Emergency Preparation

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by East Texas It needs to be heat-proof also. It's the heat that ruins documents / electronic media / pictures in a safe.

A cheap way to do this is to build a drywall box all the way around the safe. It doesn't need to be pretty or burglar-proof, but it should be at least an inch thick (more is better, use several thicknesses of standard 1/2" or 5/8" drywall, and reinforce the edges so it doesn't come apart as the material heats and distorts. The fireproof caulk used for fireplaces is a good glue for this project, backed up with screws). Drywall is cheap--less than $10 for a 4'x8' sheet. It will help protect your documents from heat in three ways:
1) It will not burn, so it will help block your safe from the radiant heat of other burning stuff in your house.
2) It is heavy, and has a high heat capacity, so it will heat up rather slowly.
3) Most important: It has a lot of water trapped in the gypsum. The material can't exceed 212deg F until all of this water boils out, which helps buy time.

If you bought an expensive fireproof safe or file cabinet, it would have gypsum in the walls.

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever Photos, please--I need a happy, four-footed clown fix today .

Let me see what I can get out of DW, as she is the photo jockey. In the meantime a puppy pic or two:

[Bestwifeever]

You just made my day, Brewer--those are such sweetie pies (and look at Porter being such a good sport with the young'uns).

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever You just made my day, Brewer--those are such sweetie pies (and look at Porter being such a good sport with the young'uns).

He was really sweet with the pups. Showed them the ropes and made it clear he was boss, but always very gentle with them.

The beagle is now 30# and extremely muscular (from wrestling above her weight class all day). The Plott hound is 50# and tall enough to table-surf.

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude I predict Wisconsin will have a HUGE influx of refugees if there is a big natural disaster, that is, if anyone can find us on a map..........

Now THAT would be a disaster

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 He was really sweet with the pups. Showed them the ropes and made it clear he was boss, but always very gentle with them. The beagle is now 30# and extremely muscular (from wrestling above her weight class all day). The Plott hound is 50# and tall enough to table-surf.

The Plott has a gorgeous coat--will he/she get bigger?

[East Texas]

I see the beagle is on the bed which is on the crate. Is the pup in time-out? BTW, kudos for crate training.

[East Texas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem A cheap way to do this is to build a drywall box all the way around the safe. It doesn't need to be pretty or burglar-proof, but it should be at least an inch thick (more is better, use several thicknesses of standard 1/2" or 5/8" drywall, and reinforce the edges so it doesn't come apart as the material heats and distorts. The fireproof caulk used for fireplaces is a good glue for this project, backed up with screws). Drywall is cheap--less than $10 for a 4'x8' sheet. It will help protect your documents from heat in three ways: 1) It will not burn, so it will help block your safe from the radiant heat of other burning stuff in your house. 2) It is heavy, and has a high heat capacity, so it will heat up rather slowly. 3) Most important: It has a lot of water trapped in the gypsum. The material can't exceed 212deg F until all of this water boils out, which helps buy time. If you bought an expensive fireproof safe or file cabinet, it would have gypsum in the walls.

Good idea. How would you put a door on this? I would think thin metal hinges would melt. What kind of latch / closure would hold up to heat?

[brewer12345]

Heh, she hopped up there with a stolen bone that she and Copper were squabbling over. Definately not a typical pose for her. She was fully crate trained, but now sleeps with my eldest daughter.

Mr. Plott might get another inch taller and we think he will go from his current 50 to about 60 pounds. Hard to imagine him attacking a bear until you see his teeth, but he is a really gentle boy.

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telly I have been thinking of Emergency Preparation plans for years, but haven't implemented any yet. I started with Plan Preparation A, which was replaced by Preparation B, etc. After reading this thread, I think I'm ready to start the 8th preparation plan.

ahhhh...that would be Preparation H.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by East Texas Good idea. How would you put a door on this? I would think thin metal hinges would melt. What kind of latch / closure would hold up to heat?

Yes, steel outside the drywall would be subject to melting. One could use high-temp steel hinges (Inconel= $$) and put it on the outside, or use hinges that fit entirely internal (e.g European-style concealed hinges). The simplest approach is to just make a hatch/panel that clips into place using spring catches--all on the inside.

BTW: If functionality and "quick" is more important than looks, aluminum foil tape works well for dressing the edges of the drywall sheets for a project like this. AL foil stuck on the outside of the whole box will help reflect radiant heat, and AL foil on the inside of the box (if not in contact with the safe inside) will provide a low emissivity surface. All of this may buy a few additional minutes of safety for the contents.

[FinanceGeek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum My brother is a Mormon, and he says the church instructs them to can and stockpile goods to survive 6 or 12 months.

IANAM, but I know several families who do this. Some do it ad-hoc, by buying extra groceries from time to time. But there are a number of companies that serve this market, it turns out to be quite inexpensive to purchase 1 year supply of food (scale quantity for each family member) from them. The packaging of these kits is reasonably compact and time tested. No refrigeration required. The kit shelf lives run 10+ years. You do have to store a lot of water, cooking oil, etc. to reconstitute the food and obviously must have fuel to cook with.

Start with a google search of "1 year food kit", etc. I don't believe you have to demonstrate LDS membership to order these kits

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Basic supplies already on the RV and we keep it full of fuel.

I do not keep my RV tank full, as I am afraid that the gas will go stale, even though I do add Sta-Bil (a gas additive) when I do not think I will drive it for a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 It would be a long walk all the way from TX to NJ. If the scorpions and rattlesnakes did not get you, the refinery waste and radioactive dumps would.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 How so? Reasonable preparations for 3 days to a week with no services after a disaster don't seem like tinfoil hat territory. It takes that long for the gubmint to get it together and start sorting out the mess.

Why would anyone need any preparation for that short amount of time? My wife always chokes up our two refrigerators with food, so that the freezer compartments alone will keep us fed for two weeks or more. Granted, we will finally eat that freezer-burnt meat in the back of the freezers, but hey, beggars cannot be choosy, right? And then, our pantry is always overflowing with canned goods that my wife bought on sales.

Yeah, a little disaster is what we need to clear all that food out. As for water, our swimming pool has 25,000 gallons of nicely chlorinated water for consumption .

The only problem is if this happens in the summer and power is out (it would not be a disaster without water and power outage, right?), people would be dropping like flies in the 120-deg heat. It would not be pretty.

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

I laugh politely about people who say they prepare for the worst but have a sliding glass door next to where bricks border their flowers.

If you want to have a laugh, even if an uneasy laugh read the zombie survival guide.

If your home will not survive a couple brain dead slow moving zombies, how could it survive a brain addled addict? Sounds tin foil hattish but I upgraded a few things and secured some windows and doors.

Was particularly gratifying to make my garage side access door kick resistant and see a big old boot foot print in the middle of my unmoved door a few weeks later. Apparently when the throbbing subsided he kicked in my neighbors garage access door.

[East Texas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceGeek IANAM, but I know several families who do this. Some do it ad-hoc, by buying extra groceries from time to time. But there are a number of companies that serve this market, it turns out to be quite inexpensive to purchase 1 year supply of food (scale quantity for each family member) from them. The packaging of these kits is reasonably compact and time tested. No refrigeration required. The kit shelf lives run 10+ years. You do have to store a lot of water, cooking oil, etc. to reconstitute the food and obviously must have fuel to cook with. Start with a google search of "1 year food kit", etc. I don't believe you have to demonstrate LDS membership to order these kits

The problem with the red bolded statement is this food is not in your normal diet. Even though the kits may contain food you sometimes eat, it is not prepared (e.g. lots of salt) as you would normally prepare it. One of the worst things you can do during an event is to suddenly change your diet. Not only are you dealing with the stress of the event, your body is stressing over a change in food. This is one of those times you needed to have stocked up on toilet paper.

Everything we have in our long-term storage is a normal part of our pantry - just more of it. For instance, we buy most of our long-term storage from Honeyville Grains. We buy cases of rice, milk, beans, dehydrated/freeze-dried veggies, meat, wheat berries, etc. All of that food is incorporated into our regular meals. We signed up for the email alerts so we are notified of sales. About once a year they have a 15% off and that's when I do my bulk ordering. The discount does not apply to their flat $4.49 shipping costs.

Long-term storage is not just food. You need sanitary supplies, first aid supplies, clothes / bath soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes - anything you use on a regular basis. The easiest way to do this is to keep your grocery lists and see how much you use of what item.

The most likely problem you face today is not the Armageddon, tornadoes, ice storms, nuclear accidents, etc. It's identity theft. I'm sure some of you have subscriptions to monitoring services. They're all after-the-fact notifications. The ID theft has already occurred. You may be "insured" for some sum of money if your identity is stolen. This is where you need to read the fine print. If your identity is stolen, it's up to you to do all the paperwork. It could take you years to clear your name. In the meantime you'll discover the bad credit (although it really wasn't your fault) has permeated every aspect your life. Fraud alerts really don't protect you, even though they should. You need to seriously consider a credit freeze.

State Security Freeze Laws

[Telly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI ahhhh...that would be Preparation H.

Well I'm glad somebody got it!

[Coach]

Nothing extensive -- just a 3 day kit from Red Cross, some bottled water and whatever is in the house at the time.

Coach

[DJRR]

Started thinking about it after a few major storms that knocked out power for days for some and one that knocked out the Municipal pumping station for the weekend.

Ended up getting:

10-15 gallons of water, besides normal liquids in pantry
extra canned goods to supplement the pantry (also a crank can opener )
4 Coleman laterns and batteries, one has a crank generator
NOAA radio and batteries
Extra 20lb propane tank for my grill and a one burner coleman stove
First aid kits
~ 200 extra .357 rounds
Also made a bug out backpack for my car so I can get home from work. Includes water, clothes, energy bars, thermal blanket, knife, walking shoes, etc.
Finally made a family bug out tub with extra camping type equipment if we have to leave the house. Things like a fire starter, folding shovel, metal pot to boil water, tube tent, paracord, toilet paper, etc.

Cost a few hundred $$$, but well worth it. Last two times we lost power my daughters felt like daddy was taking care of them because we had lanterns and a radio and food, etc. We were not fools trying to go out in a blizzared to get supplies.

[EllisWyatt]

Man! This thread quickly got a lot of responses.

I second everything W2R listed. Having undergone two protracted evacuations - the family evacuated from Saudi (when Saddam came for his little visit to Kuwait) and all of us evacuated from Katrina - I try to keep my "Zombie Plan" fully charged at all times. A nice tupperware container with important documents ready to go if we have to leave, etc.etc. If we decide to stay, we have a whole house generator that runs the wells along with everything in the house (including the freezer - second W2R's comments on losing a fridge during Katrina - not pleasant). We keep the propane topped up during hurricane season, keep a 1 month supply of food and gasoline (gas is stored in in vehicles and equipment that we keep topped up) and - lesson learned during Katrina - am now armed. (Long story, but a series of events that hit WAY too close to home during the aftermath of Katrina helped me decide that it was time to re-asess a life-time aversion to guns).
In addition, we've moved to the country at the end of a mile long gravel road, so I consider that my "Zombie buffer".

No tin-foil - have just learned from experience. Don't consider myself paranoid (of course, who does?) but it's good to have a plan, especially in hurricane country.

[freebird5825]

DJRR - you listed a very important item...a NOAA radio and batteries.

It is a very good item to have on hand no matter where you live.
It is very smart to know what is going with weather after the power goes out.

I own a small 9V battery powered one with a telescoping antenna. It is a Radio Shack model from the 1990s and is just larger than my outstretched hand.