I’ve been looking into the idea of fortifying my home for preparation of future events. Ideally, some basic fortifications coupled with a hiding would be ideal. As for basic fortifications, I’ve been looking into some ways to beef up my home in ways such as more heavy duty windows, more sturdy door frames, perimeter fencing, etc.
Additionally, I would ideally like to add some sort of hidden room to store items. Unfortunately, living in Florida, I don’t have a basement. If I had a basement, I would probably do my best to create a false wall / hidden room where I could store supplies and potentially hide-out should a catastrophic event occur that would lead to social unrest. Without a basement, it’s tough to find space to create such a space.
The reality is that no matter how well you fortify your home, if enough people want to get in, they’ll be able to which is why a combination of fortifications plus a hidden room might be a good idea. Other than that, you might have to consider the option of bugging out. For me, living in a suburb with hundreds of homes around me, it looks like I’m stuck owning firearms for basic protections and being prepared to get out of dodge should the circumstances call for it.
What do you think about fortifying your home? What have you done?
Your Home
For those of us who live in the city or in the suburbs, it might be a challenge finding space to store large quantities of goods or supplies. For those of us who live in places like Florida, the situation is worse since we don’t have basements here.
I’ve worked hard to clear out my garage and get organized in that space, but the problem is with Florida heat and humidity, the garage is simply an unsuitable place for much of what I’m looking to store. With a house that is for the most part full, locating climate controlled space for storage in my house is tough.
My strategy has been to maximize my closet space. What I’ve noticed in homes like mine (suburb community / built in 2005) is that the closets often have fairly high ceiling with one single shelf around the closet about halfway between the floor and ceiling (normal height for shelf / hanging clothes). I noticed that there was plenty of room to add another shelf halfway between the shelf and the ceiling. Each shelf has at least two to three feet of space above it (I don’t have exact measurements). The result is a completely separate shelf above everything else in several of my closets.
Getting items to and from the top shelf requires a step stool for me (I’m 6 ft. tall), but since this is long term storage / items you don’t need on a daily basis, moving a stop stool in when you need to is not a big deal.
I’ve started accumulating some buckets of dried food with 20-25 years of shelf life and putting them on these upper shelves. This food storage location is working out great. If you’re using standard wire shelving, be sure to anchor it well as these buckets of food are fairly heavy and you don’t want your shelf crashing down on you.
Food Preparation, Your Home
