Apartment Hardening

I saw an interesting segment on Apocalypse 101, a new survival show featuring the team at Forge Survival Supply.   I’ve only caught parts of the show, but this one caught my attention, because it was about an apartment dweller in Manhattan who lived in the second floor.  She wanted to bug in and barricade herself in the apartment, in the event of TEOTWAWKI.  The team showed her how to harden her apartment so she could survive as well as possible in a society collapse.

The team asked the lady to show them all possible entrances and exits to her apartment.

They then went to the hardware store where they picked up lots of nails, tools such as hammers, wire cutters, heavy duty staple gun, chicken wire, wood, etc.  I actually thought it would be a good idea to have tools handy in the apartment, before anything happens.  In a collapse, these tools would disappear from shelves very quickly.

Windows

First, the team reinforced the windows on the outside by stapling chicken wire all around.  The chicken wire would protect the windows from shattering in case bottles, rocks or even a Molotov cocktail was thrown at them.

They then covered the inside of the windows with black trash bags so no one outside could see in.  In a grid down situation, light will attract attention, which should be avoided.

Doors

In front of the doors that would most likely get broken into, the team hammered a bunch of large nails on a piece of wood, thereby making a doormat of nails.  If an undesirable someone were to step inside, they would “accidentally” step on the nails.

Fire Escape

In a dangerous, grid down scenario, the fire escape could be used to get into her apartment so they showed her how to make the ladder slippery by slathering on grease, and wrapping barbed wire around the area.  Of course, in “normal” times, rigging the fire escape and interfering with access would be against fire codes and therefore must not be attempted.  Again they were showing her tips to protect herself in case of TEOTWAWKI.  Another reason for the barbed wire was to deter attackers by giving them the perception that this unit would be a hard nut to crack and hopefully they would move on to something else.

I’m not sure how long these deterrents would hold up during an extended disaster; however, having these protections certainly would be better than nothing.  I would also make sure there is an escape route planned ahead of time, if all else fails.

Of course the most important factor to survive is the right mindset, and the lady featured seemed to have what it takes.

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