What is your time frame

[airdrop]

a few days in a tent , longer in a camper, months or a few years at a retreat set up for growing your next meal. Rabbits,chickens, fish pond, stored food , how deep do you want to go to survive?

[paprikafaa]

It would seem if you were in a serious survival situation, that the notion of a few days would be almost laughable. (not that I'm laughing, mind you, but it makes sense) Post-catastrophic event time frame would be my ideal. I intend to have a cabin that can be folded up and transported with others' cabins, in such a way as to allow a number of people to be housed in relative safety. Fold-up cabins have to be built. Those tent-style things that you can buy in a store aren't secure enough. In the case of a catastrophic event, some idiot is bound to "pull a PETA" and let the zoo animals out. Then think of the damage that will cause. And the risk of sleeping in a tent. Or anywhere close to the ground, for that matter. Imagine, if you will, a secure tree-house, or series of houses. Or even a house on stilts. Those are very common in the area near Mobile Bay, older communities such as Coden, Wolf Bay, and Gulf Shores. That is my ultimate goal. Houses are cheap, too. Have you ever read the book, Tiny Houses? Awesome book. Proof that housing does not have to involve thousands of square footage. You can buy a few at a Morgan Store for the same price you'd spend on a vehicle (okay, a new vehicle). They're called Portable Buildings, & if you stick one on stilts, you have a secure, safe place to sleep at night. If you disguise it right, it's invisible until someone's almost directly below it, & by that time, the security systems will have alerted you to the presence of an intruder (unless you forgot the security systems).

[The Founder]

Where can I get more information on these fold up cabins...I haven't seen these...as for the animal problem...out where we are this is something that we deal with every time we go in a remote area... this problem is getting worse, with more people moving in and moving the animals out....something we have to live with....Kenny

[paprikafaa]

Fold up cabins are made with 10-12 pieces, attached to each other with hinges. They're based upon the idea that a box can be made from bamboo and heavy paper or lightweight lattice. Think of Japanese houses. I prefer the lightweight lattice version, myself. The bamboo (planks), stiff lattice, tarp (or tent), and hinges can be bought at any hardware outlet. The boxes are big enough for 1-3 people, unless they're children. It will hold about 5-6 children. I invite you to check these sites for more information on the building materials:
If you really need to order and buy custom cut bamboo, www.franksupply.com/
I recommend bamboo because it's nature's fiberglass. It's tough, sturdy, lightweight, and strong.

www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202694004/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Bamboo slats, bundle of 50, enough for a few folding cabins

www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202694012/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
In case you're not wanting to spend so much, or don't need as much

www.lowes.com/pd_361746-87439-65001423_0__?productId=3482013&Ntt=bamboo&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dbamboo%26page%3D4&facetInfo=
Bamboo Buddy 4'x8' Collapsible Natural Bamboo Lattice (aka walls, roof, & floor

www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=202949272&R=202949272
& the flooring of the cabin, on which to sleep.

the hinges, that make it all come together:
www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100668822&R=100668822

A few of these to hold the roof on:
www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hardware-Fasteners-Gate-Hardware-Latches/h_d1/N-5yc1vZasa7/R-202034263/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=202033896&R=202033896
& the corners, to make sure it holds its shape.

Basic instructions: attach half the bamboo lattice pieces to one another using the hinges. Make sure they will fold both directions. Put the roof & floor piece hinges on the short ends of one of each. The other panel must be connected on the long side. The box you make should look like a straightened Z (lose the angle, get the picture), and can be folded up and transported without being too heavy. I know that the items I suggest might be a little expensive but if you don't have a bamboo forest available like I have, it's kinda expensive to buy.
Once you have transported this (large, slightly bulky and annoying) cabin to your location, you can then lay the bamboo planks out in a tree of your choosing (I suggested the large pack of planks for this purpose, you only need about 10 for each base. This length of plank is perfect if you're making the 4'x8' box cabin. The larger 8'x8' version might require a longer plank.
Climb a tree (with your tree-climbing shoes on) and hoist the folded box up to the area of the tree you want the box to be set upon (with the bamboo planks laid out). Unfold it, lay it out, slide the latches into their slots to hold the roof in place, pin a tarp or large bits of canvas (you could use a tent if you wanted, at this point) to the inside. Put the last hinged panel nearest the trunk of the tree, for ease of access. That is your door. Now stick twigs, branches, and other bits of woodland stuffs into the lattice. If you can see the lattice, add more. Add some to the top and bottom, as well. Don't harvest the tree bits from the tree you're in, as this will call attention to that particular tree. Find a similar tree a little ways away from your tree. You now have a transportable, set-up, ready-to-live-in treehouse that can be taken down, folded up, carried or carted, and set up again in a new location in a very short time.
The corner bits can be screwed in to the tops & bottoms of each side, on one or both sides. This cabin is meant to be a transportable, semi-permanent dwelling. It's your choice if you want it to take an hour to set up & take down, or 2. It also depends upon the amount of winds in the area. Texas has a lot of high wind days. Alabama does not. Tennessee varies, about half their days are exceptionally calm. How it's made really does depend on your area.


Kenny, I really do understand the nature issue you have with the (human) overpopulation problem. 12' up a tree is a good place to be in the river swamp. In the mountains, I'd recommend a good, almost inaccessible cave. Not like there's a lot of them lying around, though. I don't know about other areas of the geography, as I have never been in a survival situation that didn't involve either a cave or a swamp.

[The Founder]

Again great link to Franks I will put a link on the Preparing to Survive site. Trying to get my mind wrapped around the concept of a fold up cabin....I am familiar with a Yurt...these are similar to what you are talking about I am sure you know of these. Both the folding cabin and the Yurt would be good in milder climates. The problem we have in the high country is the cold and snow. We need something with a lot of insulation as well as the ability to withstand a high snow load. Log cabins are about the only sensible solution. Caves would be good but as you say are difficult to locate.

[paprikafaa]

Have you studied up on the Dymaxion house? The materials are simple, sturdy, easy to put together, and the plans are almost entirely inaccessible. My husband wants one. It's a perfectly round house machine, envisioned, designed, and created by a modern mad scientist. Fuller may have been crazy as a dodo, but he was a genius. The house folds up, comes apart, and can be transported easily.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house This is Wikipedia on the Dymaxion house story. You can Google it, and you'll get a whole lot more. I doubt you'll find the clear and detailed plans for the construction of the house, but if you do, please, please send me the link. My hubby keeps talking about owning and living in one of these, and I'm of the opinion that if it's as transportable as he says it is, we can pack up our entire house and not have to worry. For that matter, we could build a few more, and store them in the back yard for the rest of the family....
happy hubby=more yarn and fiber. I'll live in a tin can for that man.

[jacksonandrews]

Mostly I have just lurked to see what people were saying but when I saw your post I did some research about the Dymaxion house and found they are very similar to the Geodesic dome as well as yurts. The geodesic domes I found all sorts of plans most of them cost but still it's something to start from I would say.

[The Founder]

The difference in what you Guys are looking at and what I am looking at is material. I want something that I can build completely from raw materials. My thinks is if my Group is forced to evacuate we will not have the materials to build a structure similar to what you guys are looking at. Papeikafaa....you are lucky in that you have a place to evacuate to that either has buildings are you can build ahead of time. I don't know what Jackson's situation is. The following is a good link to a Yurt site with plans. www.woodlandyurts.co.uk In some situations these would be good in that they can be somewhat portable. But in my Groups situation a Yurt would be to bulky to transport over terrain we will cross, if we have to evacuate on foot. My Group is planning on either a log cabin or a Hogan. A Hogan is built complete from materials on hand ....needs no chimney and is well insulated. The following are two links that will give you some idea of what a Hogan is. In this country especially a little south of here, they still use the Hogan. Mostly they use it for symbolic religious purposes. However they do build them to live in. fourcorners.blogs.plymouth.edu/2009/05/21/the-hogan-the-traditional-navajo-home-by-chelsi-coulombe-and-mary-ann-mcgarry/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan

[paprikafaa]

Tree houses aren't the most effective structures in the world of the hurricane. They aren't the safest. They tend to require that the people who live in them be restricted to a certain height/weight ratio. A hogan can be considered a permanent or semi-permanent dwelling, & I've been taught not to plan for a semi-permanent or permanent dwelling for about 2 years, being able to get away, sneak off, hide. A thought: a hole in the ground might do you more good than a tree house, but it would require a bit of land purchase or something like. The Complete Book of Underground Houses by Rob Roy (it's a real book, at least) found somewhere in this link: www.google.com/search?q=the+complete+book+of+underground+houses&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a could help you to make a decision about whether you want to live in a hole in the ground. It's CHEAP now, and SAFE later. It's also not an option for me, because of the water table. Annoying thing, that, especially since I really like the book. It's full of useful information about how to build a house underground, and the why of it. For example, the heating/cooling issues you have in the summer and winter above-ground are almost completely nullified by building underground (similar to what you'd have with a hogan, only slightly more efficient) because the temperature below ground level is almost always 55 degrees. That means that in the summer, there is no cooling bill, and in the winter, the heating bill is almost 30% less than it would be above ground. One of the things that the book mentions is that you could grow a lot more garden with an underground dwelling.
A thought you might entertain: underground dwellings are almost impossible to find if you disguise it right, and if you really wanted to, you could make an underground dwelling one of the safest and most defensible locations in the world. Pressure-sensitive mousetraps are useful tools for defense, you know. And, if placed in the right location with the right bait, could make a loud enough noise to alert someone inside the house. The person inside the house would then be able to take whatever action the person felt was necessary for the situation.
Defensible. Invisible. Protected. Silent. Safe. And entirely dependent upon the notion that nobody's going to be driving a tank across the roof(yard).

[paprikafaa]

EPIC score! simplydifferently.org/ This you may find useful.

[The Founder]

I think the best , simplest to build as well, quickest to build, easiest to maintain shelter would have to be what I wou;ld call a dugout. In "Out Of Harm's Way I" I give instructions on the construction of a dugout. The dugout would be the way to go if you are forced to evacuate in winter in a cold climate. It would be quick and warm.

[paprikafaa]

Dugout: a hole in the ground big enough to house 3-4 (or more) people comfortably, with a "roof" of layered latticework, leaves, a mesh or cloth of some sort, and sod, right? It has a fireplace of sorts dug into the back with a vent over the fireplace, reinforced with some form of tube or venting system, and the entryway is just big enough for a man to crouch and enter before stepping down to stretch to full height. Is this correct? If it is, I know of a sweat lodge created in much the same manner in Abilene, TX.