11 thoughts on “Real estate”

  1. You’d be better off buying property and designing exactly what you want than you would be buying someone else’s ideas and taking pot luck on the specs and workmanship.

  3. While I agree with Bandicoot’s assessment in general, I also don’t think that’s outrageous price-wise. I don’t live in an inflated area by any means but $230k isn’t too far out of the mean if the place isn’t just some kind of run-down shack apart from the shiny concertina wire.. almost sounds like a deal given the kinds of steps you’d have to take to really secure any kind of (crappy) modern construction.

  4. While I would neither trust nor want someone else’s design for this sort of thing, that’s a heck of a price.

    You can’t buy a 700 sq. ft. condo here (sans bunker) for 1.5 times that price.

    What I *would* like is a guide on practical fortifications of single family homes….

  5. That would be an interesting guide to read. What might be some answers…. for an existing house, remove the blown in insulation and replace it one panel at a time with concrete, etc? (yeah, I know, you’d have to make sure all the electircal was in conduit, but hey)

  6. Better yet, one with degrees of protection. While reinforced concrete slabs in the walls can provide valuable ballistic protection, if you want to prevent more common threats like home invasion, you may focus on reinforced door/window frames and fixtures, landscaping, etc.

    Having been burgled twice in my life, having a hard target is still a big improvement over “normal” homes.

  7. Concrete filler will also give you thermal mass to stay warm/cool. Unfortunately, that kind of upgrade seems limited to during construction or major remodelings.

    Steel doors, reinforced framing around them, but windows… how do you reinforce windows other than planting Holly bushes in front of them? Hmmm…. Dig planter boxes a foot or two down from surface level around the windows and put the bushes in… not only would they have to brave the thorns, but they’d have to contend with falling in through them. Hmmm….

  8. Smash-proof is a good start. If you can get at it in the design stage, nothing at ground level is better, but by the time one acquires a house it’s usually too late for that.

    Sounds like a good project for the creative and/or knowledgeable in the group. Or at least deserves some brainstorming.

  9. You don’t want bushes in front of your windows. All you need to do is think of where you used to hide when sneaking out friends as a teenager.

    I have an exception to the rule here in FL. Bougainvillea. You don’t want to try and hide there. It makes hiding in a giant rose bush with blackberry intertwined look comfy. It is on a trellis completely cvering the office window. I can see out, and it is hard as heck to see in. Window open gives sound recon too.

    Here in FL we like our windows hard, to protect from storms. Storm glazing is one option, “impact” windows another, and the newer option, I have no price on, are the 3m/Llumar films.
    http://www.llumar.com/na-eng/Safety/safety-security.html

  10. am to wonder

    why is he leaving a secure spot like that for somewhere else?be interresting just why he is leaving for elsewhere? Wildflower 07

  11. +1 on the bougainvillea. Nasty, thorny stuff to contend with, although it produces the usual amount of debris from the flowers. (which are pretty enough to make for that fault.)

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