The one thing I should have done and didn't even think of it is under the porch. We have a walk out basement with poured concrete walls except for the side that's open, it's stick built. My neighbor put a wine cellar under his porch and that's when I thought of it - the panic room/safe room should have been under the porch! Our porch runs the length of our 50' house. Had to build the foundation for it already, wouldn't have been that much more cost or labor to dig it out like the basement and pour those walls as well. Then instead of a stick built joist type deck/porch, pour it concrete as well - free space! And that space is reinforced concrete all around including ceiling and floor. No one thinks of the space under the porch as usable and if it's finished right inside the house (hidden door) no one would think of looking for the panic room/safe room there either. That room can contain a UPS system, closed circuit monitoring of the rest of the property, any thing you like...as fancy or as simple as you like.

When we build again, that's where my panic/safe room is going.

Seriously. I had NEVER seen this, until recently, but now that I have, I want one.

edit: Not sure what your 10 acre property situation looks like, but keep in mind with no neighbors, comes extra time for people to attempt to break in. Without anyone nearby to see or hear, a well prepared person could get into most new construction in minutes with a chainsaw. Sounds like OP is looking at sturdier walls than this, but something I've seen other people not consider.
Locally we had a business get broken into this way. It was a steel framed building, IN TOWN, someone or a group of someones, basically backed a van up to the wall and cut their way in.

 

[eric001]

I don't have much to add to the security suggestions above, but I did see tornadoes mentioned. I would highly recommend tornado-resistant rafter tie-downs be installed when you build. Very cheap to add, but as the majority of tornado destruction happens after the roof flips off and the walls are unsupported against the winds, they could literally save your home and your life. Just a thought. While I'm at it thinking about environmental hazards, make sure you have at least a couple lightning rods installed on your roof--if it's in the price range (and not having looked into this for years, I've no idea of current pricing), you might want to think about steel framing rather than wood framing for the house structure. Since lightning hits more houses than tornadoes, heavily grounding the structure against lightning so your home doesn't get damaged or burned down around you would seem prudent to me.

 

[Frosty]

I don't have much to add to the security suggestions above, but I did see tornadoes mentioned. I would highly recommend tornado-resistant rafter tie-downs be installed when you build. Very cheap to add, but as the majority of tornado destruction happens after the roof flips off and the walls are unsupported against the winds, they could literally save your home and your life. Just a thought. While I'm at it thinking about environmental hazards, make sure you have at least a couple lightning rods installed on your roof--if it's in the price range (and not having looked into this for years, I've no idea of current pricing), you might want to think about steel framing rather than wood framing for the house structure. Since lightning hits more houses than tornadoes, heavily grounding the structure against lightning so your home doesn't get damaged or burned down around you would seem prudent to me.

I'll the rafter tiedowns,they call them hurricane clips in the south. I would argue against steel framing on the grounds that if, God forbid, you ever have a house fire, wood will burn but retain it's structural integrity much, much longer then steel framing. Steel gets hot and warps, bends, and generally fails after being subjected to the temps of a house fire. I've seen many pictures comparing the two during my carpentry apprenticeship, even heavy steel I-beams fail and wood still stands.

 

[grogie]

A tin foil roof.

As someone else said, I'd also have a moat, and on the other side, a security station like big companies (and I'd put my old mother in it to yell at people... she'd love that.).

 

[Concerned Citizen]

We put a safe room under the front porch of every house we build with a basement. You have to dig a 3' overdig around the basement anyways, which means when you put a porch in, you have to fill it with engineered fill, so the concrete doesn't settle. Why not put that money into taller walls around the porch, and a slab floor, instead of pea-fill. The cost is pretty much a wash. Some of our customers use this as a tornado shelter, some use it as a safe room, some store their guns, food & water, some use it for a wine cellar.

Construction is simple. You frame 2 walls and 2x6 floor joists as temporary support. Then put down 3/4" OSB decking, then 4" of rigid foam. Next, adhere Ice & Water membrane from the wall sheathing to the rigid foam. Then 6" of concrete, with 1/2" rebar every 12", both directions. Make sure the rebar is supported 2-3" up. Once the concrete cures, you can remove the framing underneath. When you put a door into that room, make sure it swings in (if tornado hits, you don't want debris blocking your exit door). If you are concerned with someone kicking the door in, have a steel bar you can put inside to prevent entry.

On a house we're building in Brownsburg right now, we are burying a 40' shipping container next to the basement. This will be used partly as a pistol range, and also as an escape route to a Bilco door hidden by landscaping.

 

[alabasterjar]

On a house we're building in Brownsburg right now, we are burying a 40' shipping container next to the basement. This will be used partly as a pistol range, and also as an escape route to a Bilco door hidden by landscaping.

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!

 

[CathyInBlue]

If you can find on the market, or fabricate for your custom application, a set of scissor hinges, it's easy to have a bulkhead or main entry door that opens out without allowing for someone on the outside to have access to those hinges to compromise their security. On top of that, just like using a door security bar to interfere with inward opening doors, you can have hard points on the inside of the door where locking devices can latch on and clamp the door shut, similarly interfering with outward opening doors. The difference is that barring an inward opening door, you're opposing the normal forces used to break open the door, while clamping an outward opening door, you're applying forces in the same direction as someone would be applying force to break in the door. As long as the door jamb is solid, an outward opening door can't be kicked in. No matter how strong the jamb is, an inward opening door is only as secure as the dead bolts, latches, and bars that are added to the basic structure.

But if you're gonna insist on an inward opening door, don't put the dead bolt and main latch within inches of each other. The traditional way the deadbolt is located, it's dead simple for a B&E thief to kick both in at once with a single kick. With the main latch down around your waist, the deadbolt should be up around your shoulder, and every hinge/latch plate should have at least one extra long screw that reaches well into the framing structure around the door's casement.

 

[indyjs]

Lighting in attic and crawl. Floor in attic. Just worked on my bath exhaust fans - again. Design so they are easy to access or look into inline vent fans for bath, stove, dryer, radon ?.. Maybe a gable vent for attic

 

[The Drifter]

2 foot overhangs on the house helps to keep water away from the foundation . Also think about where you will build on the property ,if you can build on the top of a rise or hill ,you can do a drainage system that will eliminate the need for a sump pump for the basement,and safe room . Now that,s one less thing to need power for in a outage . When they dig your well make
sure the casing is big enough to support 2 points ,so you can put in a hand pump and point . Find out how deep they dig the well . any thing over 20 feet needs a point to pump from bottom. Keep trees far enough away from house so they do not blow over on to your house ,and give yourself a good view of the area someone could sneak up to the house.

 

[larrylegend]

I would recommend looking into some good insulation, as was mentioned before foam in strategic areas can be great. Insulation will save you money from day one and over the life of your home will save you a ton.

It would be nice if you are living out in the country to have a way to heat/power your home in the event of a power outage lasting longer than a day or two. Think about this last snow storm we had, what if you didn't have power for 3-4 days? Not simply for the comfort, but to prevent damage to your home from frozen pipes and water damage. That could save you some major headaches in the event you need it.

Also, as was mentioned before, having garage/barn doors not facing the street is nice, you can have them open and not worry as much about people driving by seeing everything you own. I feel people are more likely to break in if they can see items inside that have value.

 

[actaeon277]

Can't remember if it was mentioned,.... outer walls 2x6 studs instead of 2x4.

 

[JettaKnight]

Can't remember if it was mentioned,.... outer walls 2x6 studs instead of 2x4.

IMHO, that's a must in this area. The cost is much more as an investment, but the savings...

 

[Kirk Freeman]

We put a safe room under the front porch of every house we build with a basement. You have to dig a 3' overdig around the basement anyways, which means when you put a porch in, you have to fill it with engineered fill, so the concrete doesn't settle. Why not put that money into taller walls around the porch, and a slab floor, instead of pea-fill. The cost is pretty much a wash. Some of our customers use this as a tornado shelter, some use it as a safe room, some store their guns, food & water, some use it for a wine cellar.

I have this feature in my home as I am built into the side of a hill.

I built very strong shelving into the bump out. It is packed with food, "oh heck" gear and magazines and ammo. I'll try to post a photo after the workout.

 

[Concerned Citizen]

Can't remember if it was mentioned,.... outer walls 2x6 studs instead of 2x4.

I'm designing my house now, & I'm going even further than that. 2X6 studs filled with open-cell polyurethane foam, 7/16 OSB sheathing throughout, then 4" of rigid foam on the outside of that. R-60 walls, R-30 under the basement floor, R-100 in ceiling/roof (combination of closed-cell spray foam & cellulose), back windows of the house oriented to the south, then virtually air-tight. This will be a certified "Passive House". I could lose electricity for 6 weeks in the middle of winter, and the temps inside the house will not drop below 55ºF, without any mechanical heat source.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Here's what I did with my bump, nothing fancy, just shelving.

 

[gregkl]

Here's what I did with my bump, nothing fancy, just shelving.

Most important item is the Vernor's! Though I prefer the regular, lol. Are you from Michigan? That was always a Michigan thing growing up.