Quote Originally Posted by omnione View Post
Your perspective is refreshing. I'll respond with some additional thoughts:

1) I did not mean to advocate breaking the law, especially not during times of peace and prosperity. I do believe steel is healthier than tar and shingles. I'll volunteer an additional con to steel roofs: rain is NOISY on them!

2) I agree, the well in the basement would be a nightmare to maintain, and probably should not be the only well on the property. There are other detriments as well, including possible out-gassing. The real concern from a survival perspective is to have the well and tank in a defensible location, and there are many ways to accomplish that.

3) Concrete walls on the interior have pros and cons. One pro is thermal mass. You're right that cost is a little bit of a con here in the United States where we have cheap manufactured materials. Folks in the Philippines use concrete on interior walls and it seems to work very well for them. That is where I got the inspiration. (I have no first hand experience.) One additional benefit is the confidence I would gain in home invasion scenarios in terms of ballistic protections between rooms. It transforms interior walls from concealment into cover against smaller calibers.

4) On the topic of steel plate: I'm no expert in material engineering. A brief google search indicated that 3/8" is indeed adequate. I suppose that if I shoot that steel at the range, it ought to be just fine for protection. (Thanks!)

More food for thought. Cheers.

~Omni~
Not an expert myself but i've got a decent amount of experience. I also currently live in a place with 12" concrete exterior walls...

Cons for concrete walls; they take up more space than standard construction thus increasing your footprint for the same living space, thermal mass works both ways, noise reverberates well like gunshots or the tv set real low two rooms away, r factor sucks, bullets bounce and skip off of them so a safe direction is questionable at all times.

Pros of concrete walls; bullets bounce and skip off of them, thermal mass, they reflect sound real well (we live next to a train track)

The R factor of concrete is 1.35 per 8" thick wall. Which is roughly a 1/2" peice of fiberglass batting or 2 sheets of 5/8 sheetrock (the same as a standard interior wall). Modern construction of houses provides r-13 as standard for an exterior 2x4 wall.

This place sucks in the winter the summer isn't bad since the south exposure is limited.