Home Defense Design/Architecture

[Regolith]

If I ever come into a large sum of money, my house will be built like a castle. Not the Disney castles either, we're talking 12th or 13th century battle forts.


This is partially because of the security, and partially because I'm a history buff and living in a castle would be freakin' awesome (the interior, of course, would have all the necessary modern amenities).

However, up until the time you've got the money to make your home truly your castle, you've gotta make do with what you got. You an start by following some of the advice in this thread.

Ground floor windows should have big thorny bushes planted under them.

Light your home and its access points as well as possible. Motion sensitive lights work really well at this. Harden your doors in the manner prescribed in this thread, and stay away with doors that have windows built into them; otherwise, you will have to use a deadbolt that requires a key to access from either side, which can hamper egress in case of an emergency such as fire.

Very heavy wood or even better - steel - is a must for exterior doors.

You could go with concrete construction. If done right, this will help the home be both energy efficient and make it unlikely that a bullet fired in self defense will exit the home. I don't know how many concrete homes have concrete interior walls, though. So that may still be an issue.....

Anyway, those are my thoughts. By no means comprehensive, but a decent starting place. Best way to prevent a home burglary is to make the criminal work too hard to break in in the first place. They may still be able to get in with enough time, but even professionals aren't willing to spend much more than a minute or so breaking in (it increases their likelihood of being caught), and will go elsewhere.

 

[Titan6]

I said before in another thread. Gravel instead of sand. Sand leaks out easily once it takes a couple of hits. Gravel is lighter and harder than an equal volume of sand. The bullet will deform faster and easier and is much more likely to fragment into weaker pieces before coming out the other side (yes a rifle round will easily penetrate four inches of sand, some siding and dry wall).

After gravel takes a hit it breaks into smaller pieces of gravel that are normally still too large to leak out a 1/2'' hole and will fill in the gap left instead of draining out.

 

[RubenZ]

I would strongly recommend you NOT put sand in walls LOL. Thats begging for an insect problem. But hey you can put plexi glass in certain areas and put crabs in there or Ants.

 

[glockman19]

Wouldn't the weight of the sand tend to bulge (and perhaps even push loose from the studs) the drywall as you get close to the floor?

yes - and you also have to be carefull to seal all the electrical boxes etc. Oh and don't use to big a nail to hang that picture!

If the wall is a shear wall then you wouldn't have to worry about it. also I was refering to exterior walls. They generally have a plywood, shear, element to them and an inch or 2 or 3 of Lath & Plaster. All you would have to so is have all exterior walls with plywood on either side, after inspection, add the sand in between and you're good to go. Want additional protection, drywall the interior side of the exterior walls and to could hang pictures drill holes with NO problems. Sand is a major aggregate used in cement. Also will cut down your heating & Cooling bills due to the insulation.

 

[glockman19]

I would strongly recommend you NOT put sand in walls LOL. Thats begging for an insect problem.

I guess it depends on where you live. Also you could treat the sand if you were concerned. insects wil get in whever they want. I hire an exterminator that comes by once a month and sprays the exterior of the house anyway.

 

[Steve C]

Rammed earth or red brick masonry construction is pretty well bullet proof. Brick needs insulation behind it, rammed earth gives you 3' walls that don't require any insualtion. Adobe is close to fired brick when it's old but can have problems with water. Slump block would be better than conventional block but again requires insulation for energy efficiency. All these methods of construction are specialized. Materials and tradesmen are expensive relative to conventional block or stick construction.

 

[Deacon Blues]

My dream home is an earth-sheltered design; it was the energy efficiency and low maintenance that attracted me to it, but security is definitely a plus. Only one face of the house is exposed and all exterior walls (as well as the roof) are poured concrete with rebar. It would be easy to hide a safe room since the layout of the house is a total mystery. The gun-toting redneck family inside is just icing.

 

[ozwyn]

count me in as a earth sheltered dream house fan. great year round comfort due to plenty of insulation, generally resistant to most forms of weather, hobbit-hole factor a bonus for the fantasy geek types.

it seems like you could have a very well protected home hidden behind the green/fantasy front.

 

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

hobbit-hole factor a bonus for the fantasy geek types

Yeah, but then some goofy wizard is always dropping by with his crazy, "Is it secret?! Is it safe?!" nonsense. Worse than Jehovah's Witnesses, I tell ya'.

 

[vynx]

You have already heard about the brick and gravel walls.

Also, 2 sets of fencing around the property with gates that lock. I figure a thief can always break in. And, he can kick the doors open with enough time but he still is going to have to carry whatever he stole OVER the fence not out the gate.

If you have a large enough lot make 2 fences maybe the outer is shorter just enought to keep the dogs in & salesmen out.

Cactus under the windows - after all it is Texas.

Have you ever seen the DoorClub? SM (a regular poster here) suggested the same thing but less expensive - drill a hole into the floor in front of all doors - when going to sleep or vacation drop a piece of rebar into it (or a bolt) and they can kick all day but until they remove the rebar the door only opens so far.

When we redo our front doors I am going to drill 2 or 3 holes at different distances from the door - one right next to it and one that allows about 2 or 3 inches to open and maybe one that allowes about 8 inches to a foot enough for a package but not to push the door open and rush inside.

I've been thinking of getting a powerful magnet so I could set one in from the outside when I leave...not too sure how that would work though.

 

[RoadkingLarry]

For the ultimate in security---

http://www.missilebases.com/index.html

 

[Tokugawa]

The downside to former ICBM silo living is that ya gotta hope the Reds have removed it from the target list- has anyone told them it was decommissioned? And did they believe it , or did they think it was an elaborate piece of disinformation? A mistake here could be costly!

 

[TwitchALot]

I'm not a home designer or an engineer, but a neat idea I thought of (not sure if it would work) is a master light switch. If you can shoot in the light, why shoot in the dark? Why not set up a switch or panel in your master bedroom that controls the lights in the house? If designed to override the light switches in other parts of the house, it would allow you to instantly light up your entire house so that you can see exactly what's going on. Theoretically, if you get a control panel, you may even be able to control the lights in individual rooms, overriding the other switches so that no one else can turn them off without having access to the master switch.

 

[oobray]

Twitchalot,

That is an excellent idea. When I go to build a home I will definately ask about that. Although I'm sure that a competent electrician could add that to an already existing home.

 

[ilbob]

If you are building a home, you might want to consider extending your foundation walls higher than normal. It won't look much different from the outside, but having exterior walls of concrete upto the bottom of your windows makes for a lot of places to take cover.

It also makes for a serious place to anchor your door jambs.

 

[scotjute]

Raise the height of the bottom window sill to at least 42". This makes it harder to get into from outside and more cover for you to hide behind/move in your own house without being seen. Avoid large picture windows that go almost all the way to the floor.
Ditto on the comment about reinforceing around your door dead-bolt. Standard construction leaves much to be desired here.
Have a lock on bedroom door or on a bathroom door so you can retreat into a locked room. Reinforce the walls with at least 1 layer of plywood. Standard construction of 2 layers of gyp board can almost be punched thru.

 

[Baba Louie]

I've been designing homes, buildings etc since '78. First question I always ask is budget?

From there you go to location on site, space layout, other specifics you want/need. Hardening walls is relatively easy, and depending on method may or may not be cheap.

Look up Italian Palazzo's built during the renaissance, very similar to Roman villas or other hot climate designs with interior courtyard, minimal exterior fenestration, double gated entry... easily copied and as Nicolai pointed out, Cooper has a sketch or two in TR,SS,aSTT that borrow heavily on that concept.

Energy conservation should be factored in as part of the design up front conserving and/or storing as much daily energy as is possible.

Personally, I'd go for energy conservation as the primary thought with a few well thought out concessions to security as secondary.

Zero (or darn few) hidden/blind approaches.

Berms, either as planters slightly away from home or as part of wall/ground transition or half basement design w/ berms (almost total earth shelter along walls) might be ideal if you can live with its limitations. There will still be issues that need resolution and/or compromises required.

ICF is good (I like Rastra as they recycle old EPS into the block matrix).

Sand and earth are not good insulating devices, dead air space is, but it tends to let things like bullets pass thru rather easily if that's a concern. Solid grouted CMU tends to have awful R values, awesome thermal lag but when the interior is furred out and insulated becomes useful from several points of view (as does brick or stone veneer over stud wall framing).

Earth shelter is interesting but not for everyone. Google 'Malcolm Wells'.

ICF or straw bale walls (don't laugh) w/ masonry (ext) veneer will provide good enough cover and insulation values. Windows and doors (fenestration) will be the weak link from both energy and HD points of view.

Come up with a plan your spousal unit likes and can live with. Set a budget. Find an architect, residential designer or good contractor. Enjoy the experience. Budget about 4-5% of your construction cost for up front costs, dwgs., calcs, engineering, permit fees, etc.

But realize that you can only keep honest people honest. If a pro wants in, he'll get in. A well designed house should give you several places to slow him down long enough for a clear shot from cover before he gets too far, if that's a major goal.

I'd print out the whole thread once it's run the course and take it with me when meeting the designer/builder, letting him/her read it all and see what ideas thay have in store. It can be a fun experience... when you work within your budget.

Oh yeah. See if they can work in a good front (or back) porch. Those seem to be sadly lacking nowadays. Dogs (not a design issue but an easy security device that loves ya) look good sleeping on or under a porch.

 

[MechAg94]

I would not put sand or gravel in the walls. For new construction, that concrete idea sounds much better and sturdier. Also, if you must, there are outfits that make bullet proof panels that could be fit into the wall with the drywall. Steel plate was mentioned.

I bought a motion sensor light a while back. There are models that will activate a remote door bell if activated or can be turned on remotely. Hell, my living room ceiling fan has a remote for the light and fan.

My back door has a big window. It is not glass. It is some sort of hard plastic that doesn't break easily. I have a keyed deadbolt on that door anyway.

Don't leave your keys under the rug or in the flower pot.


I think a lot of these ideas are great. For me, I would think more about what you can do to a used home to improve it. Start with the cheapest and go up from there. I like the idea of better deadbolts and motion sensor lights. Those are easy upgrades. At a minimum, I want to make sure that anyone getting into my house has to make enough noise/effort that I'll get woken up and can deal with it. I don't want to get surprised.

 

[prisma]

The American Institute of Architecture has a reference book on the topic, but it's somewhat pricey:

Security Planning and Design: A Guide for Architects and Building Design Professionals
The American Institute of Architects, Joseph A. Demkin, AIA, Editor
ISBN: 047127156X
John Wiley & Sons, 2003
Hardcover: 256 pages

Amazon.com indicates that there's a newer version just released this month, although it's not in stock yet:

Security Planning and Design: A Guide for Architects and Building Design Professionals (Paperback)
by American Institute of Architects
# ISBN-10: 0941575527
# ISBN-13: 978-0941575522
# Paperback: 272 pages
# Publisher: Wiley (October 5, 2007)

There's also a chance that a university library might have a copy available.

 

[pendentive]

Sadly, that book is not about residential architecture - but about commercial buildings, etc.




I have been asked to design homes with safe-rooms, blast-rooms, even turrets...!

Like was said above...just depends on budget.

You will definitely spend extra setting up the home in a more secure way...and it gets hard to justify the non-essential costs.

I haven't been doing houses as long as Baba...but would agree with most of what he said - given my experience (8-9 yrs after school) in architecture.



There are some great suggestions in this thread too.

Draw up a house plan...then think like a criminal...or have a buddy do it (play devil's advocate) - and try to find ways to break in...weak spots. Then strengthen those areas. That's really a better plan, then setting out to make a safe-house from the start. You'll lose convenience that way. Better to make your dream house first, and then tighten it up a bit in security.


Exterior lighting does wonders to deter crime!



I can think of probably a dozen more suggestions...but let's start with just a few for now:

Eliminate corners in hallways. Go more for an open plan. Of course, you'll need to adjust your defense strategy/mindset...but generally speaking, the more open things are inside, the easier to see around and so on.


Balcony (or similar) overlooking the front door (or main gathering space) from a loft area off the master bedroom upstairs.

I do this all the time....people seem to like it for other reasons too (monitoring teens who like to stay up late, etc. )



Simplify the exterior....more articulation in the exterior walls means more corners to hide around...waiting to break in a window.



Avoid trees right next to the house. Short but dense/prickly shrubbery. Make sure all windows are chest height (or higher) from the outside.



Put safety glass in the lower panels of any low windows. Doesn't have to be chicken-wire...there are more options nowadays.



Forget bullet-proof glass...the stuff is crazy expensive and hard to get installed properly. I had to create a safe-spot in gov't bldg with safety glass...5 feet tall, about 20 feet long...estimates came in at over 120,000. Client insisted on it...so we did it...but it was a huge waste. We were shown later video testing that showed how easy it was to defeat it. It's a good "first defense"...but a poor "ain't no way I'm coming out" defense.



Get a dog.





...got more bouncin' round my head...but it's late. Will be happy to help. I don't know any architects in Texas...but Q&A here on the forums is always easy advice.


Best of luck!

 

[athlon64]

Consider installing CAT 6, RG59 coax, and power cabling to all locations on the home you might want to mount surveillance cameras at in the future.

If you don't keep dogs outside, set up low-profile infrared motion detectors outdoors to cover your entire perimeter and hook them up to the central alarm system or some chime sufficient to wake you from sleep if someone enters your property.

 

[JeremySmith]

I design houses - and the best bit of advice I can give you is - Get an Architect! Generally a pretty bright bunch of people, and will make everything easier for you. Ok you have an architect, here's some of the wall materials I'd recommend checking out:

1. Concrete walls built with insulated forms
2. Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) - Take a styrofoam core, and laminate it between two sheets of OSB or plywood
3. Strawbales or Rammed Earth
4. Standard wood walls, with masonry/stone veneer or cultured stone

Earth sheltered designs would be very secure. Another option would be an underground dome, built of concrete. Check into some of the smart home products - its possible to control all of the lights/electric/security devices from one central point, and even remotely access it if you want to monitor it while you are away. I'd get a security film that goes on the glass similar to window tinting, and am even thinking about building metal coiling shutters that drop over the outsides of the lower-level windows of a house I'm working on for myself. Having a house sitting smack in the middle of a good chunk of property so you can see whats coming might be a good idea, but remember - people will be able to watch your comings and goings from a distance also. I like to think I'd be able to sneak out and away of any house without being seen if I had to. If anyones looking for links to anything above, pm me.

 

[innerpiece]

neat thread! good information.

ip.

 

[Tokugawa]

Try this book- "Remodeling for Security" by A.J. Harmon, A.I.A., McGraw-Hill, 1979. Has some basic historic overviews and ideas, of course anything regarding electronics, cameras etc is way out of date. This is for basic security measures, aimed square at the single family home.

 

[Rogue6]

Jeff Cooper home

I won't mention any specifics because it's not my place to do so, but COL Cooper's home managed to incorporate a number of defensive architecture features without in any way making it seem other than a nice but normal Southwestern ranch-style home. Read his book(s) if you want to know more about that sort of thing.