Hardening Your Home
When it comes to hardening your home, it all depends upon who or what you are
hardening it against – and under what circumstances. During civilized times, it
is difficult to justify preparing your home against a full-on onslaught by
determined and experienced forces. Attempting to do so without some easily
explainable, logical reason would undoubtedly raise suspicion that you may be
running some kind of illegal enterprise. This may draw exactly the kind of
attention you don't want.
Unfortunately, hardening your house after TSHTF may result in less than optimum
protection. Unless you plan now, and stockpile supplies for the task, you will
be sidetracked by too many other concerns, and hampered by too few resources, to
do the job right. A hasty defense can be affective, but it is never the best.
We won't cover the "every-man" options of lights, alarms, and other subjects
that are found on the internet. A simple Google search using the term "harden
your home against invasion" will provide all of that. Much of the advice they
give is fine and practical during civilized times - when you might expect a
police response sometime in the next hour or two – but absolutely worthless if
it's just you and the people trying to get at you. When there is no expectation
of a cavalry rescue, you have to make your own stand and hope that it's not your
last.
Is it worth the bother?
To hold and keep a position you need enough people to cover all avenues of
approach and enough weapons, ammo, food, water, and medical supplies to keep
them going until after the siege is over. To cover a standard box home you need
at the very least, 4 shooters. Two or three times that number would be better –
enabling a watch rotation, food preparation, medical treatment and reloading.
Anything less than this and you had better think about abandoning your home at
the first available chance. If you can get two or three neighbors together and
all pitch in to prepare the most defensible home, you might stand a chance. If
you have more resources, you might prepare two or three homes capable of
covering each other – which would be a serious psychological blow to any
attacker after the opening volley.
Something to Consider
One would think that any group of renegades, finding a well defended and well
protected (reinforced) victim willing to battle it out, would simply move on to
an easier target. They might, in which case you will have a moment or two to
breath easy. But a well defended property would also seem to indicate something
of value within which is being protected. To you, and in reality, it may just be
you and your family fighting to survive. To the renegades, however, it will
build up in their heads until they imagine all the riches of the earth are
contained behind your walls. You can bet that they will come back when they have
finished mopping up the soft targets. In the meantime, they will be devising
methods to breach your defenses. Unless you are prepared and capable of fending
off repeated attacks, you may have to resign yourself to evacuating the
premises.
Modern cookie-cutter (and even most designer homes) are not built to repulse
attacks. They are flimsy structures despite building codes and safety or
environmental concerns. Most offer little or no protection against firearms,
explosives, firebombs, battering rams or having a throw-away vehicle driven into
the side of the house. Unless your home is made of reinforced concrete and
steel, you have your work cut out for you. A standard frame house can be
breached in minutes by even the dullest – yet determined – renegade if there are
no worries about an overwhelming response by the law or some other protective
force.
The DoD manual "UFC 4-023-07 Design to Resist Direct Fire Weapons Effects"
contains the ultimate design guidance for small arms to small rocket protective
measures – if you are a small country, own a concrete company, or have plenty of
cash to spread around. If you are like me, then you are going to have to pound
sand – literally.
This 67 page manual should be downloaded, as it contains much information that
can be put to use – even if you do not have the resources to follow the
construction guidelines found therein. If you are building your own house, you
might consider concrete – at least for the lower levels – and along the outlines
given in this manual. Either way, there is much to be gleaned inside.
I have placed it in the group files, but it may also be downloaded directly
from:
It has been proven through ballistic testing that a mere six
inches of sand is sufficient to stop all handgun rounds and most rifle rounds,
although a .50 caliber round will penetrate up to 18 inches. While it is
unlikely that a band of brigands are going to be in possession of a .50 caliber
weapon, it is not impossible, and I wouldn't want to bet my life on the fact
that they don't. First rule in survival – if you are going to do something, do
it right, and do it right the first time – you may not get a second chance.
For existing homes or structures
It would be ridiculous to attempt to retrofit a home during normal times against
rockets and shaped charges. Small arms up to .50 caliber, however, is something
that can be reasonably handled. To harden a home you have to examine its
strengths and weaknesses, building on the former and negating or eliminating the
later. At the same time, the house must remain livable.
What you want is a defensible position that is not going to allow penetration of
small caliber rounds, nor collapse upon you through degradation of the
structural supports. Shoring up interior walls to make them load-bearing would
be ideal, but it makes a mess unless you are starting from scratch – and is
expensive. If you anticipate a large amount of incoming fire, you may want to
consider building hasty "triangles of safety" around each interior defensive
position. This can be made with simple lumber frames placed on either side of a
position, secured to wall and floor and then braced together. You might simply
move furniture against the wall (tables chairs, couches, etc.) to either side of
the position. Alternatively, you might have on hand a number of steel pump
jacks, often used in basements to support I-Beams. One at each corner and every
12 feet between, along the support wall and centered beneath support beams,
should be sufficient.
Exterior Walls
If you have the time and money, building exterior barriers and walls is ideal.
Slip-forming a concrete and stone wall 18-24 inches in front of your existing
exterior (measured from outside face to outside face) up to the midpoint of
ground floor windows (leaving the windows themselves exposed) would be ideal.
Then, with the wall in place, strip the siding from your exterior wall, add
vapor barrier and foam insulation, and spray with sealant used for basement
walls and foundations. Brace the outside of the slip-form wall to keep it level,
then backfill the area between the two walls with tamped soil or sand mixed with
dry readicrete. Be sure to tamp it down well. The addition of readicrete and
good tamping will help ensure that degradation by multiple impacts will be
minimized.
Properly constructed, this barrier will stop all small-arms fire and give you an
interior safe zone of 3-4 feet (height) inside your home. You may have to
crouch, when under attack, but unless they can gain a significant height
advantage (shooting down into your home) even the center of your living space
will be relatively protected. In addition, this wall will deter any attempts at
crash breaching. You won't have to prepare hasty interior positions and you will
have improved the r-value of your home.
Keep in mind that you will have to make allowances for moving or extending any
exterior outlets or plumbing, and may need to reposition or build around gas,
water or electrical meters. This, however, should not pose any significant
difficulties.
The fill area should be protected and allowed to settle before capping it with a
layer of concrete to prevent trapping water between your home and the barrier.
Once settling has stopped, a thin layer of concrete should be sufficient. The
top of the wall would make a nice place to build flower boxes.
Where the wall dips to provide access for windows, it is best to feather it
outwards at a 45 degree angle on each side to open up your sector when firing
from windows. It is not advisable to make this feathering any greater, as it
will reduce the protection the wall provides to your firing position.
Hasty (interior) Wall Defense
If your house if faced with brick or stone veneer, you may be tempted to
discount building the barrier wall (above) and believe that a hasty interior
defense will suffice. This type of defense may stop small-arms fire, to an
extent, but is highly susceptible to degradation from repeated impact, as well
as profuse spalling upon penetration. ("Spalling" is the explosive diffusion of
shrapnel into an interior space accompanying impact upon the exterior surface,
whether there is penetration or not.) The hasty defense provides zero protection
from crash breaching attempts.
The hasty defense is constructed by lining the walls with 18-36 inches of
sandbags against the interior of all exterior walls, with a wide base tapering
upwards to the 18 inch upper level, which should come to about 3-4 feet in
height. This is going to seriously disrupt your interior decoration. Narrow
halls or passageways will have to be left a bit thin – just don't spend too much
time traversing that area during a firefight.
Aside from the seriously compromised level of protection, the hasty defense
presents two additional problems. First, you need a pretty hefty supply of
sandbags, and second, you need the material to fill them. I suppose you could
dig up the yard for fill, but have you ever tried that? That's a lot of back
breaking labor. Still, if it's all you have, then that's what you'll have to run
with. A rototiller would make things much easier, if you can spare the fuel.
Otherwise you will need a pick-axe and shovels.
Spall Curtain
Both wall systems will benefit from hanging spall curtains about 4 inches from
the interior of the exterior wall, from the ceiling to about 3 feet off the
floor. You will want to keep them damp-to-wet to minimize the possibility of
fire and increase the stopping power of the material. Sheets of leather would be
best, but anything from curtains to bedspreads to strips of carpeting or
upholstery should work. As a last resort, wet sheets and blankets may be
doubled. It will take some imagination to figure out how to hang these so that
they don't keep falling. I would suggest something along the line of eye-bolt or
HD Hooks anchored into the ceiling beams, strung with clothesline, and the
sheeting attached with clothespins or spot stitching. All firing positions
should be equipped with a fire extinguisher, protected against incidental
rounds.
Attached Garages
Attached garages are just as convenient for the bad guys as they are for the
homeowner. Drive a rig into (through the door) the garage, and there is a nice
soft door and nothing but drywall or fire board between the garage and adjacent
interior rooms. In a defensive position, you should have a vehicle or vehicles
in the garage and backed right up against the garage door. Chock the wheels and
let a little air out of the tires so that more weight rests upon the chock.
Sandbag the walls that are shred with the garage and cut firing holes in them.
These walls will be the weakest spot in your perimeter after the doors and
windows are treated. If the bad guys get into your garage, you are in seriously
bad doo-doo.
One possible defense against infiltration through the garage would be to fill in
all available space with spiky, spindly, slippery, angular, collapsible crap.
Having to wade through all that may discourage the bad guys. Then again, they
may just toss in some gasoline and a flame – but that would be risking the
imagined treasure inside the house as well. Still, you never know with those
types of people.
Upstairs/Attic Firing Positions
If you have enough personnel – and a two (or more) story home – or an attic
crawl space – you may be well suited to set up a firing position or two
upstairs. These should be u-shaped, centered around the firing hole, with an
additional layer of sandbags on the floor beneath the firing position, to keep
rounds from coming up through the floor and hitting the shooter. Having a
shooter on high ground – especially a good shot firing from a hidden hole rather
than through an obvious window – could so demoralize an attacking force that
they decide to withdraw. Being one or more stories above the action gives the
shooter a great advantage and severely limits available cover for the attackers.
Make sure that any sniper in an elevated position predetermines possible
counter-sniper positions that the enemy may use. If taking unusually accurate
fire from an angle that is not below the sniper, you have a counter-sniper at
large. Knowing the available positions beforehand allows your man (or woman) to
quickly scan for the bad guy and take them out.
Before you place a person upstairs, however, you must be able to cover all
avenues of approach from the ground level. If they get into the house, your
upstairs person is as good as dead. It's only a matter of time.
Doors and Windows
In a best case scenario, pre-event, you would have built your home or replaced
the original doors with solid-core steel doors (Including the back and
garage/side doors) set into steel frames. Of course, you probably haven't, in
which case you have to reinforce them even more, from the inside. This, in
essence means that you will be sealing yourself inside your home with no real
quick exit. That's okay as long as the place is not burning down on top of you.
You might want to have (and you should, in any case) one or more 4 foot steel
pry-bars handy, just in case.
Hasty Defense for Doors
First, Remove all of the interior molding from the doorway to create a smooth
transition from door to wall. Place a 2x4 (or larger) board with the wide face
down at the base of the door, on the floor, and slide it tight against the door.
If there is gap-filler keeping this board from butting tightly against the
bottom edge of the door, remove the filler. It is essential that this bottom
board fit snugly against the door. Using 4" wood screws, attach this board to
the floor. The board should extend at least four inches to beyond either side of
the door.
Now begin stacking and nailing additional 2x4's on top of this base board until
the entire doorway is covered. You can toe-nail the stack occasionally if it
starts to lean inward. Once the stack is completed, cut three 2x4's to use as
braces, cutting diagonally across the wide face so that the cut edge lays flat
against the door stack. All three braces should be the same length so that they
each brace the door at the same height, approximately ½ the distance between the
doorknob and the top of the door.
Now lay a horizontal board across the door above the tip of the three braces,
touching all three tips. Screw this board into the 2x4 stack to hold it securely
in place. Cut additional boards to fit snugly in the two spaces between the
three braces and screw them in tight, then cut two end pieces to place on either
(outer) side of the two outside braces. When done, all three braces should lay
snugly within upside-down u-shaped notches. Repeat this process at the other end
of the braces where they touch the floor.
Your door now has and extra 4 inches of wood and three solid braces to prevent
it from being battered down. It is still a weak spot in your defenses, but it is
better than it was. Even a solid-core steel door will benefit from this process.
Adding sandbags up to the same level as those lining the walls will keep your
safe-zone consistent, but will also make it much more difficult to evacuate,
should you need to.
Hasty Defense for Windows
Quarter inch steel plate, layered with fire board or insulating foam, cut to fit
inside each window would be ideal – resulting in a sandwich of 4-6 steel plates
separated by deflection gaps filled with less dense material – but that's A LOT
of steel and it would be difficult to install the heavy material. The
alternative is to use plywood sheets on the inside and outside face and fill the
gaps with sand or soil The inside sheet should be cut and placed so that there
is a 2-4" gap at the top, allowing defenders to add more fill material should
the windows take hits and begin to sift the fill out. Additional patching
material should be at hand to plug any holes before adding more fill.
You will have to remove the actual windows before treating the window spaces –
flying glass is no picnic. If you do not plan on replacing the window glass,
simply cover the inside of the window with a heavy tarp and bust them outward,
scattering the glass around your outside perimeter. This will make a nasty
hazard should any attacker get that close to your home.
Only bottom floor windows or accessible windows need to be treated this way.
Upper levels may simply be covered with cyclone fencing firmly attached to the
joists framing the window unit. This will keep any tossed objects (grenades,
pipe bombs, etc.) out of the house and – should the attackers manage to find a
ladder and access an upper level window, the time and effort to remove this
screen should allow you to repel them before they gain access.
Firing Positions
For creating firing positions within the home, and exterior defenses, I would
refer you to the following two military texts:
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