Shelter
Survival Shelters
Many of the emergency situations discussed here on offthegridsurvival.com are emergency situations because they can attack the home. Your shelter might be the only place you have to protect yourself from what ever situation you might be facing and depending on the emergency situation there are different types of shelters that work better for each particular situation. Some of the shelters we discuss you can build yourself quickly, some of these you need to build in advance or even hire someone to help you build the structure.
There isn’t a whole lot of advice we can give you if you home is destroyed to help you. There are obvious solutions like go stay with friends or family. If you have none, many times in emergency situations or natural disasters there will be emergency crews who will provide you with a place to stay. I would prefer not to rely on the govt. to help me so I would stay in a hotel or apartment. (In all honestly unless they forced me to leave I would camp in my yard but I wouldn’t ask me family to do that.)
Shelter is one of our primary and often last defenses in most emergency situations. In most emergency situations proper shelter is all you and your family need to survive. Here we will discuss the various shelters for the various survival situations.
Underground Bunkers
This a a great camouflage underground bunker. This type of bunker provides the best type of protection from just about every type of crisis or emergency situation you and your family might encounter. It can protect you from just about every man made attack from Nuclear to Biological attacks and mother nature can't lay a finger on you here. I found the photo of this under ground bunker at Undergroundshelter.net you can find several photos of a custom made bunkers being built. The website owners claim to do "survival bunker construction management." I don't know if that means they build it or hire the group to do it but if you are interested they have contact info at their website. There are more pictures of the underground survival bunker you see to the right. (I didn't want to take all their pics.) If you are looking to take life totally "off the grid" or if you want something as environmentally friendly and safe and secure as possible there is also a great looking "Hobbit House" for your viewing enjoyment. There is also an underground multi unit survival center if you want to build a shelter for the whole neighborhood. (make sure you get enough survival food.)
These survival shelters "are specifically designed and developed to protect people during and after disasters such as tornadoes, forest fires, power failures, nuclear power plant accidents, nuclear/chemical terrorism, and full scale protracted nuclear, chemical and biological warfare." They have survival shelters of every size. If you are building a an underground bunker or shelter for your office, your home or your entire family of block they have the size you need. They have disaster shelters that can fit underground in your back yard or the much larger "survival condos." The survival condos provide short term shelter for dozens of people and long term survival if you decide to keep all the space food, and equipment for yourself. Radius Engineering International, who makes these shelters to include battery banks and underground self contained power plants. These safety shelters include air purifiers, pumps and all the protection one's family might need in any survival situation. What I like best about these types of shelters are the fact that they are so large. It won't feel like living in an underground can. The only thing missing from these under ground survival shelters are the windows. The types of shelters that most of us might be interested in start at about 100k but can obviously go as high as you are willing to spend. Their website provides shelter pricing and contact info if you are interested in providing the ultimate in protection for your family and loved ones. They have various levels of comfort for their shelters so make sure you check out the entire site and don't miss the Ethos Triple Community. This whole site is worth exploring...
Utah Survival Shelters specializes in NBC (Nuke, Biological and Chemical.) underground shelters. (Inside view seen to the left.) These bunkers will protect you and your family from just about anything from earthquakes to severe weather to nukes attacks and everything in between. These survival shelters can be equipped with everything from protection from EMP, to batteries, communications equipment and even toilets! Individual units can put together to make larger survival complexes or survival condos. Their website is a wealth of information about survival needs from how much food and water you should store to recommendations of maximizing storage space and recommendations on generators.
These survival shelters are meant to be purchase as turnkey solutions meaning everything you need to survive just about any situation is included with your survival shelter. (except water and food. although I'm sure they would be more than to recommend supplier.) The shelters come with blast doors, a chemical toilet, sleeping bunks, gas filter etc. You can go check out their website if you would like to see all the equipment that is included in this under ground survival shelter.
I would love to see some interior pics of this survival bunker b/c if it's anything like the mock-ups then it's definitely survival in luxury. These NBC survival shelters would actually make a great ad on or man cave if they really are as cool as they look in the pictures. The VARIOSAFE Security and Rescue System is the Caddy of survival shelters. The shelter designers thought of everything here to even include a observation area so the survivors can view the outside environment without having to leave the safety of the underground bunker. They have three different safety modules that can be interlocked together for whatever design you might have in mind. Even though these bunkers look nice doesn't mean they aren't tough. They come with blast doors, chemical filters, and all the equipment needed to survive the worst disaster. These modular designs work great for mixing and matching and creating the best combo or even adding additional option to your survival bunker later. Like most of the other underground survival bunkers VARIOSAFES come as a turnkey solution so from day 1 these shelters are designed to provide you and your family with long term survival solution for 48 to 280 days before needing additional supplies.
BunkerBuilders has been been building hardened bunker capable of with standing CBRE (Chemical, Biological, Radioactivity and Explosion.) the only problem is they need to add a letter because the under ground hardened bunkers are also capable of with standing anything mother nature can throw at you as well such as earth quakes and violent weather. Bunker Builders seem to be partners with hardenedstructures.com which specializes in fortified structures or home concepts. so you know combined they can build you not only a safe harden bunker but one that is easy to protect as well. One of the thing we like about this company is they also under stand the importance of discretion. They include "client confidentiality, covert construction and clandestine construction. These things are very important in protect yourself and your family from those who didn't prepare. Did you stock enough supplies for the whole block? Hopefully you never have to make this decision but would you pick them or your family and your own life? Your safety preparations best kept a secret. You never know other peoples motives or agendas. I digress... Combined these two look like they could build the next Fort Knox. Check out their website for any additional info.
If you are looking for something larger and a little more sinister then you need to check out these Deep Underground Military Bunkers (D.U.M.B.S.)
Safe Rooms and Storm Shelters
I wasn't sure if I should put this company in the Under Ground Bunker Section or in the Safe Room and Storm Shelters section. In my mind the difference between and underground bunker and a storm shelter comes down to size and different types of supplies that you might keep in side. That's not a text book definition but it is why I decided to put Storm and Tornado Shelters of Texas here. They have two different types of materials they use to make underground shelters, one storm shelter is made of steel and the other shelter is made of fiber glass. They also have the ability to put your shelter in your garage so that the entrance sits behind the cars so that entering the storm shelter is quick, easy and you stay safe while doing it. I am not sure how I feel about the shelters in the garage because what if debris falls on top of the door? I am sure they have a solution to that though. I also imagine you could use the shelters in storage during the seasons when violent weather is not a threat. If you live in Tornado Alley and want to provide protect for you and your family, this is the life insurance you need...
If you are building a home and want to add a safe room during construction, these guys would be great to talk to as well.
To the left here we have pictures of SAFE-T-SHELTERS various...well um...safety shelters. They have a below ground storm shelter that looks like a little pod but during an emergency can provide protection for 8 - 10 people. The long half tube picture you see is a community shelter that is great for communities, schools or offices. According to their website these community shelters can hold anywhere from 48-96 people. All shelters are designed and built to FEMA 361 standards.
The third picture in shown is of a safe room that can be added during or after construction of a home. This safe room can protect you from everything from severe weather to intruders and even act as a safe for your valuables. These rooms are great for those who might not be mobile enough to make it down a ladder a bunch of steep steps into and underground bunker. If you or someone is handicapped or a little less agile than they would like to be then this is a great way to provide protection for them from whatever dangers life may throw at you.
Located in my favorite state and smack dab in the middle of tornado alley Hausner Inc, Storm Shelters and Safe rooms has both steal and concrete safe rooms. To the left you see one of their finished underground storm shelters with a slopped front and air vent, Not only do they offer concrete and steel safe rooms but they also have above and below ground shelters. There is a debate about which is better, steel safe rooms or concrete safe rooms. I really think it depends on your situation. They are both built to very high safety standards but I bet a steel room is easier to install on an existing home and concrete might be nice with a new home because you could integrate the design into your home. If you are in or around Oklahoma and need protection from the violent weather and tornadoes, Hausner Inc, provides a simple way for you to get an estimate and their advice.
Here are some great pictures of other people's bunkers and the supplies they decided to stockpile. Great survival pictures...
Home Sheltering
In an emergency situation most people's last defense will be there home. In some situations like hurricanes, fires or even times of armed conflict or civil unrest it is better to desert the home. However in some cases it just doesn't happen and we have to bunker down in our homes. The best thing about having to bunker down in our homes is we have as much supplies as we decided to stock pile.
The first and best defense is doing things like using brick rather than wood to protect against high winds and this will also help in some cases in fires. Planting bushes with thorns under and around windows is a great way to keep unwanted intruders out. Each geographic area is going to present different challenges. You need to assess the situations that might affect your area and then make a plan. Do you live in an area where you are worried about violent weather such as Hurricanes or Tornadoes is so maybe investing in a safe room is the right solution for you.
There are several types of safe rooms for your home. You can hire someone to build one for you or you can identify a room at the center of the house preferably with no windows or large heavy items and use that as your "bunker or fallout room". If you don't have a professional constructed safe room then the next best rooms are located at the center of the house, under the stairs, or if you have a basement that will work wonderfully as well. In many cases in violent weather it is the flying debris that kills.
If you are trying to keep you and your family safe from intruders, besides the obvious things like alarms and bars on the windows, there are things you can do to help ensure people stay away from you and your family. I know I keep saying it but the best way to survive a confrontation is to avoid it all together. There is a ton of unused space in our homes. There is space behind drawers, cupboards and even in ceilings and between walls. If you are looking to hide stuff or even you and your family there are a ton of creative ways to do it. If something were to happen and you were forced to bunker down in your home you need to make sure you have the needed supplied so that you home remains your shelter and doesn't become your tomb.
In any home sheltering situation you are going to need some things like water and food regardless of what the situation is. That's the one nice thing about preparing for emergency situations is once you have the gear for one situation it is usually helpful in other emergency situations.
Constructing your own Survival Shelters
If you don't have money to get the super duper luxury underground bunker don't think that that you are out of luck. You can make your own bunker or survival shelter with little money and lots of hard work. I bet if there were several people whop needed a bunker you could take turns helping each other and building them at each others house.
Below is a Basement Fallout Shelter Blueprint which you can print off or scan through or do what ever. I am not the handy dandy kinda guy but I bet iIcould figure it out if iI thought there might be a nuke attack right around the corner.