Posted: 5/13/2014 4:35:19 PM EDT
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I live in a house made in the late 40's with plaster and lath walls, the insulation is thin to non existent but besides the shitty windows that are going to be replaced it holds temps well.
Now to the point of this thread, we plan on bugging in as it will be the wisest decision for the first few days to weeks and to help up armour the house I was thinking of using a hole saw near the top of exterior walls and pouring sand between them to a level of 6' or so. And also putting mats of chicken wire over the walls and window. Have egress points in basement and the second story windows. It would be dried sand and besides adding more weight to the foundation and possibly bowing out the walls would it help stop bullets and the such?? Thanks for any help. |
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A member here, Old_Painless, operates his own Web site, theboxotruth.com.
He is dedicated to doing all the bullet testing you and I want to do but don't have the time or resources to do. He published an article about various kinds of barriers, including sand. Give it a look! BTW Old_Painless is a true gentleman. Voted one of the Arfcom members we'd all love to share a drink with! |
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Quoted:
A member here, Old_Painless, operates his own Web site, theboxotruth.com. He is dedicated to doing all the bullet testing you and I want to do but don't have the time or resources to do. He published an article about various kinds of barriers, including sand. Give it a look! BTW Old_Painless is a true gentleman. Voted one of the Arfcom members we'd all love to share a drink with! I know O_P well, I just didn't even think of looking there lol and he is one member I truly respect and would love to shoot with. It wouldn't be to make it fully bullet proof just more to help slow down or stop random bullets in a SHTF situation and not a full on assault. |
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I wouldn't try sand. It would suck for your walls to bulge and break because of the extra weight pressing out from the inside as the sand settles. A better bet would to be cladding the interior (or exterior) walls with 2 or 4 by planking. I'd do inside for various reasons, assuming your foundation will hold it up. By the time the outer and inner walls slow the rounds down, the planking stands a decent chance to stop most common rounds. Also, you probably don't need to BP the walls all the way up. Enough to take cover behind should do you unless you're planning on standing off armies, in which case, look up parabolic stress concrete and just build a bullet proof fort to begin with. |
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Ceramic tiles will stop rounds, some times you can find deals, 50 cents or less a tile...Do one exterior wall at a time, tear out lathe, fix tiles to exterior wall, insulate then drywall? or, phone books in the walls.. They will insulate and stop rounds.... Absolutely not. You may be thinking of ceramic SAPI plates, however the reason they work is due in large part to the kevlar/spectra wrapping and inability for the ceramic to 'shatter' from being wrapped. The plates do fracture to dissipate energy, but because of the thickness, type of material and wrapping, do not fall apart. Additionally, they are prduced from totally different materials. A standard home depot tile will do little to slow or stop a projectile. |
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Quoted: Ceramic tiles will stop rounds, some times you can find deals, 50 cents or less a tile...Do one exterior wall at a time, tear out lathe, fix tiles to exterior wall, insulate then drywall? or, phone books in the walls.. They will insulate and stop rounds....  post like these are why this forum is a joke. No credibility. |
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You mentioned chicken wire over windows.
You might want to try plywood cut to size and mounted on the outside of all your first floor windows. then bolted to a 2x4 on the inside. Essentially what you do is cut it to fit exactly then use a long bolt and washers to then bolt a 2x4 crossways on the inside of the window frame. The tighter you make the nut the more snug the 2x4 pulls into the window frame and secures the plywood on the outside. If you run the bolt from the outside there is almost nothing to grab onto from the outside to tear it off. This method would mean your window would be open but the plywood would cover it. Screens would also have to be to moved or push the bolt through it. Of course gas would defeat it easily but if someone was firebombing your house you probably have more to worry about. |
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OK. Seems to be a lot of zombie airsoft forum BS going on here about what is bullet proof. First, worry about insulating your house. If it was built like our is (and it sounds like it), you have ACTUAL 2x4 walls. The lathe and plaster take up a lot of room, leaving 1.5 to 2 inches of "insulation". Tear out lathe and plaster, insulate, drywall. This will serve you better for 99.99999% if situations. Now, to harden your home: If you live in the country, I say don't. Actually build a bunker/fort type structure. Bunker to hide/fort to defend. Honestly, if you are defending at your house, you lost. You need to take the battle to them AWAY from your house. Be careful of this too, even in a mad max scenario, you don't just shoot anyone who wanders within range  .OK, so fort not possible? No problem. First, when you put up siding, put up cement board or steel. Put up metal roofing. Why? Well, there will be plenty of glass bottles, rags and burnable stuff that likes to start shit on fire that will be of common use if they are that close. Around your windows, fortify with AR500 steel plating. Yes, it is expensive. However, you will be defending from windows (if you already tactically failed and are shooting FROM your house) and will want ballistic protection. You can put this on the inside or out. You compensate for the armor by putting thinner drywall/OSB OVER the steel plating. Beware: You ain't getting a nail through it, so keep that in mind. I can blow through 1/4" steel with standard 55gr lead FMJ with my AR at 45 yards. A few inches of sand will just make shrapnel to kill inside. Oh, did I mention don't defend the fort FROM the fort? 'Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more' -George S. Patton Jr.
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Quoted:
OK. Seems to be a lot of zombie airsoft forum BS going on here about what is bullet proof. First, worry about insulating your house. If it was built like our is (and it sounds like it), you have ACTUAL 2x4 walls. The lathe and plaster take up a lot of room, leaving 1.5 to 2 inches of "insulation". Tear out lathe and plaster, insulate, drywall. This will serve you better for 99.99999% if situations. Now, to harden your home: If you live in the country, I say don't. Actually build a bunker/fort type structure. Bunker to hide/fort to defend. Honestly, if you are defending at your house, you lost. You need to take the battle to them AWAY from your house. Be careful of this too, even in a mad max scenario, you don't just shoot anyone who wanders within range .
OK, so fort not possible? No problem. First, when you put up siding, put up cement board or steel. Put up metal roofing. Why? Well, there will be plenty of glass bottles, rags and burnable stuff that likes to start shit on fire that will be of common use if they are that close. Around your windows, fortify with AR500 steel plating. Yes, it is expensive. However, you will be defending from windows (if you already tactically failed and are shooting FROM your house) and will want ballistic protection. You can put this on the inside or out. You compensate for the armor by putting thinner drywall/OSB OVER the steel plating. Beware: You ain't getting a nail through it, so keep that in mind. I can blow through 1/4" steel with standard 55gr lead FMJ with my AR at 45 yards. A few inches of sand will just make shrapnel to kill inside. Oh, did I mention don't defend the fort FROM the fort? 'Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more' -George S. Patton Jr. You were doing great till there. While the sand will bow out the walls and possibly damage the foundation with the extra weight; 4" of sand will stop a 55gr FMJ round O_P's already done it. |
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its a good idea. you can test yourself by mocking up a 2x4 wall and shooting it. also...you don't have to fill up the walls to 6 feet. How many firefights are done standing up? 2.5 feet and maybe a lil bit more around windows is all you would need, but I would wait till a SHTF to put that into place. another option is to get a dozer or skidsteer and quickly mound up dirt around your home. Where to get a dozer is all you need to work out ahead of time. they are pretty easy to acquire. |
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Except stopping 5.56, .308, and 12 gauge slugs... The problem is not that it won't stop the bullets - but the weight will destroy the house, rendering the bullets moot. Quoted:
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Six inches of sand is not really going to buy you anything. Except stopping 5.56, .308, and 12 gauge slugs... The problem is not that it won't stop the bullets - but the weight will destroy the house, rendering the bullets moot. This. If you want a bullet proof/resistant house, you have to design and build it that way from the beginning. You can bullet proof a house after the fact, but it will be so expensive and require so much reinforcing it won't be worth it. Do it right and build a monolithic dome - proven to w/stand .30-06 rounds, F5 winds (strongest tornado), fire, and hurricane waves washing ashore. |