Where you going to run to?

I have and wil do so! If threatened, will take appropriate measures to defend my family.

 

Ok, I guess I would help out somebody in need. I'm known for doing so. To clarify, I'm pessimistic that Americans will get over this childish He Said She Said, Left or Right, With Us or Against Us polarizing mentality

 

Jayman, you have plenty of wilderness up there. I would think that working the patches you have some stash and a spot.

This northern area has a way with people not wanting to stick around in the winter. I kind of see it as a way of keeping down the rift raft! And for those that don't, I have a couple of good size dogs.

 

That would probably be the worst thing to do. I could care less if you imported all the workers, had them executed, and bribed local officials, it wouldn't take long for all the locals to know of the lavishly outfitted survival shelter you had built

Especially if you're somewhere in BFE and suddenly a fleet of cement trucks all go racing down a small sideroad to a supposedly "abandoned" tract of wilderness. Even a dum-dum will suspect something mighty strange is going on

The best fallback plan is to literally disappear into the background. A shelter small enough you can build yourself, and keep the existence of such shelter secret.

 

The evidence is pretty clear that a lot of the big animals of Australia, North and South America, and most islands went extinct after humans arrived. There are a lot of details worth debating, but as better fossils and sites are analyzed, the evidence points to our ancestors having most excellent hunting skills. Far better than originally thought. As for the Saber Tooth Tiger, it probably is in the same position as the Neanderthals. The better hunters starved out the previous best hunters. Now climate change and other factors are involved, so there is no controversy there. For the present and beyound, I would prefer any future extinctions to be due to (natural) climate change rather than for human eating.

 

I see your point on the polarization of America. But we seen this prior to WW2 and over came it.

 

Correct

Also correct. We have it pretty good now, with roads rarely closed except during a nasty blizzard. You have the occasional dumbass who manages to break down in BFE, wearing a trendy what I would call "Spring" jacket at -40. They have the balls to complain it took 35 mins for help to arrive after calling over and over on a cell phone

Even folks here, except the old timers, forget how truly nasty this climate can be in winter. It got up to 86 today, humidity around 65%, so it was pretty miserable unless you had A/C. I don't think anybody would croak up here from lack of A/C, it's more of a comfort thing

But the winters are harsh. When temps are below 0, especially down to -40, with a nasty windchill, we usually stay inside. We watch the environment through a triple pane window, and if we feel a chill we jack up the thermostat a bit

Take away the nice modern well insulated house, and nice modern efficient gas furnace, and you don't last long. The stories of folks who broke the land +60 years ago are frightening

Sure, you can design and build a heavily insulated home to work without utilities. You can have an airtight stove in the living room, with a good supply of seasoned firewood and/or coal. Coal doesn't need "seasoning" nor will it go bad/rot.

If we experienced a solar or extrasolar event that caused GIC/EMP, I suspect not too many would survive a harsh winter

 

I have a good basement with a working wood stove that heats my 2500 sq ft house. It's nice and cool in the summer. Kind of hard not to see the top part though.

I don't think too many would survive any where. There wouldn't be nowhere to run!

 

Yeah, that does seem like a never ending educational task. All these cries for "leadership" indicate that a whole lot want to be lead. Why not lead and have the politicians follow?

 

I'm going to make one last post for tonight and try to sleep. Overseas flight has my sleep cycle all messed up

I hate to ask a silly question, but does that house of yours need a sump pump? Without power to run the sump pump, your basement quickly turns into a swimming pool unless you can find a way to manually pump it out

My hobby farm is high land, a gentle rise in elevation. I was able to build my house with a walk-out basement. I have a sump collection box, but instead of a sump pump I have a 4 inch ABS run under the slab, out down the hill into a drywell.

I've never seen more than a trickle of water in the box, even after torrential downpours. Usually it's dry and dusty

 

In college I dreamed of building an underground home someday. On the side of a hill so that one side could face out over a view. Build as a donut with a central "hole" that would have a central courtyard with natural light.

It will never happen.

But building underground provides natural insulation.

 

Well, I have to admit it has more to do with satisfaction in the here-and-now as opposed to the best place to be come the end of civilization. Somewhere with natural beauty/scenery. And lower humidity. And milder summers. :bounce:

 

I don't mean a whole closet full of ammo, maybe just 1000 rounds for the hunting rifle and 500 each for shotgun/pistol. It makes little sense to have more because you might have to be mobile without a petroleum powered vehicle, and ammo is heavy. If you're a good shot, one round means one rabbit or bird to eat. I also did not mean to stockpile ammo in lieu of other basics for survival. I would rather have a pantry full of MREs than ammo, FWIW.

Thanks for the other thoughtful responses.

 

It loses its kick after a while too! Best ammo is fresh ammo.

Better put that reloader on my list.

 

G

I had considered an approach like that. Frankly, I was put off by the idea of an "underground" home. A "courtyard" wouldn't work in this climate, it would just fill with snow in winter.

I also thought about the Radon danger, not that a normal home can't have increased Radon.

In the end, I settled on a good compromise. I have the home into the side of a hill, but about half of it is above ground. It has a walkout basement on the SE side. The exterior walls are Insulated Concrete Foam construction, with piling below the footing. Finished wall width is 12 inches, so in theory about an R-50 wall

Tripane Low E Argon windows throughout, made by Polar, a Canadian company. Tiny windows on the North side, no windows on the West side (Didn't want summer solar gain), big windows on the SE side to soak up that winter sun. Overhangs that keep most of the sun off the windows in hot summer

Ceilings are 6 inch SIP's, with 12 inches of Roxul mineral wool insulation above. In theory R value of +80.

Airtight woodstove in the basement, which very easily cooks the house on the coldest winter day. An airtight fireplace, made by Regency, in the living room for visual effect and additional heat. Actually too hot, have to open the door even at -30

Have a gas Bryant Evolution furnace and Evolution outdoor A/C. Wish I had gone with a geothermal heat pump system, neater and less hassle but 2x the installed cost.

Did good drainage, such as extra weeping tile and MS membranes, around the house perimeter. The sump box in the basement is almost always dry as a bone.

Water is from a diamond drilled well 90 ft, went through bedrock at 38 ft which is properly cased and cemented in. Water is good quality, no rust but it is hard water. The water softener is for convenience, not a necessity.

About the only trick would be to run the submersible water pump without power. Long term, perhaps a solar system, assuming it wasn't cooked by EMP or GIC. That would be the trick

Apparently, according to the water well company, drilling down about 400-800 ft into a different region would result in artesian water, so no pump required. That would be exotically expensive to do

If I do build another house, I think I would consider a properly engineered underground one, built into the side of a hill

 

The absolute worst storage conditions for ammo is extremely humid areas, say a back corner in a basement

 

I always enjoyed archery in High School. My Dad has a nice bow. Nothing fancy.

But I can see stocking up on arrows. And maybe adding a small crossbow.

I was also pretty good at fencing in college. I've taken a few classes. A sword is no good against a gun. But it can be effective against a knive. (Of course, the best is to use a sword and parrying dagger. Best of both worlds)

So if I can live long enough for the ammo to run out......

 

Nice shack! Mine is an older home I didn't build, it's pretty solid. Good windows, added insulation, but a bear to heat and cool.

If I do one from scratch it would be on an other piece of land. I would like to do the prestressed concrete sandwich, vestibules on the doors going out and some of the features you mentioned.

Keep my ammo cool.

 

Bad things happen when you bring a knife to a gun fight! But I think you could handle your self!

 

Not much snow in San Diego. Water can be drained away.

We don't have a Radon problem either.

But we do have termites. I too was thinking of the styrofoam forms filled with cement. (Bob Vila did a show in Florida on them).

I like the idea of both artesian and heat pump. If you're looking really long term. The one thing I didn't get that I wanted when I bought my current home is a fireplace.

I've patiently waited for a lot of things. I wanted to put a tankless water heater in over a decade ago, but couldn't find a local plumber willing to do the install. I put one in last summer. I waited on PV. I waited on the dishwasher. When I moved in there was no such thing as an 18" dishwasher (in the U.S.) There is now. I'm patient. All things come etc. But I'm also realistic. Short of winning big in the lottery, I'll never have the money to build a "dream" home in a "dream spot" with the anticipated future of the U.S. in mind.

I've followed a lot of the advances in home construction. But in the end....I just don't have the money for such a project. Even if I sold everything I owned to buy the land, hire the architect, contractor and got it built....where would I live in the years the construction was going on? With my parents? I'd be dead or in prison before it was completed.