The Ultimate Secure Home
 




The artificial rock front blends in perfectly with the natural environment
Some years ago, the owners of this property had a log hunting cabin in another part of Colorado. Beautiful, yes, but the wood construction posed numerous problems. Several "near-miss" incidents made the family realize how vulnerable the cabin was to any number of disasters and threats. A winter storm, which blew the front door open, might have caused the water pipes to freeze and break, flooding both the upper and lower levels, resulting in many thousands of dollars damage, had it not been discovered in time. A forest fire, which started when a tree fell on the above-ground power line leading to the cabin, came frighteningly close to the wood structure and to within just a few feet of the above-ground propane tanks. A hailstorm necessitated a new roof, a new paint job, and major repairs to the siding. The large front glass windows were spared from damage, but nevertheless were extremely vulnerable. And finally, when the cabin was broken into and many valuable antiques were stolen, the owners decided to look for a safer kind of structure for their retreat, and a better, more remote location.

After spending 2 ½ years studying every kind of alternative home construction, everything from earthships made out of spare tires, to rammed-earth construction, to monolithic domes, they ultimately realized there was only one kind of construction that would afford them the kind of security they wanted: an earth home (made with Formwork's patented thin-shell concrete construction technique). The house they finally built is not just any earth home. It is what has come to be known in the industry as a "secure home." It is an unparalleled model of the ultimate secure home. Its many features will amaze you.

While the term "secure home" is still relatively new to the general public, this unique segment of the home construction industry has, for the past decade, been growing steadily, albeit slowly. Presently, with the increased threat of major terrorist attacks, many more people than ever before are building secure homes. Also, more contractors and consultants have recently dedicated themselves to the concept of disaster-resistant and self-sufficient residences. It is only with a realistic understanding of the potential for terrorist attacks, and the magnitude of the problems they could cause, that one can truly recognize the value of a secure home.

This patented steel-reinforced concrete earth sheltered structure, properly called a thin-shell dome, is built to withstand almost any natural or man-made disaster you can name. And that's not just an idle promise. These buildings have withstood tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes - some measuring over 7.0 on the Richter scale - and in every case they have come away with no structural damage at all. Unlike monolithic domes, and all other types of home construction, only Formwork's concrete domes can be completely buried deep underground.

The house has 2472 square feet, with an additional 800 square feet in the attached 24' x 36' underground garage. The main floor of the house consists of a large living room, two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, pantry, and laundry closet. Upstairs is a loft and two multi-purpose storage/sleeping rooms. The house currently has ten beds in seven different rooms. There is lots of additional space for other cots or bedrolls. A 22' long x 6' wide hallway leads to the garage. This hall is lined on one side with 18" deep shelf units, providing a considerable amount of quick-access storage. The other wall of this hall is a convenient place to store larger items, such as skis, bicycles, or a vacuum cleaner, that wouldn't fit on the shelves. Additionally, a large storage attic is found above the garage.

The living room's high-domed ceiling gives the room an open, spacious feeling. A custom steel stairway leads from the loft to a cupola perched on top of the house. Light from the cupola gives the same effect as a skylight, but without any loss in security. The four windows in this "lookout" allow for a 360-degree view of the surrounding property.

In addition to the four windows in the cupola, there are six additional windows in the house; each bedroom has a window, and the living room has another four windows. So the living room, open kitchen, and loft all receive light from eight different windows (the four in the cupola, and the four in the living room).

Because the windows are on the small side, and also because the two bathrooms, the two upstairs multi-purpose rooms, the garage, and, of course, the safe room are all windowless, the house is somewhat darker than most conventional houses. However, the large solar system provides plenty of power to run electrical lights.

The lack of large windows is one of the main reasons the house is so secure. Unavoidably, there is a trade-off between lots of natural light and security. It is simply impossible to adequately secure a house with numerous large pane windows.

If one wants to further fortify the house, hardened steel shutters can be locked in place over all the windows. In this “mode” the inside of the house has no outside light at all. But again, the oversized solar electric system has plenty of power for lights.

The Above-Ground Cupola






The opening to the Cupola from the living area,
with its sunshine coming through






Even the stove chimney was designed
to blend into the surroundings!





The Kitchen with its energy optimized utilities
"Energy efficient" implies extra insulation and double pane glass windows to most people, but this type of earth home has proven itself to be the ultimate in energy efficiency/heat retention. With no heat at all, the inside temperature will not drop below 50 degrees F., even in extreme, prolonged winter conditions. For comfort, however, there is a Harmon wood/coal freestanding stove, along with a back-up propane heater. In the summer months, the house temperature stays pleasantly cool.

Every appliance throughout the house was specially manufactured for use in solar electric homes. The kitchen has a Sun Frost refrigerator/freezer, a Peerless propane range with "no-glow-bar" oven, and a Staber 2000 clothes washer, while the garage has a chest-style freezer.

Outside, a 1,000 gallon above-ground propane tank is extremely well hidden and protected from potential vandals. Just in case, there is an additional 1,000 gallon underground propane tank. The generator, water heater, kitchen range and oven, wall heater, and clothes dryer all use propane, but the 2,000 gallons of stored propane should supply all of these appliances for a very long time. In an all-out national crisis, it would be a simple matter to heat water with the back-up wood-fired water heater, and to dry clothes with an old fashioned hand wringer and clothesline. Also, as a back-up to the propane range, there is a Stanley-Waterton wood stove and range.

The owners originally planned to use the house as a summer home. However, because of it's comfort and year-round accessibility, the house is well suited for year-round living. Either way, whether one chooses to use it as a primary residence, or only periodically, they can be comfortably assured that all of their valuable belongings and supplies will be very safe, even when away for extended periods.

Joel Skousen, the renowned expert on secure homes, and author of the book "The Secure Home", has laid down a list of what he considers to be essential for self-sufficiency and security. The essentials are: an independent water supply as well as a back-up supply, alternate electrical power, energy efficient appliances, alternate forms of heat, more than one communication option, adequate storage facilities, including cool storage for long-term food storage, fire-resistant construction and the ability to fight a fire inside the house, multiple forms of security and intruder detection, a high-security safe room/fallout shelter, above normal fortification of the house and grounds and a remote location. Joel states that very few people actually achieve 100% of these elements. It's safe to say, this house has it all!

Even though Joel listed remote location last, it is, perhaps, the most important criteria. So important an issue that he wrote a separate book about it entitled, "Strategic Relocation". To build a secure home in the city or even in the suburbs would likely be self-defeating. If however, the secure home is built in a remote location, it then, and only then, can be considered a true retreat. The two, a secure home and a remote location, go hand in hand.

In answer to the question "What exactly is a retreat?", one author wrote, "A retreat is a place you go to live, not die. It is a place out of the mainstream of events that contains the means to survive without outside support. It is defensible and is put together with a realistic understanding of what the dangers will be. It is both a plan and an inventory. A retreat is a place where you find the shelter and protection, food, water, medicine and warmth you prepared for yourself until society returns to its normal, nondestructive, repetitious rut. The trick here is to have a prepared retreat wherein you can be one of the survivors."

This same author also wrote, "Why retreat? is a question that 90 percent of our population cannot and will not answer. If they could, that same 90 percent of our friends, neighbors, and countymen would have to admit that things may not continue on as they are now. They would also have to admit that they will need a retreat - something completely impossible for the average American to do."

Following the tragic 9/11 attacks, a renewed interest in civil defense and personal preparedness alike has occurred that is unrivalled since the start of the Cold War following WWII. Since then, the need for owning a secure home has taken on a new urgency. For the past two or more years, the news has been full of scary reports about the possibility of bio-terrorism and resulting pandemic.

For example, the CDC warned that another flu epidemic, worse than ever before, is bound to occur. To put this prediction into proper perspective it is important to realize that the great Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 killed between 20 and 40 million people worldwide, more people in one year than the Black Plague killed in the entire four years of its outbreak. Other news stories such as "SARS and the Coming Terrible Flus" and "The Mystery of the Dead Scientists", as well as many others, seem to support the CDC's warning.

Other government officials are worried about the possibility of a major smallpox outbreak. In June of 2001, The U.S. conducted a major simulation of a terrorist smallpox attack against 3 American cities. It was named Dark Winter, and it lived up to its name.

The exercise took place at Andrews Air Force Base, and was attended by many senior level government officials. Participating institutions included the John Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, and the Analytical Services Institute for Homeland Security.

The results of this exercise were grim, to put it mildly. According to the National Security Council, the worst case scenario was that within seven weeks, one million Americans would be dead, many millions others would be sick, and the disease would have spread to 25 states and to 13 foreign countries.

The Dark Winter exercise was no trivial undertaking. It was carefully planned and orchestrated, primarily by the prestigious John Hopkins University, to answer one question: Could America withstand an attack of human-inflicted disease. The answer was a resounding NO! - at least not in the case of smallpox. We flunked the exercise on a catastrophic scale.

Three months after the exercise, the September 11th attacks against the World Trade Center, and the subsequent anthrax mailings caused the attacks of terrorists to suddenly be more than just the stuff of "what if" simulations like Dark Winter. Terrorism had reached American soil for real.

Still others are predicting that diseases much worse than flu or smallpox will soon emerge. For example, Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard graduate who has become an internationally known authority in the overlapping fields of public health, behavioral science, emerging diseases, and bio-terrorism (best known for his national best selling book, Emerging Viruses - AIDS and Ebola - Nature, Accident, or Intentional?) believes that "The Big One" will be a genetically-engineered mutant of influenza and para-influenza viruses recombined with acute lymphocytic leukemia viruses. In other words, it will be a strain of the flu that spreads quick killing cancer by sneezing. One can only wonder what the results of Dark Winter would have been if it was done with such a killer virus, instead of just smallpox.

The truth is, there is a smorgasbord of infectious agents and diseases out there waiting to be released, contracted, and spread - plague, tularemia, SARS, Ebola, Marburg, West Nile virus, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, to name just a few. With population growth, unprecedented immigration, and increased global travel, the possibility of a major international epidemic looms ever closer on the horizon.

So what does the future hold for us with the possibility of future plagues? The owners of this home definitely don't know the answer to this question, only that their house would be a very safe place for self-quarantine during such an outbreak.

A secure home like this is the wave of the future. Such a house doesn't appear on the open real estate market very often, if at all. And one of such outstanding design, quality, function, and security is virtually unheard of. Because of the owner's illness and major surgery, the house is currently being offered at only 65% of the actual building costs. The chance to own this premier retreat is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Dupe.   But a good one.  

Why are you posting photos of my house on the internet????????




Zen





"This is my rifle, there are many like it, but this one is mine"

So, he wants to live like a hobbit?

Quoted: So, he wants to live like a hobbit?

eh i'll take my missle silo.....



actually there's a comms bunker with a 150' tower up on top... I'd LOVE that... anyone got a quarter mil to spare?

-Roth

the ultimate secure home -

any home with an AR-15 in it.

Looks like the Teletubbies house

Quoted: Because of the owner's illness and major surgery, the house is currently being offered at only 65% of the actual building costs. The chance to own this premier retreat is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Doesn't look like the "secure" home helped the owner very much...

Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it.

+1

Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it.

Not really, because it is the operator that makes the home secure, not the rifle.

tagged, dont trash it if it is a dupe

Quoted: Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it. Not really, because it is the operator that makes the home secure, not the rifle.

95% of it is scaring the shit out of anyone that comes in, and any liberal will tell you just how scary the AR-15 is. Besides, anyone with enough taste to buy an AR-15 has to be a good operator.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it. Not really, because it is the operator that makes the home secure, not the rifle. 95% of it is scaring the shit out of anyone that comes in, and any liberal will tell you just how scary the AR-15 is. Besides, anyone with enough taste to buy an AR-15 has to be a good operator.

Ahhhh, now i see your point. but to be perfectly honest, if i was going to point a gun at someone who was in my house, i would rather have them be looking down the barrel of my .44.

I do see your point though.

Costs? Just curious how much for the place...

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it. Not really, because it is the operator that makes the home secure, not the rifle. 95% of it is scaring the shit out of anyone that comes in, and any liberal will tell you just how scary the AR-15 is. Besides, anyone with enough taste to buy an AR-15 has to be a good operator. hr Ahhhh, now i see your point. but to be perfectly honest, if i was going to point a gun at someone who was in my house, i would rather have them be looking down the barrel of my .44. I do see your point though.

.44 does a good job

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: the ultimate secure home - any home with an AR-15 in it. Not really, because it is the operator that makes the home secure, not the rifle. 95% of it is scaring the shit out of anyone that comes in, and any liberal will tell you just how scary the AR-15 is. Besides, anyone with enough taste to buy an AR-15 has to be a good operator. Ahhhh, now i see your point. but to be perfectly honest, if i was going to point a gun at someone who was in my house, i would rather have them be looking down the barrel of my .44. I do see your point though. .44 does a good job

i know someone will say it, so it might as well be me:

12 gauge would be better.

Quoted: So, he wants to live like a hobbit?

Beat me to it.  I expect to see Frodo walking about.

"Honey, I'm gonna go mow the roof"

Where are the gun ports?  I don't see any gun ports.

Quoted: Costs? Just curious how much for the place...

+1 on cost?  I like the place.  Safe and energy efficient.

Website says currently offered at $495,000

Tagged.  I did a paper on earth sheltered homes years ago.  I have always had an interest in them.

Quoted: The Ultimate Secure Home   The artificial rock front blends in perfectly with the natural environment Some years ago, the owners of this property had a log hunting cabin in another part of Colorado. Beautiful, yes, but the wood construction posed numerous problems. Several "near-miss" incidents made the family realize how vulnerable the cabin was to any number of disasters and threats. A winter storm, which blew the front door open, might have caused the water pipes to freeze and break, flooding both the upper and lower levels, resulting in many thousands of dollars damage, had it not been discovered in time. A forest fire, which started when a tree fell on the above-ground power line leading to the cabin, came frighteningly close to the wood structure and to within just a few feet of the above-ground propane tanks. A hailstorm necessitated a new roof, a new paint job, and major repairs to the siding. The large front glass windows were spared from damage, but nevertheless were extremely vulnerable. And finally, when the cabin was broken into and many valuable antiques were stolen, the owners decided to look for a safer kind of structure for their retreat, and a better, more remote location. After spending 2 ½ years studying every kind of alternative home construction, everything from earthships made out of spare tires, to rammed-earth construction, to monolithic domes, they ultimately realized there was only one kind of construction that would afford them the kind of security they wanted: an earth home (made with Formwork's patented thin-shell concrete construction technique). The house they finally built is not just any earth home. It is what has come to be known in the industry as a "secure home." It is an unparalleled model of the ultimate secure home. Its many features will amaze you. img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home1.bmp While the term "secure home" is still relatively new to the general public, this unique segment of the home construction industry has, for the past decade, been growing steadily, albeit slowly. Presently, with the increased threat of major terrorist attacks, many more people than ever before are building secure homes. Also, more contractors and consultants have recently dedicated themselves to the concept of disaster-resistant and self-sufficient residences. It is only with a realistic understanding of the potential for terrorist attacks, and the magnitude of the problems they could cause, that one can truly recognize the value of a secure home. This patented steel-reinforced concrete earth sheltered structure, properly called a thin-shell dome, is built to withstand almost any natural or man-made disaster you can name. And that's not just an idle promise. These buildings have withstood tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes - some measuring over 7.0 on the Richter scale - and in every case they have come away with no structural damage at all. Unlike monolithic domes, and all other types of home construction, only Formwork's concrete domes can be completely buried deep underground. img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home2.bmp The house has 2472 square feet, with an additional 800 square feet in the attached 24' x 36' underground garage. The main floor of the house consists of a large living room, two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, pantry, and laundry closet. Upstairs is a loft and two multi-purpose storage/sleeping rooms. The house currently has ten beds in seven different rooms. There is lots of additional space for other cots or bedrolls. A 22' long x 6' wide hallway leads to the garage. This hall is lined on one side with 18" deep shelf units, providing a considerable amount of quick-access storage. The other wall of this hall is a convenient place to store larger items, such as skis, bicycles, or a vacuum cleaner, that wouldn't fit on the shelves. Additionally, a large storage attic is found above the garage. img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home3.bmp The living room's high-domed ceiling gives the room an open, spacious feeling. A custom steel stairway leads from the loft to a cupola perched on top of the house. Light from the cupola gives the same effect as a skylight, but without any loss in security. The four windows in this "lookout" allow for a 360-degree view of the surrounding property. img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home4.bmp In addition to the four windows in the cupola, there are six additional windows in the house; each bedroom has a window, and the living room has another four windows. So the living room, open kitchen, and loft all receive light from eight different windows (the four in the cupola, and the four in the living room). img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home5.bmp Because the windows are on the small side, and also because the two bathrooms, the two upstairs multi-purpose rooms, the garage, and, of course, the safe room are all windowless, the house is somewhat darker than most conventional houses. However, the large solar system provides plenty of power to run electrical lights. The lack of large windows is one of the main reasons the house is so secure. Unavoidably, there is a trade-off between lots of natural light and security. It is simply impossible to adequately secure a house with numerous large pane windows. img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home6.bmp If one wants to further fortify the house, hardened steel shutters can be locked in place over all the windows. In this “mode” the inside of the house has no outside light at all. But again, the oversized solar electric system has plenty of power for lights. The Above-Ground Cupola img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/cloverleaf762/home7.bmp The opening to the Cupola from the living area, with its sunshine coming through Even the stove chimney was designed to blend into the surroundings! The Kitchen with its energy optimized utilities "Energy efficient" implies extra insulation and double pane glass windows to most people, but this type of earth home has proven itself to be the ultimate in energy efficiency/heat retention. With no heat at all, the inside temperature will not drop below 50 degrees F., even in extreme, prolonged winter conditions. For comfort, however, there is a Harmon wood/coal freestanding stove, along with a back-up propane heater. In the summer months, the house temperature stays pleasantly cool. Every appliance throughout the house was specially manufactured for use in solar electric homes. The kitchen has a Sun Frost refrigerator/freezer, a Peerless propane range with "no-glow-bar" oven, and a Staber 2000 clothes washer, while the garage has a chest-style freezer. Outside, a 1,000 gallon above-ground propane tank is extremely well hidden and protected from potential vandals. Just in case, there is an additional 1,000 gallon underground propane tank. The generator, water heater, kitchen range and oven, wall heater, and clothes dryer all use propane, but the 2,000 gallons of stored propane should supply all of these appliances for a very long time. In an all-out national crisis, it would be a simple matter to heat water with the back-up wood-fired water heater, and to dry clothes with an old fashioned hand wringer and clothesline. Also, as a back-up to the propane range, there is a Stanley-Waterton wood stove and range. The owners originally planned to use the house as a summer home. However, because of it's comfort and year-round accessibility, the house is well suited for year-round living. Either way, whether one chooses to use it as a primary residence, or only periodically, they can be comfortably assured that all of their valuable belongings and supplies will be very safe, even when away for extended periods. Joel Skousen, the renowned expert on secure homes, and author of the book "The Secure Home", has laid down a list of what he considers to be essential for self-sufficiency and security. The essentials are: an independent water supply as well as a back-up supply, alternate electrical power, energy efficient appliances, alternate forms of heat, more than one communication option, adequate storage facilities, including cool storage for long-term food storage, fire-resistant construction and the ability to fight a fire inside the house, multiple forms of security and intruder detection, a high-security safe room/fallout shelter, above normal fortification of the house and grounds and a remote location. Joel states that very few people actually achieve 100% of these elements. It's safe to say, this house has it all! Even though Joel listed remote location last, it is, perhaps, the most important criteria. So important an issue that he wrote a separate book about it entitled, "Strategic Relocation". To build a secure home in the city or even in the suburbs would likely be self-defeating. If however, the secure home is built in a remote location, it then, and only then, can be considered a true retreat. The two, a secure home and a remote location, go hand in hand. In answer to the question "What exactly is a retreat?", one author wrote, "A retreat is a place you go to live, not die. It is a place out of the mainstream of events that contains the means to survive without outside support. It is defensible and is put together with a realistic understanding of what the dangers will be. It is both a plan and an inventory. A retreat is a place where you find the shelter and protection, food, water, medicine and warmth you prepared for yourself until society returns to its normal, nondestructive, repetitious rut. The trick here is to have a prepared retreat wherein you can be one of the survivors." This same author also wrote, "Why retreat? is a question that 90 percent of our population cannot and will not answer. If they could, that same 90 percent of our friends, neighbors, and countymen would have to admit that things may not continue on as they are now. They would also have to admit that they will need a retreat - something completely impossible for the average American to do." Following the tragic 9/11 attacks, a renewed interest in civil defense and personal preparedness alike has occurred that is unrivalled since the start of the Cold War following WWII. Since then, the need for owning a secure home has taken on a new urgency. For the past two or more years, the news has been full of scary reports about the possibility of bio-terrorism and resulting pandemic. For example, the CDC warned that another flu epidemic, worse than ever before, is bound to occur. To put this prediction into proper perspective it is important to realize that the great Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 killed between 20 and 40 million people worldwide, more people in one year than the Black Plague killed in the entire four years of its outbreak. Other news stories such as "SARS and the Coming Terrible Flus" and "The Mystery of the Dead Scientists", as well as many others, seem to support the CDC's warning. Other government officials are worried about the possibility of a major smallpox outbreak. In June of 2001, The U.S. conducted a major simulation of a terrorist smallpox attack against 3 American cities. It was named Dark Winter, and it lived up to its name. The exercise took place at Andrews Air Force Base, and was attended by many senior level government officials. Participating institutions included the John Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, and the Analytical Services Institute for Homeland Security. The results of this exercise were grim, to put it mildly. According to the National Security Council, the worst case scenario was that within seven weeks, one million Americans would be dead, many millions others would be sick, and the disease would have spread to 25 states and to 13 foreign countries. The Dark Winter exercise was no trivial undertaking. It was carefully planned and orchestrated, primarily by the prestigious John Hopkins University, to answer one question: Could America withstand an attack of human-inflicted disease. The answer was a resounding NO! - at least not in the case of smallpox. We flunked the exercise on a catastrophic scale. Three months after the exercise, the September 11th attacks against the World Trade Center, and the subsequent anthrax mailings caused the attacks of terrorists to suddenly be more than just the stuff of "what if" simulations like Dark Winter. Terrorism had reached American soil for real. Still others are predicting that diseases much worse than flu or smallpox will soon emerge. For example, Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard graduate who has become an internationally known authority in the overlapping fields of public health, behavioral science, emerging diseases, and bio-terrorism (best known for his national best selling book, Emerging Viruses - AIDS and Ebola - Nature, Accident, or Intentional?) believes that "The Big One" will be a genetically-engineered mutant of influenza and para-influenza viruses recombined with acute lymphocytic leukemia viruses. In other words, it will be a strain of the flu that spreads quick killing cancer by sneezing. One can only wonder what the results of Dark Winter would have been if it was done with such a killer virus, instead of just smallpox. The truth is, there is a smorgasbord of infectious agents and diseases out there waiting to be released, contracted, and spread - plague, tularemia, SARS, Ebola, Marburg, West Nile virus, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, to name just a few. With population growth, unprecedented immigration, and increased global travel, the possibility of a major international epidemic looms ever closer on the horizon. So what does the future hold for us with the possibility of future plagues? The owners of this home definitely don't know the answer to this question, only that their house would be a very safe place for self-quarantine during such an outbreak. A secure home like this is the wave of the future. Such a house doesn't appear on the open real estate market very often, if at all. And one of such outstanding design, quality, function, and security is virtually unheard of. Because of the owner's illness and major surgery, the house is currently being offered at only 65% of the actual building costs. The chance to own this premier retreat is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Anyone notice that in the 1st pic there is a garage door style cover that drops down over the front door and windows? If I didn't have have a huge desire for natural light I would like one of these. Oh, and yes, it needs some sort of gun port system. Reminds me of the French Magginott line. Did I spell that right?

S.O.