What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Homes and Retreats
ForgeCorvus
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by ForgeCorvus »

Weather events, then you should board on the outside.
Also if theres a chance of accidental damage, such as a massive gathering in the street

If you want to fort up, thats probably better on the inside...... Not something I'm likely to need to do
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easy rider
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by easy rider »

We have a couple rolls of a thick semi transparent with light self adhesive plastic that is used to put on carpets and flooring during the undertaking of building work and alike.
Very heavy Waring and will make it difficult to see clearly through and hold glass together some .
Our Windows are double glazed and the outer glass has lead strip both sides so again Will help some.

If I am honest I would when financially able look at double glazed units of hammer glass.failing this on new glass replacement maybe fitting laminated sheet to the glazed units would also be beneficial and can be reasonably priced,3m stuff even.
This can be done diy to inside pain and best done with beading removed.
Back in the day of external glazed bars it was advisable go use silicone to adhere unit to the frame prior to fitting glazing bars so glazed unit couldn't be pulled out

I do think it wise that you don't draw attention to your own property so you become picked out but I guess it's a fine line between security that works and looking like a fort.

It may also be wise to store boards than can be quickly cut fitted in case it gets serious suitable fixing screws identified too.

May also be wise to have hinge protectors and other lock upgrades to upvc doors Windows,anti snap locks, a suitable way to block letter boxes so on.

Making the internal doors from rooms with ground floor Windows to other parts of the house secure will also be beneficial as you can fall back securely giving you seconds minutes even to think act if home invasion happens.
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PreppingPingu
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by PreppingPingu »

The other useful thing about blocking up your windows in the case of a SHtF event if there was also no or limited power, then by even just blacking out as someone mentioned, like in war time, then no one knows if you have a power source. If someone has light, logic says they may have means to cook and keep warm too so that in itself could attract unwanted attention.
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Arwen Thebard
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by Arwen Thebard »

We lived in Europe for many years and the standard double glazed windows had roller shutters built in, boy do we miss them! They were really easy to use and great at keeping out bad weather and unwanted intruders.

We now have cut plywood sheets, salvaged from a building site, ready to screw in place if needed. We decided to fit ours on the outside as inside there were too many handles and locks got in the way. Inside we have already fitted reflective mirror sheets which you cant see through in the daytime, and have heavy curtains. I like the idea of pasting different layers onto the glass as posted above and will look into that as it sounds like a quick and easy option. Ours is a bungalow so we have rose bushes in front of the main windows and a full cctv security system with IR floodlights so we can see what going on at anytime, day or night.
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Ahastyatom
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by Ahastyatom »

Arzosah wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:38 pm ForgeCorvus, absolutely, those wooden shutters are lovely, and they give a great feeling to the room. Sadly, not many houses have them :(
We have had shutters fitted to our bay window. They were not cheap but you could have them fitted retrospectively. They look great and people just assume it's a fashion thing.

I think I will also get some of that clear window covering mentioned earlier. I might get enough to do inside and outside. I remember when we were getting new windows, one of the big suppliers told me they don't put safety glass on the outside so the thieves breaking in are more likely get cut.
Arzosah
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by Arzosah »

Internal wooden shutters as a fashion thing are a possibility, thats true.

Very interesting about the outer layer of double glazing! I sort of wonder if thats true, to be honest, as householders usually get prosecuted for causing intentional injury, and if a manufacturer did the same thing, there'd be a class action or something :(

Found a very detailed article about glass in windows from aviva, https://www.aviva.co.uk/risksolutions/k ... swer/1736/
to be honest, a bit too detailed for this time of night, I'm a bit tired :oops: linking it now to retrieve it tomorrow.
grenfell
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Re: What to do with windows in a SHTF situation

Post by grenfell »

nightowl wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 12:50 am We've got quite large bay windows facing the street. I wonder if boarding up in a SHTF situation is almost advertising that you're someone prepared who has got stuff in your house worth protecting. Thoughts?
Probably depends on what sort of incident you are thinking of and also to a degree what's around you. We don't get the severe storms that some places in the world get and while boarded up houses are more normal in Louisiana when there's a hurricane on the way in suburban England it's more likely to say "abandoned house" ( please come and squat) especially in all the neighbours houses aren't boarded.
Window film is a good idea . Easy to retro fit , cheap enough to do a lot of glass , makes it harder to break and is pretty discrete. External window shutters are largely decorative on most houses nowadays as well as seeming to be out of fashion but can be made to be closed although unless you have inward opening windows would have to be closed from the outside. I've worked on numerous buildings with the internal shutters and they always seemed a pain to get working 100% . I think it's largely because of their position they are constantly exposed to heat and cold and tend to warp ( these being old wooden types) and either fold back properly and not close too well or the other way round . Two disadvantages are that they don't protect the window itself nor are they lightproof .
If you're just wanting to not attract too much attention then thick curtains will cut out the light and don't forget to fit a pelmet. Again a little out of fashion these days but the stop light escaping as well as preventing thermosyphoning which is where warm air is drawn behind the curtains , cools against the glass and comes out the bottom.