Designing a preppers home

[jerrymrc]

A few simple features that I didn't see mentioned yet:

* Steel roof - for rain harvesting while retaining potability
* Wood burning stove cookstove and heat stove, with a floor plan / air circulation pattern conducive to wood heating.
* Root cellar and spring house close to the house or in the basement
* Water well drilled from the basement - with adequate ventilation and solar pump
* Outdoor summer kitchen in a screened in porch - for canning without blasting the house with heat in the summer
* South facing roofline pitched for ideal solar panels efficiency (unless snow accumulation dictates a steeper pitch)
* Roof overhangs tuned to the latitude so windows are in shadow during the summer months and in sun during the Winter months.
* Concrete or earthen construction throughout, so that the structure is less susceptible to fire damage.
* Basement is a must
* Water drip-line on the roof ridge line, for summer cooling without power (preferably from a ram pump, given an adequate water supply)
* Tunnel from the basement to a hidden exit as emergency egress and/or flanking position.
* Attic mounted cistern sitting on sturdy steel beams, for both the thermal mass and gravity fed water
* 1" hardened plate steel below each window,
* Sturdy storm/security shutters

You brought up some interesting points. Hope the members chew on them.

[omnione]

You brought up some interesting points. Hope the members chew on them.

Thanks. I'm also fascinated by the idea of designing a floor plan that can be built in stages. I really don't want to go into debt for a house again, so something that can be built ~200 sq ft at a time would be ideal for my situation. It could start as a flat-topped tiny home on an over-sized foundation, and eventually spring 3 or 4 wings and a second floor.

This would be pay-as-you build style to avoid usury. I would probably have to avoid areas of the country with zoning and building codes as well; or at least avoid places with expensive or onerous permitting processes.

Once my daughter graduates from high school in 3 years, and hopefully has a successful launch to independence, I hope to put some of my zany ideas into practice.

[tmckay2]

i was curious about this too. it would be nice to do it in stages

Thanks. I'm also fascinated by the idea of designing a floor plan that can be built in stages. I really don't want to go into debt for a house again, so something that can be built ~200 sq ft at a time would be ideal for my situation. It could start as a flat-topped tiny home on an over-sized foundation, and eventually spring 3 or 4 wings and a second floor.

This would be pay-as-you build style to avoid usury. I would probably have to avoid areas of the country with zoning and building codes as well; or at least avoid places with expensive or onerous permitting processes.

Once my daughter graduates from high school in 3 years, and hopefully has a successful launch to independence, I hope to put some of my zany ideas into practice.

[omnione]

Here's an extension on my earlier idea. Just doodles, really. I'm trying to envision how this house could be built out in phases. I'm not in love with this particular order of construction because it would involve building the staircase twice - but meh. It illustrates the idea:



And as long as I'm dreaming, here's a possible third or fourth stage, with a big open great room with windows out the back. It continues the theme of excessive roof square footage for rain catchment and for solar panel real estate.