First impressions

[NorthernRaider]

First impressions
© NR2013

You come round the corner and enter your street and you see your home among all the others in the street, doe’s it stand out? does it look different or out of place? If it does you need to act because if it looks different or interesting to you then it surely will after TSHTF to any scavengers and looters as well.

It should not look like a fort, it should not look as though its hiding something in fact it should in an ideal world look no different to any other house in the street, maybe you have different coloured front doors, different styles of windows but apart from that it should not advertise itself as something out of the ordinary.

But this is a preppers home and be default and design we are more aware of the threats to our wellbeing by our changing society, and we are also more security conscious so how can we balance out the two conflicting issues?

Starting from the roadside and working inwards we come to the edge of your property, not only would the council ban it, but it would look crazy to have for example barbed wire or a 2 meter high security fence facing the road when the rest of Arcadia Avenue has privet or lawn.

As a prepper you want better perimeter security but you also want to keep a low profile so along the front of your property plant vicious spiky, thorny plants like Berberis and Blackthorn, grow this to 4 or 5 feet high, but keep it neatly trimmed and this fencing will deter all but the most determined intruders. If your planning office allows fit a tall gate with all round frame of the type you see in many rural villages, but even if that is prohibited fit a 4 foot gate with quality locks and HD hinges (min 3 never 2) and there is nothing to stop you from mounting a full width plant holder on the inside of the gate with dwarf thorny plants to ensure the upper area of the entrance is equally protected.

Most houses are limited to 4 foot (ish) high boundary fences at the front of their properties, 5 foot along the side (increase legally with trellis) and 6 ft at the rear. But there is nothing normally in the rules to stop you planting a vicious thorny ornate hedgerow to replace the easily climbable fencing.

It is illegal in general to put a fence around an open plan fronted property, but there are no laws to stop you installing “” Temporary”” wire and posts to support young new ornate plants around the edge of your property ( again with the prickly thorny hedging with a few ornate evergreens interspersed to make it look normal and civilized.

Moving inside your property boundary it would look wrong and out of place to fit wind bars and steel grills to your doors and windows unless of course you live in parts of London etc where even the council fits such things to many properties especially in tower blocks. Though I see no reason why you cannot fit window bars or shutters to the sides or rear of your property especially if they are made to look ornate.

What is effective as a deterrent and improves security is self-adhesive laminating film fitted to the inside of your windows this can even be obtained with a semi reflective coating that makes it that much harder to see inside (but don’t go for the full mirror finish as this would look odd and out of place) All windows should be fitted with locks and in vulnerable places check arms to stop the window from being opened wide enough for someone to climb in or throw a petrol bomb in.

Fire proof or fire resistant curtains are available from companies that supply hotel chains, but also metal or wood window shutters can in the right location look normal and simply ornate whilst offering you a huge increase in privacy and security. Blackout blinds are now also available in ornate colours.

In many locations you could actually plant more thorny shrubs directly below vulnerable windows thus making it very difficult for intruders to be able to get access to it.

Microwave / Passive Infrared motion detectors are now very affordable and compact which can be placed outside to trigger a built in alarm if someone is detected by the device after dark. Don’t by the PIR only version as the amount of false alarms will drive you insane. These devices can be hidden in all sorts of low profile locations and are good for up to 30 feet.

Your front and rear doors really must be viewed as vulnerable as many are designed more in mind with keeping the weather out rather than intruders, indeed many doors even modern upvc doors are designed with kick out panels in the bottom half to allow easier access for fire fighters in an emergency. So you really need BS3621 door locks fitted to your timber or steel laminated front and back doors, equally you need solid steel and brass bearing mounted hinges fitting to them as well, a minimum of three hinges (preferably four) and the door frame must have more than the normal 2 or 3 brass screws securing the frame to the brickwork, it needs at least 2 to 3 inch long coated steel screws or bolts fastening the frame into the brickwork.

UPVC doors will need modifying generally because though most have multi point locking mechanisms they are often fitted with kick out panels. I have friends in Teesside who used white powder coated coach bolts (the things with a smooth round head) to secure two or three white powder coated steel bars across the lower half of the door to prevent any panels from being kicked in. The door frames were secured straight into the brickwork with rebated or countersunk rawl-bolts or zinc passivized steel screws.

Letter boxes to be screwed shut after TSHTF and don’t forget to padlock the utility cupboard doors if you have external utility cupboards.

Don’t forget your garage doors as many are built from very thin steel or aluminium sheeting and only kept secure with a single flimsy lock holding a maximum of one or two catches in place. You need to fit extra steel bolts either side of an up and over door or extra bolts / padlocks and hasps to center opening doors. Also consider bolting or riveting extra stiffening bars to the inside of the door itself to make it harder to pry open. But don’t overdo the job so that the doors opening mechanism can no longer support the weight of the door itself.

When it’s time for me to replace my doors again I think I shall choose the wood effect steel laminated over wood doors as they are far more resilient than ordinary wood doors or UPVC doors

Wood / Coal heating and cooking stoves, at the moment burn what you will to do the job but as soon as TSHTF burn only very very dry timber and smokeless fuels, don’t advertise your presence to the entire estate with the smell of burning pine or coal.

Radio antennas whilst desperately useful after TSHTF to stay in touch with other preppers you really don’t want a bloody great big antenna or aerial sticking up in your back garden or towering above your roofline that is going to attract curious eyes, where possible conceal your antennas by mounting them in the loft or hiding them among the trees in your garden, or running them along the eaves of your house.

Water butts, gas bottles, jerry cans,log piles etc keep them out of sight, not so worried these days about solar panels as there are millions of them fitted to hundreds of thousands of roofs these days, but again if the geography allows keep your micro wind turbines and your livestock out of sight from the roadway.

Timber garden sheds, quite a few preppers store some of our gear in sheds in the garden, and though often padlocked the typical british garden shed has quite thin and vulnerable walls and roof, you can make sure if you buy a new shed that it’s the thickest tongue and groove type you can afford, not shiplap construction which is easy to pry open. Most sheds come with two hinges so fit a third and don’t secure it with only screws, use coach bolts. The lock often only fastens into a timber cutout in the frame you can re-enforce this with perforated steel bar from places like B & Q. And to make it much noisier and harder for intruders to just pry the panels off the side of the shed you can fasten HD zinc coated chicken wire both inside and outside ( if you wish) of the shed walls.

In summary think hard about making your home more secure and prepper friendly, but do your best to ensure that when viewed from the street it looks just as boring and uninteresting as everyone else’s, after TSHTF not being noticed is going to be your first and best line of defence.

[Grumpy Grandpa]

Great post NR, makes me wish I owned instead of renting. Still, a lot of what you say will still be applicable. Thanks.

[The Ragman]

Great advice and good ideas....thanks for sharing :-)

[Jonas]

Excellent post!

[Scythe13]

Good post.

One word of caution.

Some councils have banned certain plants being used in front gardens that open directly onto a pavement. Thorny plants that cause injury to a person are considered the fault of the home owner. So you could be in court for planting the wrong things roadside. Check the councils' regulations in your area.

[MaryN]

Great post, NR. I've thought about this, and, perversely, I've decided to be a little beacon! There is no way we can look unobtrusive - the locals in this little community call this place The Big 'Ouse! We are already visited regularly by neighbours for help and assistance with various things, and there is no way I would suddenly shut down my neighbours, even in a crisis! There are young kiddies here and I couldn't live with myself seeing them in difficulties.

So, having decided on that, I shall be attempting to get the locals on my side. We have a lot of skills in this little community, and if we banded together we would probably be o.k. There is also land all around us and water in dykes and rivers - it would just need organisation. One or two households might be troublesome, but I'm sure they could be kicked into touch if necessary.

So, shining brightly into the darkness, I shall hold my breath and hope nothing horrible happens.....

[Highlander]

Mary, I wish you all the luck in the world, its a good idea, and would be good for the whole community if you could get them on side,...let us know how you go about it when you do,.. and how it all goes,... maybe we can all learn a bit from this