Tactical House Shopping

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m0ntels

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Perkasie, PA
I'm hoping that in a year's time, I will be ready to buy my first house. I know it's not something to rush into, so I've been learning what kinds of things to look for, and trying to learn what to expect from home ownership. Now, I'm not paranoid, but due to the recent rise in global unrest, I've been thinking more about bug-out routes and being prepared for emergencies, natural disasters and the like. I was just wondering what are some important things to look for? Some examples are:

What kind of heating should I look for? Electric, gas, oil, etc

What style home? Ranch, multi-level

Public or well water?

How much ground do I need for a fair sized veggie garden? (I havent gardened before so I really have no clue how much different plants will produce.)

What are some good tips for increasing the efficiency of things around the home? (Like insulating exposed hot water pipes)

Any kind of help would be appreciated. To give you an idea of where I live, since I dont want to relocate, I am right in between Philadelphia and Allentown, PA in a suburban area, so we have yards, but can definetly still peep in on the neighbors in most parts. I'm also set on a single home only for privacy and quiet. Thanks.

Randy
 
Suggest a stone castle with its own water supply (well that can be hand pumped or reached with a rope and bucket) that is also large enough for a garden and some animal pens inside the courtyard walls.

Lay in good supply of wood or coal for cooking food and boiling oil.

Some acoustic musical instruments for entertainment while besieged and can't get to the video store.

You might need to go together with several families to meet the mortgage payments.
 
The wife and I are about to be looking for our first home as well. I'm not thinking on as grand a scale as you are, but I do know one aspect of the floorplan I am going to insist upon.

In a 2-story house, I want to make sure that the Master Bedroom is between the stairway and the other bedrooms. This is to ensure that if a bump is heard in the night, the wife can go collect our future children while I cover the stairs. (I've also considered how much easier it was for me to sneak out of the house as a teenager since I didn't have to pass my parents' bedroom. ;) )
 
m0ntels said:
What kind of heating should I look for? Electric, gas, oil, etc
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Wood is the only one which will still work for an indefinite length of time after the fan gets all clogged up. Cutting all that wood is lots of work, so maybe gas/propane for when things are normal.

Public or well water?
Click to expand...

A well keeps working when the city runs out of electricity. If it's not too deep, a solar or manual
pump can be used.

An old-fashioned, drop the bucket on a rope well works too, but
no one is going to dig one for you, you'll have to find an existing one.

How much ground do I need for a fair sized veggie garden? (I havent gardened before so I really have no clue how much different plants will produce.)
Click to expand...

Depends on the location and how industrious you are, doesn't it? Since you are in PA, and aren't willing to move, it's kind of a moot question. Just buy as much as you can afford, and hope for the best. Or visit Amish country and ask them what it takes. Then double that, because I'm pretty sure you will not be able to work as efficiently as they do.
 
I guess I made it sound a bit like I was looking for a fortress, which isnt exactly correct. It's just going to be myself living here probably, so I want to be able to live comfortably if I should ever get hurt, lose my job, etc. As far as the home defense aspect goes, since I wont have a small army in a bunker on top of a hill, I just want something that doesnt scream out "break into me."

I do plan on finding something that will support a family of 4 eventually, but wont kill one guy on his own. Finding adequate and affordable housing around here seems much easier than finding a decent mate. :rolleyes:

Randy
 
large enough for a garden and some animal pens inside the courtyard walls.
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OI! Bad idea. All those westerns where the cavalry rides right in and dismounts inside the fort... No way. Clorox wipes weren't so easy to come by, and horsies are nasty. The garden is fine. Keep the animals outside.
 
We're on propane but I can pretty much heat the entire house with the woodstove. If you get a good quality catalyst wood stove with a blower on it you can save serious $ on the propane and be a bit more self sufficient. I spend approximately 7 full working days a year cutting firewood/splitting and stacking and that gives me more than I can burn in a year. (I've got a good chainsaw and share a splitter with my next door neighbor). I'm living on 12 acres of land with maybe 45% of it in timber and have had enough wood just by cutting down dead tree's and cleaning up the stuff that falls over. (Be prepared to do chimney maintenance . .sweeping, etc as wood burning can be dangerous if you let it go too long)

That being said, if I could start over with a blank sheet I'd have a ranch house, without glass in the doors, a good quality wood stove, a 1000 gallon propane tank (500 now . . . . not a problem but 1000 would get me through a year if I was careful). I'm out in the country and have a well, so to me a generator and a properly installed transfer switch is a must. If you have a generator add to your monthly or bi-monthly schedule that you need to run it for at least 1/2 an hour and put a load on it. (Plus the maint on the generator)

As far as a veggie garden goes . . . .we run one that's about 40-50 feet wide and maybe 70 feet long and get TONS of veggies out of it. Throw in a strawberry patch, a rubarb (Spelling?) patch, some asparagus mounds, a couple of cherry trees and a couple of apple trees and you're set. (fruit trees require more maint though. :) )

A couple of dogs helps too! :)

Have a good one,
Dave
 
Here are my reccomendations:

Wood. For heat, cooking & lighting.

Well water. If terrorists poison the city water, you'll still have good water. Then you can sell it to people for $50.00 a gallon.:evil: Just joking.

House. If you have a multi level house, you can get to high ground in case of flood, rioting & as you mentioned, your kids.:D

Gardening. From the area you described, I don't think you have enough land to garden for food. You might could plant 2 or 3 rows of vegetables. I would reccomend 1 or 2 fruit trees. I like apple trees.
 
First of all....do not....

buy a house in a flood plain.........Look at New Orleans for example of what can happen...........Most grocery stores have real estate pamphlets for free advertising what is available in the area. Go on the web real estate sites. Most propane appliances have electronic ignition/thermostats so if power goes out, you still need a generator. Wood heating is nice if you do not have to buy your wood. It is running around 100 bucks a chord where I used to live in the UP and I went through 10 chords a year. And I had to cut, split, stack it. Well water is nice but again you will need a generator to run is if power is out. DON'T BUY MORE HOUSE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD. Do not buy on a balloon mortgage, buy on a fixed rate mortgage. A realitor works on commission and will try to sell you more house than you can afford, no matter how sweet he tells you the deal is. Remember, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION... Think of resale down the road. Make sure you LIKE the house you intend on buying right off. You will need to be a sort of handyman once you own a house to make repairs and imorovements. Make sure you can add insulation, will pay for itself in a short time in heating and cooling costs. Folks here in Texas thought I was crazy putting 25 inches of insulation in my attic, but my electric bills rarely go above 150 bucks, even at today's prices where they are in the 4-500 buck electric bill. Do not buy a house on a busy street. Remember, criminals rely on fast in and out to hit a house, plus listening to traffic noise when you are having a cold one in the back yard or porch gets old fast. Check with the local police to see where the most crimes happen, then, don't buy a house in that area. How far away is the fire department/hospital? The grocery store/liquor store? Schools for the kids? chris3
 
What I did

How independent do you want to be?

Domestic comforts:
I have public water, and a back up well, the well came with the house, they can be expensive to put in depending on how deep they have to go.

Regular heat is hot water baseboards - oil fired with two wood stoves for back up and two full cords of split stove wood in the backyard.

Generator in the garage hardwired to a transfer switch. Fuel supply in separate outbuilding (This can be relatively small.)

Safety:
Large first aid kit including splints and trauma supplies. (Get training.) Several dry chemical fire extinguishers (Kitchen, bedrooms, and exit points.)

Small gas powered water pump and several hundred feet of garden hose for emergency fire fighting. I am lucky enough to have a pond within 100ft. of my house but you could have an above ground pool for fire suppression.

Monitored house alarm with battery back-up.

Groceries:
Basement has 2X4 & plywood shelving for a two month supply of canned and dry goods, (rotation ongoing). Large chest style freezer for meats, I usually have a deer in there too.

Gardening is a separate issue. To be self sufficient you would need several acres but with a large yard you could home can quite a bit. Try Googeling "square foot gardening" (Note: This is WORK!) Plant briars along edges of garden to discourage 2 legged garden varmints.

Mittens , the 21LB :eek: Maine Coon cat on anti-rodent patrol.

Communications: Land line, cellphones, HAM radio, Set of Garmin 2-way radios with GPS. Police band scanners. TV antenna (Remember those?) on roof.

Perimeter defense:
Barney my 55LB Mutt, with loud scary bark. Of course a full gun safe and several hundred rounds for each firearm. Compound bow with three dozen carbon arrows.

You might also want to consider a safe room inside your house.


Best of luck !
 
Ok Contractor hat on.

I have built and serviced houses for most of 25 years. Was around my grandfather and my father who HATED to pay for anyone to do what they could do in a house too.

Avoid houses built late in the 80's to mid nineties, In my opinion the technology to build a "Tight" house in that time period was faulty. I spend a lot of my time and other peoples Money ripping out rot and moisture damage caused by sealing the outside of the envelope without dealing with the causes from the inside. Water in a house is a fact of life. and in a cooler climate. somewhere inside that wall cavity it is the dew point, and that mean water vapor will condense on the insulation and become liquid water again. Water is the death of houses if not dealt with. A poorly sealed house has enough air migration to carry that water out to the open air. A moderately well sealed house with a good vapor barrier is still going to have water in the walls and not enough air migration to dry that water out. Even today i have heard a dept of energy commercial urging people to make a house feel warmer by adding a humidifier. wonderful news to me , as every house i have been in with a humidifier in the winter that was newer (under 25 years old) has had rot and mold issues.


Older houses can be retro fitted to be very energy effiecent but it will cost you. but you get some benefits. and some drawbacks.

If you are buying new, consider the newer void filling foam insulation or the packed cellulose insulation. Both of these drastically cut down on air infiltration thru walls. Reduced air movement in walls also reduces moisture migration into walls. there are some serious security innovations that can be introduced to a new house for not much more money... alarms, extra backer and blocking around doors and windows making them more secure. centrally switched "Panic lights" are wonderful ideas. one quad box or stacked triples which turn on all outside lights or selected indoor lights from one location. in my house, rewired by me, just outside my bedroom door (upstairs) and my daughters room(downstairs) are switches that turn on peak mounted floods, perimeter lights, and all the lights in the backyard, basically making my house look like Times Square at midnight on newyears. There are a lot of other considerations that you can look at to make you house safer.

As far as heat. look at first what is most economical in every day use. here that means gas forced air up stairs and radiant hot water in the lower level. this is augmented by a wood stove in the garage and shop, as well as the living room on the main floor, and a fire place with a insert in the downstairs. I expect that a SHTF scenario is not going to happen, but that does not mean i am not taking SHTF into consideration. however, power outages and service interuptions happen from time to time.

We have a natural gas powered generator that is tied to a transfer switch and will kick on with in 4 seconds of a loss of power. I have lived in this house since 9/12/01 and we have had at least three days of no power per year, the longest this sept was 8 days. I tell you you sleep way better when you are the only house on the block with a working alarm, lights, and charged cell phone.

We have City water and sewer but we still have a powered well on the property that is tested once a year for safety, i use it to water the garden and yard.

I have a front door that is reinforced and has a batter brace that will keep the door closed in the face anything short of a small loader or a big truck I have two from columns that are about 5 feet apart. narrow enough to prevent a truck from driving into the front door. the columns are fiberglass, but each cover a 6 inch piece of well casing sunk four feet down and filled with concrete. That is a common threat here in nicer neighborhoods, smash and dash breakins. So i figure this will slow them down. A front door that is more than one or two steps above grade is a good idea. I do not have that option. You can get a powered wheel chair in my front door easy, but not a car.

If you build a house let me know, there are some ideas i can help you with.
Sprinkling the house, that is fire suppression sprinklers may pay for them selves in just a few years in lower homeowners insurance premiums. New "dry systems" are very reliable and really let you sleep better at night with a wood stove going in the basement. In my house, the 3600 dollar retro fit of sprinklers will be paid off in a year more. Had i not been so busy, i could have cut that cost in half. proper wiring set ups and lay ups make a lot of sense and add a tremendous amount of resale value.
 
Thefabulousfink said:
If ya got the cash, nothing beats stone walls and a moat.

http://http://www.castlemagic.com/color.html

These guys are no joke, they will build you an honest to God castle. Just watch out for burglars with trebuchets and battering rams:evil:
Click to expand...

Abandoned missile bases made into homes? :D (and check out the silo space...those of you with problems storing a gun collection, there you go!)

bigger.jpg
 
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