Best type of permanent home would you build?

A quonset is a good way to go. Instead of the cement retaining walls, build cinderblock walls up to the bottom of your windows. The cinderblocks can be filled with sand or dirt and because the quonset is curved you can fill the space between with sand or dirt. Also, bullet resistant glass is really expensive so a good alternative is to use clear stick on plastic on the inside of the glass. That way anything coming through the window won't result in shattered glass flying around. Good, strong shutters with shooting ports can be used.
Just remember, there is no shell that can't be cracked, so be sure to have a way out. Any method of escape should be designed so that you can pull obstacles in behind you to slow down any pursuers. Have a cache of supplies hidden along your escape route in case you don't have time to grab before you go.
You can also landscape the area around your home with defence in mind.

I have been thinking about installing those big, giant cement blocks and stack them up to about to six feet or so making sure to leave spaces for windows and then putting the quonset steel ribs on top of the blocks.

I have already buried a cargo container in the ground along our escape route tunnel.
We have been working with an architect on incorporating some interesting features within and on top of the building so that it will not only house the solar power room but also the wind mill and the well will be dug and covered by the back end of the quonset so that no matter what we will always have water.
Slowly looking like it just might work.

One thing I am noticing when I talk to other preppers is that they are not making plans for a permanent or even a semi-permanent building when they bug-out. I worry that they think that they will be away for only a week or so and that they can live in a tent and will be able to get back to their regular houses quite quickly. I know that some folks want to fortify their homes but without water services they are going to have to go out and get water and that will leave them open to all sorts of nastiness.


Any opinions?

Great question. I would like to build an underground dwelling. Solar lighting outside and when it gets dark outside, bring them in and you have light. Secret passages.

Captain Ahab probably has the best idea for a permanent shelter. The problem I have with an underground dwelling is that I'm not a caveman. While it is easier to defend against intruders, it's also dark. You would require a constant drain on your resources to light it. For me, anything underground would be considered as my final defensive position. In the event of a fire, you would have only 2 escape routes, the front door or the escape tunnel.
In the '50s when the Americans were at the height of nuclear testing, they would build large sandbag bunkers at the test sites. The way they would do it was to fill the sandbags with a mixture of half sand and half cement. Just before setting the sandbag in place they would soak it in a tank of water. When the cement hardened they had a very solid structure. If you did that, you could then cover it in topsoil and you could still have windows. Except for the doors and windows, it would look like another hill and still be very defendable.

Underground is an alternative but as was said it could get pretty dark and dank down there even with the solar lights brought inside. I thought about finding an old abandoned mine and building a cabin right at the entrance so that you open your back door and it is attached to the mine opening. No one would know that there was a mine opening behind your cabin and if you did happen to get overrun you could take action by retreating into the mine and blowing the cabin.
I have studied the sand/cement bag option and the military has always gone for sandbags over and around their bunkers in times of battle so that can be a good option. You just have to make sure that you have deterrents in place so that others do not overrun your abode. Also, you need to think about food and food storage, cooking, heat,light etc.
There are quite a few options but what I am really pushing for is to get people thinking about permanent off-grid structures rather than feeling like they could just ride out the “storm” in a Coleman tent. I am ex-military and I can tell you from experience that tenting even with all the best equipment can get old, pretty quick. I even did a winter maneuver in Wainwright, Alberta (not too far from Edmonton) and the temperature reached -70 with the wind chill. You go outside to relieve yourself and if you stand there too long you can easily freeze your icicle off.
I am enjoying hearing your opinions and options.

Earlier tazweiss said: "In the '50s when the Americans were at the height of nuclear testing, they would build large sandbag bunkers at the test sites. The way they would do it was to fill the sandbags with a mixture of half sand and half cement. Just before setting the sandbag in place they would soak it in a tank of water. When the cement hardened they had a very solid structure. If you did that, you could then cover it in topsoil and you could still have windows. Except for the doors and windows, it would look like another hill and still be very defendable."

I love that method, sounds like something I could actually do.

When I was much younger and still married I got very interested in Michael Reynolds' Earthships, bought vol. 1 and 2 of his books from 1991. Would have loved to have built an Earthship and gone off grid, but we didn't have the ways and means, husband was trying to get his naval career going and all my brain cells were taken up raising kids.

http://earthship.com/

Just for fun, the movie "Red", starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren, is very entertaining. The John Malkovich character has a very cool hideout. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it, but you'll will absolutely love it when you see it!

Hi vanislemom:
I too looked at the earthships and found them to be a great alternative to the usual stick & brick houses.
My wife and myself thought seriously about one but chose to go a different direction. We considered a log house/cabin as well but the big drawback we saw with that was the whole people able to burn you out of your house thing. We want to prepare for the worst while enjoying the best. I have looked into both the steel type buildings and a house built using cement blocks. They would both be decent against fire but also very hard to heat or cool as there is a lot of insulation needed for both. While off the beaten path in Mexico we saw a lot of the cement block buildings rather than built with adobe bricks. They had a lot of one story houses and even a number of two story ones and they looked pretty darn impressive. While they do not have to worry about insulation and have bare block walls I see no reason why they could not be well insulated and have drywall put up.
I hope that all is well with you and yours over on the Island.

i actually built an ICF home....it will withstand an f4 tornado and even when it had no internal heating source and it was minus 20 outside, the internal temp is always above freezing. i don't use a full tank of propane yearly and use it to heat my water also. worked out qyiet well.

I have a log cabin built along with an old trailer hom i draggged in a few years ago. i built trails in a wat that made them almost imposible to spot. i also have a standard cabin on a lake. the log cabin in an hour ride on atv back into the bush by trail, the trail is off of an old logging road that only i use in total the log cabin is 3 hours off the hwy. if shtf happened i would be so far up i wouldnt have to worry. the one thing that worrys me is transportation...... We need to start a B.O.V. thread....

BOV???

ahhhh, 'bug out vehicle'....if so, Hummer H1 wihtout a shadow of a doubt

Im not a rich man so i have as a B.O.V. that i also use on my hunting trips i have a 1984 K5 Blazer. i picked it up for $1500 and am fixing it while i drive it..

And to answer the question permanent home i would build if i had to leave both of my bug out spots is a log cabin, its easy to build and easy to heat.

My idea of a good after the SHTF vehicle would be a pre-electronic ignition truck. I say this in the case of an EMP whereby it would render those types of electronics inoperative.
I always like the hummer for a bug out vehicle but the more I read about EMP’s the more I am in favour of an older pick-up.
For a homestead situation other than a team of Clydesdales I think an old John Deere tractor would do the job quite nicely but would like to hear from those with experience with older tractors.

All vehicles would be in operative even the old ones. The minor electronics in older cars and trucks are more volnerable to EMPs then the new ones. The small resisters and windings are very bad. if you do buy an old truck get a chev as parts are every where and cheep you can get used stuff for almost nothing. Anything electrical for my blazer I have 2 spares in faraday cages including 2 distributors and I have 2 deep cycle boat batteries as wel all protected from EMPs.