Thought id touch on the subject of home defense. If your planning on bugging in or just plain ol stuck this may help. When boarding up your windows and doors it may be easier to do from the inside for reasons such as weather or height etc. When boarding up from the inside please remember to remove all casements!!!! A casment is the painted finish product, this has no structural strength. After removing it put your plywood or boards on the inside of the framing with just a few Tack nails. To secure this you will need to have some scrap pieces of lumber to attach directly to the studs this will make your "boarding up" a part of the wall. To make this stronger or if you feel someone could maybe cut through it or you have trees near by that could come through having a few rolls of chicken wire would be helpfull. Before you put up your scrap pieces of wood to fully secure the boards or plywood staple the chicken wire to the boarding and the studs this will also give it more tensile strength. Of course boading up the outside is easier and could save your glass but depending on what the outside of your house is made of or other reasons you may not have that option. As for doors the same applies Remove casements! A few 2x6 on a door goes a long way as long as they are attached to studs! not drywall or casements.
Any other Ideas to Home Defense ? looking forward to ideas.
I agree with removing the trim before you attach your plywood. Your pieces would ideally be at least 6" greater in dimension than the actual window frame. That way you account for any shims etc and can nail to the 2 x 4 studs. As well Screws are better than nails and if you have the resources, have at least 1 x 2's to frame the edge of the plywood to screw through. That way any pressure applied to the outside is spread over a much larger area. I also like the idea of chicken wire but I'd have multi layers. 3/8 ply... chicken wire...3/8 ply again. A sandwich. Also place a 2 x 4 across the middle of the window to reinforce the weakest part of your cover. It also has the benefit of creating a smaller opening for entrance if the ply cover is breached. lastly... caulk around the edges to eliminate light escaping. To complete an appearance of abandonment you could put thin ply over the outside and punch a few holes in it as well as spray paint graffiti. Just a few thoughts.
Evenin',
If you are going to go to the effort to laminate you may want to think about three or more layers of 3/8" plywood with sheet metal sandwiched between layers. The use of PL-400 construction adhesive should not be over-looked. A security film such as 3-M makes could be added on the inside of the glass to make it more difficult to break.
I like your facade plywood on the outside, JAB, that adds to the abandonned look and may make it less likely to be looted right away.
If you want some ideas for home defence, have a watch of them old Charles Bronson movies (Death Wish & others). LOL. He had some great ideas for lowering the interest in a place.
Of course, other improvements can include using crushed glass or broken glass in the mortar on the top of perimeter fences. Wooden fences can receive similar treatment with 4" deck screws screwed up through the top boards of fences.
There are of course liability issues of doing these things in an urban environment before the SHTF. So I will refrrain from offer any more suggestions at this time.
Be safe out there,
Mountainman.
Great input Thanks! Mountainman have you seen this film before, i havent heard of it before, is it transluscent? If you have a link that'd be great. Thanks
3M makes lots of security films. You can access their website and also find distributors in your area. It comes in different strengths and patterns.
plainolme,
If you google 3-M Security Films, you should get to the right place. I have not used the product but I am aware of it. It is transparent and available in different levels of tint. I think it is also available in a mirrored type finish. So, in addition to preventing glass from shattering, you can also limit or prevent persons on the outside from looking in, depending on the tint level.
I hope that helps.
Mountainman.
Hey, I tried googling it but came up empty for my region and couldnt locate prices ill have to do more research thanks for the info
One of the strongest, and most frustrating types of window defence is chain link fence. Now, no matter what you decide what method you decide to use, ALWAYS have an alternate means to escape the house incase it is fire bombed. Some people will figure that if they can't have it, nobody else should either.
"We 'Prep.' to live after a downfall, Not just to survive."
Try "Gaudet's Architectural Products Ltd." in Halifax...
You could also try " Leonard Window Films" in Fredricton
Hope that helps.
Does help thanks JAB all i never came up with gaudets all i saw was convinience group and hotfrog, lol thanks again!
I personally used Apex window films out of Toronto to purchase as 12mil security film for all my home windows. They shipped really fast and were accurate with the order - the price was very reasonable too. ( http://apex-window-film-store.com )
It's a bit of an investment, in both time (to learn) and money but I believe it's a worthwhile investment in your home defense package.
It's was near impossible at the time to get the industrial security Dow Corning 995 caulking in Canada. The one place I could get it in the states (a hardware store on ebay) went under.. I ended up using another comparable product that I cant remember the name to currently. As for application, there are lots of great videos online that show how to wet spray it on the windows and soforth, but what they don't tell you is how STATIC the sheets are.. and that you should CLEAN the area (especially if you have carpet) so little fibers don't go between the film and window when you're putting it on. I learned this the first house I had, and have gradually been getting better with practice (i've done a few friends houses now too).
Thanks for the info Nsprepper!
Here's a few more suggestions( keep in mind that booby traps have a way of biting you in the a$$) as a second line of defense inside the house weakening your stairwell to your basement or upstairs(I'll leave the methods to your own imaginations)with possibly low loose wire entanglements(moveable of course) at the bottom/top of whichever stairwell you use. This is non lethal but will slow down any trouble makers and give you time to retaliate or escape. I like the spike carpet idea this could also be incorporated.Ice it up on your outside steps and walk ways use the same tactics as inside. Thanks for letting me indulge my twisted thuoghts..LMAO BTW this is for shtf scenario which I hope for all our sakes does not happen
When in doubt think it out...(you thought I was gonna say something else?)
Sometimes the best line of defense is sound, two of the scariest things to hear in a house, a large growling dog and a shot gun being cocked. 😈
"We 'Prep.' to live after a downfall, Not just to survive."
One of us salvaged some hockey glass from an old arena ,I think its called paxan, but we have not had time to use it yet. Probably needs some sort of UV protectant though do those glass films provide this?
When in doubt think it out...(you thought I was gonna say something else?)