Designing a preppers home

[omnione]

I've also always liked the idea of incorporating a roof porch into the second floor of a prepper home. This can serve both as a tactical LP/OP style post (though admittedly not a great one), but also is a cool place to sleep outdoors on a hot summer night. Here's a quick and dirty concept drawing of just the porch feature I have in mind:

[tmckay2]

i was curious about this too. it would be nice to do it in stages

Thanks. I'm also fascinated by the idea of designing a floor plan that can be built in stages. I really don't want to go into debt for a house again, so something that can be built ~200 sq ft at a time would be ideal for my situation. It could start as a flat-topped tiny home on an over-sized foundation, and eventually spring 3 or 4 wings and a second floor.

This would be pay-as-you build style to avoid usury. I would probably have to avoid areas of the country with zoning and building codes as well; or at least avoid places with expensive or onerous permitting processes.

Once my daughter graduates from high school in 3 years, and hopefully has a successful launch to independence, I hope to put some of my zany ideas into practice.

[tmckay2]

this is basically what i am going for with a builder but only 2 stories, on flat ground, with a three story tower and reinforced basement. the question is going to be the cost haha. won't be that large either

[omnione]

Here's an extension on my earlier idea. Just doodles, really. I'm trying to envision how this house could be built out in phases. I'm not in love with this particular order of construction because it would involve building the staircase twice - but meh. It illustrates the idea:



And as long as I'm dreaming, here's a possible third or fourth stage, with a big open great room with windows out the back. It continues the theme of excessive roof square footage for rain catchment and for solar panel real estate.

[omnione]

Aw heck how about one more. This one borrows tmckay2's idea of a third story tower (3.5 stories here), with truncated roof lines for more clear lines of sight/fire. It has a vaguely barn like styling so that it wouldn't stick out too sorely as a prepper retreat.



I would just have to install a fireman pole from the top of the tower to the basement - because what's not to love about a 45 foot slide for fast retreat to hardened shelter!

Thanks for indulging me.

~Omni~

PS - Here's the full album in a more logical progression: Sorry if I hijacked this thread a little bit.

[Wulf202]

A few simple features that I didn't see mentioned yet:

* Steel roof - for rain harvesting while retaining potability
* Water well drilled from the basement - with adequate ventilation and solar pump
* Concrete or earthen construction throughout, so that the structure is less susceptible to fire damage.
* Attic mounted cistern sitting on sturdy steel beams, for both the thermal mass and gravity fed water
* 1" hardened plate steel below each window

Rain harvesting is illegal if you've got a well. Its not potable by most standards after coming off a roof no matter what the roof is made from.
Well in the basement is a bad idea for any kind of maintenance. Resleeve? Move your house over.
concrete interior walls is a waste. Just use steel studs and fire rock. Also saves tons of money.
cistern and well could be put in uphill and save a ton and increase the size and reduce maintenance costs.
1" steel hardened is for tanks. 3/8" hardened is what we just did a group buy on and they hold up very well.

[omnione]

Rain harvesting is illegal if you've got a well. Its not potable by most standards after coming off a roof no matter what the roof is made from.
Well in the basement is a bad idea for any kind of maintenance. Resleeve? Move your house over.
concrete interior walls is a waste. Just use steel studs and fire rock. Also saves tons of money.
cistern and well could be put in uphill and save a ton and increase the size and reduce maintenance costs.
1" steel hardened is for tanks. 3/8" hardened is what we just did a group buy on and they hold up very well.

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~

[Omicron]

All your points are valid, and worth thinking about.

[KevDen2005]

Build a house on top of an old missle silo.

There is a farm house (according to google maps), it appears, on one of the old silo systems that were east of Denver. The other locations (five I think) are not really accessible, as one for sure is on the DADS landfill site. Another one is alone that county rode that continually turns into arapahoe then back to elbert counties. A friend of mine, who is a little older, grew up in the area and showed it to me one day. It can't really be seen from the road.

I would love to see one in real life

[KevDen2005]

http://www.missilebases.com/denver

Just get a few friends to go in together and...

This is very similar to what my friend showed me, but definitely a different location.