I spent 5 years stocking plastic jugs of city water in my shelter near Denver. After a 3-day power outage last fall, I cracked one open and the taste was awful. That's when I realized I was just trading one dependency for another. Now I'm digging a hand-pump well on my property, and I bet the water will stay fresh and taste normal. Has anyone else ditched bottled water for an underground spring?
Hooked up a bank of 6 deep cycle marine batteries I pulled from a scrapyard. Wired them in series with a cheap inverter from Harbor Freight. Ran my LED strip lights and a small fan for half a year without touching the grid. Lesson learned - check the electrolyte levels monthly. One went dry and dropped my voltage by half. Anyone else mess with battery banks in their shelter?
I spent last August working on my basement shelter in Omaha and had a nightmare of a week with moisture. I used this cheap epoxy from a hardware store and it started peeling up after three days. The temp was around 85 degrees and humid the whole time, so that probably messed with the curing. I had to jackhammer out the whole 10x12 floor and start over with a proper moisture barrier. Finally went with a vapor barrier and two coats of a marine-grade sealer that cost me about $150. Has anyone else had trouble getting concrete to seal right in a damp basement?
Last month I finished sealing my shelter in the basement, and thought I was done. I sealed the door with that rubber gasket and bolted it shut for a test run. After 45 minutes, my CO2 detector went off like crazy because I forgot to install the manual vent pipe. I had to cut a new 4 inch hole and redo the seal, but now I run a 20 minute air test before I commit to the final caulk. Has anyone else nearly suffocated themselves on a weekend project?
Everyone in my local group raves about poured walls for fallout shelters. I went with cinder blocks for my 8x10 bunker outside of Omaha. Took me three weekends instead of one because of the mortar work, but let me tell you - I can modify it. Last month I cut a hole for an extra vent pipe in twenty minutes with a masonry bit. Try that with a poured wall. Plus if a crack shows up, I just patch one block instead of worrying about the whole structure. Has anyone else had better luck with block on their own build?
Back in 2019 I got all paranoid after watching some old civil defense films and dropped $300 on this big hand cranked air filter for my shelter. Thing looked solid, all metal and thick filters. Spent a weekend mounting it and sealing the ducts. Then I realized the filter media is nearly impossible to find now. The company went under during covid. So I got this expensive decoration that takes up space. I also didn't account for how loud the cranking would be. My wife said it sounds like a broken washing machine. Anybody else buy prepper gear that turned into a paperweight?
I went back and forth for weeks on this. A buddy of mine said the vault door was overkill and would be a pain to install, but I'm glad I stuck with it because the peace of mind is real. The old door has that solid clunk sound when it closes that steel doors just don't have. If anyone's looking for old vault doors, check scrap yards near old bank buildings - mine came from a place in Council Bluffs that was tearing down a 1920s bank. Just be ready for the weight and make sure your floor is thick enough.
I was browsing Ochoa's Hardware downtown last Tuesday and noticed they still sell those old steel blast doors from the 60s. The hinges were massive, like 8 inches long, and the guy said they were leftover from a nearby missile silo that got scrapped. Has anyone ever tried retrofitting one of these into a basement shelter?
I was testing the ventilation in my basement shelter near Omaha and the CO2 monitor shot up to 2,000 ppm after 45 minutes. Turns out mice had packed insulation and nesting material into the intake pipe. Has anyone figured out a good screen or grate that keeps critters out without restricting airflow too much?
Been chipping away at this backyard bunker project for about 6 months now. Mostly weekends and evenings. But this past Saturday I measured and realized I've got 12 feet of trench dug out and shored up. When I started I figured I'd be lucky to get 6 feet in a year. It just hit different seeing that number on the tape measure. For context, my target is 20 by 8 for a small family shelter. Anyone else get surprised by how much or how little progress you actually made after a long stretch?