Top 3 Reasons to Invest in a Bunker

Personally if it was me i would be putting my money towards owning some property and a getaway home far from densely populated areas. Like in North Dakota perhaps.

The reason being that raiding hoards from the big metropolitan areas are mostly going to be on foot and the further they have to walk the less likely they are going to get to you!

The other aspect is that if you have a small out of the way place that is not easily found or that draws attention to itself the few raiders in vehicles will be far less likely to waste precious fuel trying to find your place.

Other reasons would be that places like where I live are heavily developed for farming and ranching and general export of goods which means that people here are already the least dependant on store bought food to sustain them making them far less likely to need to go out and raid others in order to survive.

A lot of people are unaware of the power of the executive order.

http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/10998.htm

Our current president has granted himself the authority to impose martial law on a whim.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/22/obamas-power-grab/

...and certain aspects of prepping may be illegal in the eyes of the "STATE".

Hawaii, for example, has a little provision that says, that one week's worth of food, per person, is enough. Who knows what that really means?

http://standeyo.com/News_Files/Exec.Orders/EOs.html

It's a bit concerning, that a government that worries about us hoarding, has been in the process of hoarding vast amounts of ammunition, hoarding vast amounts of personal data on each and every one of us, and has been working hard in their attempt to eliminate our 2nd amendment rights.

Not much good in a flood.....or an earthquake.... any well built home will stand up to a hurricane....Economic collapse..? What's that..? This is just another form of hoarding, it's a sickness.....imo

Not sure what this will accomplish.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/121109/10-countries-hoarding-gold

There's a certain benefit to not being rich enough to worry about all of this crap.

My prepping has involved making sure I have access to water, wood to heat and cook, a pellet gun that can kill a squirrel, and familiarizing myself with the edible plants and insects in my area.

I have read some articles and books with instructions for "nuts". The onlu thing it creates is good money for the authors.

I had the opportunity to live through a cat 4 hurricane in the Bahamas, Frances. This monster storm stayed here uninvited for a full 36 hours. Gushing tons of water and pounding everything like hell. Our swimming pool got emptied in less than 20 minutes and one hour later filled up in even less time.

14 days later the next hurricane rang. This time only for a reasonable 6 hours. These hurricanes make a "natural" selection between the houses to stay or to go. Now 8 years later you still have that witness the devastation done.

Forests of pine trees, cut in half and dried out afterwards.

A bunker? certainly not under ground in lower areas. The idea of a strong house I have put to test in 3 places and it works. The houses I built are designed for 260 MpH winds. Up to cat 3 no shutters needed. With shutters there is still safe access to the balconies during the hurricane. One has even a basement that is flood proof up to 20 Ft above high tide.

I guess the biggest problem will be the coming collapse of the (capital) model. Keeping a low profile is the best approach for me.

Love to know what you are doing to fortify your homes for hurricanes.

Here I could raise the house from the basement up. Instead of buying fill, I dug a basement sitting in the rock. Pillars inside and concrete floor slabs 8" 2 reinforcement layers. Walls ICE (Styro) finished 12" thick - core is concrete wafer formed out of pillars . diameter 8" with each #5 rebar in the center (horizontal and vertical). On top the prescribed, but in this construction totally unessesary belt course. I experienced with an unconventional building design the building code is more a pain than a help.

5 point locked Trocal doors swinging to the outside. Same, windows 3 pane, French and sliding. Aluminum tracks 1" that hold shutter panels in extruded aluminum. Only on windows. Doors are OK without. (door panel is sandwich 3 layers - 1 steel 2,5 mm)

Steeper roof (almost 45 degrees) works better with wind loads. Solar panels Megasun water loaded with 300 kg tank (full)

This provided also a full attic without obstacles. Truss- like rafters made in place. (2" by 6 and 8") Plywood - felt - 6 mm torch on (during Francis I had no metal on the roof yet) nothing came off. All bolted together with 1/2" bolts, washers and nuts.

Metal bands keep the wood from splitting.

Screwed on metal roof Lux Metall. (9 hex per SFt)

The shade sails on the patio I remove when a hurricane comes (cables and rollers)

Putting all the panels up takes 2 hours - 11 balconies - 14 windows - slide and pin(for 3 houses under one roof)

The balconies have a gap of 2" under, and one (conical) on top of 3" to 4" which creates a turbulent breeze in the storm and pushes water off the balcony floors so that no water comes in contact with the sliding doors.

Windows and doors have rubber seals. A mop and one bucket load is enough to keep it all dry.

Around the garden is a storm wall of 180 cm (measured from the outside) and inside the ground and floor level is higher. This wall directs flood first to the neighboring grounds. Wilma came from the South and the canal was just full. It was low tide too.

The foundation of it has been cut out of the rock and anchored with concrete. The impact resistance of the wall has been tested a few times with cars missing the curb of the highway in the back.

If at high tide we should have had 4 feet more (just not enough to reach the wall)

The wall has 2 "pipe holes just above the floor. There is about 22.000 m3 lower area to store water before it reaches the foundation of the house and the floors of the garages. But before that happens, the whole island has already wet feet.

Pics only on request via PM and email.

Surprised me about the 45° roof pitch.

We have film on the glass, but I would like to get working colonial shutters. Simple to close and lock.

We are already water tested when Faye rolled through and dumped 30" of rain on us over a two-day period. The water only rose to the point of just starting to cover the road surface and the house is built up on a mound 4 feet above street level.

This one lost tiles, no steep pitch. But has very simple roller shutters, easy to operate from the inside (manually). They also come electrified.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz0JEAFJ4uc

We have a bunker currently masquerading as a wine cellar. It's about 6x8 ft, under the front concrete porch, with three concrete walls and a steel door. We have two folding chairs in there, flashlights, a corkscrew, and about 200 bottles of wine. The temperature remains a pretty constant 55F, year round.

If armageddon comes, we're prepared. The wine should last us about three months, rationed at two bottles per day. We can also ride out a tornado, which is much more likely here in Iowa. I'm a teeny bit worried about how to get out if the house collapses onto us, but there's all that wine...

Part of any prepping regime should include the necessary resources to enable you to be an effective looter as well.

If your stash runs out you may need to restock and "looting" may end up being the only way to guarantee a new supply.

This is where the working as a group comes in. The odds are if you have enough people in your survival group the more likely one or more of them will have excess of something others would be lacking in.

Trade for trade is a win win situation. Looting is a high risk one way only situation.

Being you are willing to kill to protect your stuff from being looted means the other guys you are trying to loot are going to be doing the same.

Say your vehicle broke down and I have the parts, tools and knowledge to fix it.

Which do you think is a better choice?

1: Trade me food and things I need in trade for my spare parts and work to fix your vehicle?

or

2: Try and kill me before I kill you and hope you can figure out how to fix your vehicle with my tools and parts hoping I didn't injure you bad enough that you are now physically incapable of doing the work and take the risk that once you are done I do not have a group of friends and neighbors that relied on my resources and skills that don't come looking for you?

I highly recommend fully exploring option 1 first!

See #2. It has been legalized.

Only if it's being done by government, for the collective good.

Collective salvation, paid for with freedom. No bunker will keep them out.

Something that strikes me with those long term preppers, is that some of them are, (or think they are), set up for well over a year with supplies.

My take on it, is that if I'm sitting in a bunker for months and living off my rations....

...well, lets just say that I think that there are worse things than dying.

I don't follow the mentality either. They seem to think that everyone is just going to stop doing what they do dead in their tracks and just sit there.

From every job and working situation I have ever seen the real life working level people seem to have a fairly solid fall back plans for their business and those whom they do business with for when the upper level idiots start throwing hissy fits and stop doing their jobs which to be honest most everyone knows they are the least needed anyway.

The government shuts down so what? That has been well proved that most everything goes smoother without them!

So what if the president tries to turn the military on our own citizens. How many people here have family in active military service and do any of you honestly think they would follow that sort of order? I have family in the military I know for a fact they would not and most everyone they work within the system would not either!

As I learned it our nation was built on the concepts of hard learned lessons from past history and there are many lesser known safeguards in place to prevent our president or anyone else in upper government or military positions from going 'Hitler' or worse on us.

Not to mention the sheer stress they put themselves under, during the good times.

Hell, they spend so much time worrying about worst case scenarios... collecting guns, ammo, food, water, building shelters, etc., they are missing out on any joy that they should be having right now.

Edit: I keep track of what the government is up to, but I'm not overly worried. They won't get the military to turn on the citizens; they have a tendency to underestimate the intelligence of most of the citizens; and most of all, in a bad scenario, it will be the stupid and selfish that will fall first. Stupid and selfish would describe our political leadership.

The acts of prepping could be regarded as recreational.

Beats playing video games or doing macrame all day doesn't it?

Peace and love.

I suppose there are people that have fun with it. I saw one of those prepper shows, where the guy had the basics covered for his family, and spent a little extra every month on things that would become valuable for trade....his particular focus was on toilet paper. He had lots of it.

Others are paranoid to the point of being scary. It's a little sad when they die before the "big event" happens.

Hmmm. Toilet paper you say?

Well before I got married a 36 pack that would last me a year of better but now with my wife that might get us 3 - 4 weeks at best.

I guess I had better get my bathroom in my shop built and stocked before the apocalypse. Four 36 packs hidden in the shop will keep me going for a good 5 years!

Yeah, it's a female thing. Mine goes through it too. For some reason, they have to build something that looks like a small pillow, just to get rid of a drop of pee.

The funny thing about the guy hoarding TP, is that he's preparing for a disaster that would include everyone having plenty of food and water...which would necessitate the need for TP. But if everyone has plenty of food and water, it won't be much of a disaster.

I've noticed the obsession with toilet paper too.

We don't use it in these parts. We use what are commonly referred to as "bum guns" here and around the region.

Once you've tried one, any thought of using toilet paper for the same purpose is totally barbaric and sickening.

Entering a bathroom without a bum gun is distressing.

Always test if the gun is working before committing to its eventual need.

Toilet paper is gross.

Think about it...

Wouldn't fly in the US. They finally managed to order all toilets to 1.6 gallons or less, per flush...it's the LAW! The greenies would go nuts if we were cleaning up with water; they prefer to kill trees.

We do have at least one super smart person, that has figured out how to use 1 square. Talk about gross.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/apr/23/musicnews.music

Flush volume is the same regardless. You could probably lower the flush volume if bum guns proliferated.

Third world folk wash their butts, first world folk get tactile and intimate with their doo doo....warped. Then there's ass-slash to contend with....

I figure prepping tactics are very location specific.

Shudder, gag.

They use recycled water from the bowl. :)

It sure looks to me like, (in the wrong hands), the bum gun could become pretty unsanitary.

You think?

How about toilet paper in the "wrong hands" and then the vanity basin tap handles (if they're used), then the door knob, then the fridge door, then the food you're eating.....a nice even coating everywhere.

Once you've tried a bum gun you won't go back to toilet paper.

Anyhow, it's handy to have a spray hose in the bathroom just for cleaning the bathroom. Excellent for dog washing too.

I believe you, but don't you still have to dry?

It seems like I've seen toilets that wash everything clean, and follow up with an air dry.

Of course, in a disaster that included the loss of running water, a bum gun would be useless. Toilet paper would be looking pretty good.

There's always this method.

That method works fine too.

Drying? I wear black jeans.

The convenience of the modern bum gun evolved from this:

Note the ladle and bucket of water. This arrangement is very bunkerable.

No they don't. It's clean tap water.

Anyhow, storing enough clean(ish) water or engineering a water reuse system makes bum guns a little apocalyptically unfriendly as a personal hygiene solution.

You could train dogs I guess....

Or get the hell out of town when before it's all going down.

There's always some sort of warning. Situational awareness is the best prep.

Just joking.

However, in all seriousness, the next step is the Bidet Toilet (less messy), popular in Europe

Bidet Toilet

They even have conversion kits for existing toilets.

After a good american helping of some of the turkish and mediterranean dishes my wife makes that little stream of cool water might feel real nice!

I wonder if they have a medicated drip version?

Preparation H2O

I would be happy with it just going through an ice bath.

Do you have any idea how a digestive system that grew up on german and scandinavian foods reacts to mediterranean and turkish foods?

Lets just say I could get that poo powered motorcycle up to interstate speeds and maintain it there for entire transcontinental trips some days!

I love hot, spicy food. Thai and Indian being my favorites, but Mediterranean is also a delight.

Got a blow dryer to go with that bum gun?

Building a house to survive a hurricane? Why bother?

Do it the way the folks along the New Jersey coast (The Shore) do--build right up to the water's edge on the beach, so any storm will destroy the house. When a storm comes, leave that million-dollar property and go back to your apartment in NYC.

When the storm is over and your beachfront property has been smashed, cry crocodile tears all the way to the federal flood insurance agency, collect your flood insurance, and build another million-dollar beach house in the same place.

Hey, it's worked for those folks for years. And we keep paying for it.

Or invest in a better FEMA. Or a better leadership standard for Homeland Security.

Its almost unheard of that you cannot get food or water within a day's travel from a natural disaster.

And why an underground bunker? There must have been dozens of underground bunkers along the Jersy shore during the hurricane. Did they help with the storm surge? Think your own example of Katrina would have demanded a bunker as an answer?

Naw... not that I am suggesting burying you head in the sand like so many do (actually building a useless water filled bunker is just that) but developing a village with (well built) churches and community centres stocked with food and water seem to do the job just fine. Looters are just that...they are not desperate..they are just opportunists. Crooks. Never shot one...but threatened a few with baseball bats after the Barrie Tornado leveled my house.

The Phillipines is a bad example. Bunkers could not have helped, but notice they took refuge in solidly built churches and hotels. Aid is getting to them. Stores of food and gasoline are cleared out by gangstas (looters) on the first day... Leadership in the aftermath can help. Sure they lost three quarters of their fishing fleet, but the final quarter brought in plenty of fish for all. I think we will hear of some very impressive people in the next while who are leading properly. They won't be foreigners, but local heroes.

Or invest in a better FEMA. Or a better leadership standard for Homeland Security.

Never happen. Massive, expensive, inefficient, power hungry bureaucracies, are the very best that government will ever be able to provide. They've been proving it for decades.

The only thing that a bunker is good for is riding out a thermonuclear war, if the bomb doesn't land nearby. Otherwise, it's a ready-made death trap for the occupants because the hoards will find it and pry open that door...one way in and one way out, unless you've constructed a well concealed secondary escape exit.

The worse defense is a static one. History is replete with examples of failed static defenses. All one has to do is look at fortifications like castles and forts. If you, the enemy, cannot breach the walls then you can eventually starve out the inhabitants.

Infantry Tactics 101: The best defense is a good offense, by keeping the enemy off-balance.....include Plans A through E for contingencies.

think WW2 and the French Maginot line and the fact that Germany simply went around it.

I am not going to go anywhere near this one except to say that I'm considering the loss of life In Oklahoma this year when a shcool was hit by a tornado just a couple of years after it happened before. They rebuilt the school but thought it was cost prohibitive to build a storm shelter. I wonder how many of those parents that lost children voted against the expediture for the storm shelter? I wonder how they feel today?

What's worse is all it would have taken is to literally bury an old school bus with a reinforced entryway, a small air vent, and rudementary eletrical. How expensive could that possibly be? What's your childs life worth anyway?

You're absolutely correct.

Everybody in tornado prone areas should have shelter, and it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.

Even old shipping containers, with tie downs, would work fine.

Anything above ground, short of a reinforced concrete bunker, is not safe from a tornado.

Wrong.

http://www.guardiansteelstormshelters.com/saferooms.html

Plenty of steel shelters can be found, that are good in up to 250 mph winds, and safe from flying debris...they just have to be anchored properly.

You might want to lay in two to six inches on concrete inside if you wanted it "tornado proof". I build a blacksmith shop that way. (miserably hot in summer...the concrete was nice on the feet and covered the pesticide soaked wood floor. Would do it agan though)

I can't imagine even a tornado lifting THAT up.

But somewhere, you have to compromise. At least inside a container, you are safe against the tornado shrapnel. And it won't get flooded....

Would I tie it down? Hmmm. Dont think so. but seeing containers being lifted in the video (google it) makes one think twice! They be heavy!

The odds are years ago that school had the same highly effective storm shelter system my school had.

We would go down into the access tunnels that ran under the main parts of the school. Solid concrete and very safe.

Problem was somewhere along the lines they decided that the possibility of exposing us to asbestos was worse than exposing us to a a tornado. After that we never did a tornado drill again that didn't involve just running everyone into the main library or gymnasium of which both had no structural protection whatsoever.

My guess is that school likely had more than enough safe room in its lower access tunnels than was needed but somewhere along the way asbestos concerns over road tornado concerns and the whole concept was abandoned.

They can paint the asbestos?

Your biggest fear for many of these problems after a disaster should be Homeland security and the federal deputies... check out what happened to the people that were let into areas by law after the Kennedy parade in Dallas when the mayor declared them off limits for 2 days before and after and they won a lawsuit giving them access. Not covered by national media, not even Fox. Watch the videos online.

Don't forget the U.N. Troops that are here for "training", including Russian Spetsnaz special forces....

Hey Henry... how about some input here! All I see from your article is an advertisement for your company, "The Underground Bunker Company."

Why are you so silent in the face of the CR4 community?

Because, even with bullet resistive doors, bunkers are not defensive-able.

So that you can afford a bunker, invest in a banker. So that you don't get lonely, invest in a binker. That way you don't go bonkers.

Just get married. You will have no reason to want to live any longer than necessary.

I say this as my wife waves her iphone around me trying to read my aora with an app or maybe just something she imagines is an app to read my aora?

My wife waves her iPhone around me hoping that I will miraculously actually want to know how to use it and then teach her.

It's easier to give in. Now I'm absolutely certain I don't want an Apple product....win win.

The OP has some VERY serious bunkers:

http://www.risingsbunkers.com/pricing-and-floor-plans/

Wow. Pretty wild stuff.