Hardening your Home

All that hard prepping work will be for nil if you are unable to adequately protect your homestead. Depending on your particular resources and current financial situation, there a number ways you can approach home security. Let’s take a look at three of them:

Safe room

A safe room, also known as a panic room (thanks to Jodie Foster), is a secure refuge within your home where you can hide during a home invasion, natural disaster or any other emergency situation. The easiest and most cost-effective way to create a safe room is to transform an existing room. You’ll want to choose an interior room, ideally without windows. Bathrooms are always well-suited for this function since they are pre-furnished with a toilet and running water.

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate room, you’ll want to replace the wooden door with the strongest, solid-core door (steel is optimal) you can afford. Once the door is installed, you’ll need to reinforce the door frame with a heavy metal doorjamb to help prevent any intruders from kicking the door open. Additionally, make sure to secure the door with a keyless Grade-1 deadbolt, which is the most durable lock as designated by the American National Standards Institute.

It’s also important to stock the safe room with basic survival supplies. This includes nonperishable food items (consider the kosher line of long-term storage foods mentioned by Josh on a previous post), a standard first-aid kit, a safe supply of water (one gallon per person per day, as recommended by the Red Cross), duct tape and most importantly, multiple communication devices.

Until the world as we know it comes to an end, it’s important to remember that a quality home alarm system should still be your first line of defense. You’ll find that today’s premier home security providers offer comprehensive protection for a price that most families can afford. ADT, for example, is currently advertising home monitoring for around $9 per week on their website. Check out http://www.securitychoice.com to learn more.

Firearm

Obviously, every prepper will need to put a lot of consideration into self-defense. If you choose to purchase a firearm, there are a number of options you can go with. Thus, it’s imperative that you carefully weigh all of your options. Handguns are the most obvious choice, given their size, convenience and ease of use. The .9mm, .45 ACP, .357 mag, .40 cal and .38 special are among the most popular self-defense handguns. Whatever handgun you choose, make sure you are thoroughly familiar with how to use it. Remember, a handgun can only be effective if the person firing it know what they’re doing.

Canine

Humans and canines have carried on a symbiotic relationship for centuries. There’s no reason that alliance can’t continue after TEOTWAWKI. From hunting to companionship, dogs can help us sustain livability in a number of ways. In terms of home security, dogs can typically sense danger long before us humans can. Not to mention, a good guard dog (i.e. German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman Pinscher) will oftentimes be intimidating enough to frighten off any would-be intruder.

If you do own a dog, keep in mind that you won’t be able to drive down to the local pet foods store during a doomsday scenario. You’ll have to prepare the food for your four-legged friend yourself, and, just like us humans, canines require a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals. Rice is always a good option because it’s sustainable, easy to digest and rich in carbohydrates. You’ll also want to include vegetables (green beans, carrots or peas) and meat (chicken, beef or tuna) in your dog’s daily meals.