Locking file cabinet for food
home defense equipment
Clever way to secure your home
home defense barricade buddy lock
home defense door barricade
home defense  door security
Smart doorstop for home defense
Tire spikes
Sandbags
Shooters bible: guide to home defense
Prepper's home defense book ~ impenetrable home defense
Prepper home defense security striker plate
Simple prepper home defense device
Guard dog danger sign
Smith & Wesson Pellet Gun
Home Defense 101 book
Hawkes Special Forces Handbook
U.S. Guide to boobytraps
Window protection
No trespassing sign
A big bone provides a deterrent in home defense
Home alone
Prepper's home defense
Holding your ground
Fish antibiotircs
Happy Preppers site for survivalists + preppers
Activated Charcoal uses in prepping
When the lights to out forever, then what?
nine reasons to love a Big Berkey
------------------------------------------------- Revised 02/17/2021
(C) Copyright  2012-2021 by
HappyPreppers.com. All rights reserved. The site happily targets concerned
citizens who are self-reliant survivalists, preppers and homesteaders with original content on survival following
societal collapse. You may link to our site, but
you may NOT reproduce any part of our content, or store our
content in any retrieval system to represent it as your own. Further, you may not transmit content in any other
form or by any means, including (but not limited to) electronic, photocopy, mechanical, or recording without
written consent. HappyPreppers.com makes no warranties.

HappyPreppers.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to
amazon.com, amazonsupply.com, or myhabit.com. Amazon is a great place to buy emergency supplies. In other
words, we recommend prepping gear sold on Amazon. It's a great place to shop.

Get prepared! Read more emergency preparedness information on our home page.


This
article on prepper shelter defense has been archived by waybackmachine.org and saved as many as 9
times between June 12, 2016 and February 16, 2021. This helps protect our copyright.

Please do NOT copy. (Linking is okay.)

sitemap
privacy policy
Prepper Home Defense Guide
Fortify your home against looters!

How to fortify your home against looters: in good times, and bad!
Are you ready to defend your family and home in the event of
crisis? Are you ready to implement a complete plan for
operational security and physical defense?

Looting seems to happen in emergency situations more often
than not, and as preppers we often think we're prepared, but are
we? Preparation is more than firearms and ammunition. It's about
planning and fortifying your home against looters in clever ways
and being prepared to handle whatever comes your way in good
tiems and in bad. Your home is your fortress and filled with preps
intended only for you and your family. Here's how to defend
what's rightfully yours and have an impenetrable home defense...
How to survive Radiation fallout
Prepper Deal Alerts Check
our
daily deals for prepping
gear and food storage.
Point of Entry #5: French door in the rear.
Since police enter from the front, burglars often choose to enter
and leave your property through the sliding glass doors in the
patio. Often homeowners or tenants will leave the door open for a
pet, dog walker or family member, or they forget to close them!
You can deter entry by placing a wooden rod at the sliders. French
doors are particularly weak. In either case, they will break glass if
necessary, but that will cause unwanted noise. They will have no
hesitation to break them if the risk is low.

Point of Entry #6: Master bedroom.
In bad times, marauders will probably enter the kitchen first, but
in good times it's the master bedroom that's the point of entry.
You can have a barricade for your bedrooms as a line of defense.

Prepper Home Defense Tactics
Every home is a man's castle, but a prepper thinks about his
home in terms of fortifying a castle. To protect your home from
everyday burglary and invasion, employ these tools:

Deterrent #1: Hang a foreboding sign.
Avert danger altogether with a sign. A bio-hazard sign or
quarantine sign will deter intrusion during a pandemic, but what
kind of sign can you hang during another kind of crisis?

The first layer of defense should be a home security sign! It's a
wonderful deterrent even if you don't actually have a home alarm
system or if you've quit your service. Keep thieves guessing.
Obviously, such a sign will do you absolutely no good in a world
without rule of law, so what kind of sign should you place

A sign of the times and a word of caution...

  • "Beware of dog" sign or "Guard Dog on Duty" sign?
    Preppers love their dogs and want to hang a sign as a
    deterrent. In a court of law, even an ordinary "beware of dog"
    sign could be used against you. Afterall, you knew your dog
    was dangerous, why didn't you chain him up? Courts may cite
    your negligence!

  • "Nothing inside worth dying for" sign? It is not without a
    note of caution that we remind you that the very sign
    "Nothing Inside Worth Dying For," which sends a clear
    message to looters also sends a clear message to a jury in a
    court of law.

  • No trespassing sign? Yes, this is probably your best defense
    in home signage if an intruder gets on your property and

Deterrent #2: Leave  evidence of a dog on premises.
Place a BEWARE OF DOG sign at the entrance to your home or
GUARD DOG ON DUTY sign. Even if you don't own a dog this could
be a scare tactic, particularly if you place a large bowl of water
and huge bone at the entrance of the back yard. This "evidence"
may be enough to thwart looters to an easier target home.
However, in times of famine, a dog might be considered pray and
you'd not employ this tactic.

  • NOTE: As mentioned above, if you own a dog, don't put upa
    foreboding dog  sign in peaceful times, because it could be a
    legal nightmare for you in the event your dog bites someone.
    It means that you know you have a vicious dog and that you
    did nothing to prevent your dog from biting! Use it only for a
    world without rule of law. Again, a "no trespassing" sign is
    more appropriate and defensible in a court of law.

Where to place a "no trespassing sign"?
Prioritize your defenses on the right-hand side of your property.
Human instinct is to head in the direction of their dominant hand
and since 90% of the population is right-handed, you know where
intruders will attempt first to strike. Secure the right hand
entrances first!

Deterrent #3: Bullet proof glass, tempered glass or
window film.
Extremely committed preppers install bullet proof glass; however
this an expensive option. Fortifying windows with window film or
tempered is a less expensive option. Be sure to install window
film on the inside the window frame, or caulk the edges to the
frame.

Deterrent #4: Door jams.
Installing a door jam or simple stick in a sliding glass door could
provide just the amount of delay necessary. A good option is a
Buddybar Door Jammer, pictured right. By placing a 2' x 4'
between front door and inside steps or wall could deter a forced
entry. Or try a 3" screw into the studs to fortify. Door jam armour
is  extremely effective and will provide peace of mind.

  • Security Striker Plates for door jams (installation
    required): To combat 34% wood jam (security strike plates).
    A regular deadbolt won't do the trick, you'll need a
    commercial grade deadbolt to deter the intruders. Security
    Striker plates is an inexpensive fix to enhance the door
    strength and security, which is peace of mind in itself, but it
    won't work for door jams that have been damaged by a break-
    in. Fix the door-jam first, then install your strike box. (You'll
    need to drill and shape the jam to fit the box). The process
    will make your door jam much stronger.

  • Door Jammer (no installation required). Pictured in red at
    the top of the page, the DoorJammer is a unique, new and
    innovative portable door security device for anyone needing
    privacy and security. It prevents unwanted intrusions into
    any room and provide peace of mind. It's portable, discreet
    yet highly effective. It fits most doors in seconds to 'jam' the
    door shut.

Deterrent #5: Anti-climb spikes.
Having a professional install anti-climb spikes if legal. Anti-climb
spikes could provide you with extra peace of mind that intruders
won't easily gain entry to your home. Check with local laws as
these are extremely dangerous and may be highly regulated in
your locale.

How to deter entry post SHTF
(unconventional ideas):
How you defend your home in the event of a civil disturbance is
radically different from how you'd would on an every day basis.
It's your job to create a defensible space with barriers and booby
traps to impede intruders. The more obstacles you have, the more
chance you have at attrition (wearing down the enemy). For
starters, try: barbed wire, chicken wire, nail beds, sand bags, and
hour creativity.

Here's how to fortify your castle and deter intruders in uncertain
times:

Apocalyptic deterrent #1: Guns and rifles (and the
constitution).
In a world without rule of law, your gun is your best peace of
mind for security. You may also like to carry the constitution with
you so that you may defend your 2nd Amendment rights should
the so-called "authorities" try to gain entry.

Apocalyptic deterrent #2: Leave Gang "evidence"
with Spray paint.
In the early stages of uncertain times, you might thwart an gang
attack or individual intrusion by using spray paint to mark a
"territory" with gang-like symbols. Practice on cardboard. Our
readers have also suggested scattering about debris on the
property to make it look as though the property already has been
ransacked.

Apocalyptic deterrent #3: Display a "Guard dog on
Duty" sign (even if you don't have a dog).
Place also a big dog dish of water and a big chew toy to imply you
have a huge dog. Intruders may not want to battle a large and
hungry apocalypse dog! I may be just the incentive they need to
go to another home. However, a small dog may be considered
prey.

Apocalyptic deterrent #4: Place a Bed of Nails or tire
spikes.
Set out the welcome mat (a bed of nails)! Plywood with a bed of
nails is a surprise element that someone could step into inside of
a fenced gate entrance. Create a bed of nails by driving them into
a piece of plywood. Place the "bed of nails" on the An additional
benefit, of you have nails and plywood around, you'll be able to
board up the windows or fix windows that break. Do everything
you can to impede zombies: set up booby traps to wear them
down. Hungry looters will go for easier prey.

  • Make a bed of nails with thumbtacks. Implore clever use of
    thumb tacks by creating an instant "bed of nails." Have a few
    boxes handy, so you can throw the thumb tacks at key
    entryways to your home when SHTF. Unsuspecting zombies
    may sustain injuries to their feet. It won't kill them, but it
    will deter them just enough enabling you a chance to round
    up some more ammo.

Apocalyptic deterrent# 5: Employ Barbed Wire or
Chicken Wire.
If employing barbed wire is good enough for the government, then
you should consider it too (with a few caveats).

  • Barbed wire or razor wire. Barbed wire can provide a good
    measure of security though traditionally barbed wire serves
    to protect grass boundary, railway or highway. For the
    surprise element, place barbed wire on the top inside fences!
    Hiding barbed wire will provide cause an intruder to get a
    severe cut and leave. The idea is to make intruders know
    that you are prepared. They will go for an easier target
    because you are prepared with a fortress.

  • Chicken wire. Use a staple-gun to secure chicken wire
    around the windows of your home to make it defensible as
    an obstacle against intruders who would might throw bottles
    and rocks to gain access to your building. This technique is a
    way to fortify for a bug-in.

Apocalyptic deterrent #6: Simulate a blackout with
black plastic bags.
Make it look as though you have no luxury of power and fortify
your personal security in this way by hiding. Create a blackout
effect by sealing windows with a heavy duty black trash bags and
duct tape to ensure the light around windows and doors doesn't
leak through. If the zombies can't see you have light, then they
won't know you have resources.

Apocalyptic deterrent #7: Get Sandbags now, fill
them later.
Sandbags don't take much space and you can fill them with gravel
or dirt when you need it. Sandbags can secure gates and doors
from opening easily helping to stall the intrusion. Sandbags also
provide a layer of protection: the more mass the better to shield
against radiation or bullets.

Apocalyptic deterrent#8: Get some geese.
Yes, this is an unusual idea, however, if you have a large property
where it's feasible to have some geese, then have them on your
property. They'll make an excellent warning system!

Apocalyptic deterrent #9: Keep mace and know how
to use it.
Gaining a few valuable minutes to handle an intruder at close
range, mace can help you grab your gun and your family protect
the homestead. Mace is also a helpful option for those who are
not trained in firearms and safety. In an extreme situation,
instruct children in your household on the use of mace. In a
reasonable way, even children can defend themselves upon
intrusion.

Apocalyptic deterrent #10: Home Defense Fogger
Pepper Spray:
Put on your gas mask and send intruders home crying with the
Sabre Home Defense Fogger Spray, pictured immediate right. With
this spray, you can target a 25-range to defend your property in a
non-lethal way; however, be warned that this pepper spray
foggert is so powerful that it may affect you as well, which is why
we recommend the gas mask.

Apocalyptic deterrent #11: Know how to use
improvised weapons.

  • Have an axe or two on hand. An axe could come in handy to
    chop a tree to make a barricade as well as to deter

  • Other clever weapons to have on hand, a baseball bat.

  • Even a Smith & Wesson pellet gun, pictured right, could
    serve as a deterrent. It's a replica of one of the newest S&W
    designs and has a drop-free 19-shot BB magazine.


Preppers Notes on Deploying Decoys
If you convince the gang of zombies that all you have is a few
cans of beans, they'll likely be happy and leave with a meal for
the evening. In this way, it looks like you've been fighting to save
your last food. Know that you can talk your way out of anything.

Armed with a few techniques to deter, delay and defend your
homestead, you will surely find some new and clever ways to
guard your property on your own. To read more detailed
strategies, purchase
Prepper's Home Defense, a book by Jim
Cobb, pictured top right. This excellent book will help you find
security strategies to protect your family by any means necessary.

You'll be building more fires when SHTF, so you'll need a measure
or protection against flames. Protect your clothing and your
hearth with Fireguard spray, right. Nontoxic and non-carcinogenic
~ safe for people and pets. It's main goal is to prevent fabrics
from ignition and spread of fire, so you can use it on household
fabrics, draperies and curtains, upholstery, and other natural and
synthetic materials (with the exception of leather). Interior
furnishings are the number one contributing factor to the swift
spread of fire and smoke within a home, so this may be part of
your overall shelter plans to mitigate threats from marauders on
your home fortress.

    Consider these clever ideas to protect the homestead to
    avoid confrontation:

  • Hiding: In the event a gang of marauders finds a way on
    your premises, you can hide. Many preppers opt for a safe
    room or underground bunker. An underground bunker is an
    expensive option worth considering, and you can invest in a
    pricey safe room too, but a safe room doesn't have to be
    that fancy. It can be relatively inexpensive to disguise a
    secret passage in your home to an attic, garage, closet or
    space between the walls to hide temporarily. In hiding, you
    will avoid confrontation with a group of individuals you may
    not otherwise be able to defend yourself against. Deceiving
    the gang could be as simple as mounting a large mirror or a
    small piece of furniture to camouflage the entrance.

    Another way to hide is to have a secret escape tunnel to a
    different part of the property. In this way, you can have a
    direct fire of control on the marauders who have invaded your
    space. This could be a crawl space or escape hatch from your
    bunker.

    Secured and hidden storage is another area to concentrate
    your prepping efforts. While many preppers have gun safes,
    they rarely lock their food when they should. A hidden food
    cache in several locations is widely practiced, but preppers
    should consider putting a lock and key to #10 cans and food
    grade buckets.

    Finally, hiding can also mean you camouflage your person to
    hide in plain site! Hiding as a homeless person, for example,
    is a technique of camouflage (or "bugging in") where your
    aim is to look like a "have not." A prepper might use this
    strategy to blend in with society in an effort to retrieve a
    cache of food or supplies. A prepper might also use this
    strategy as a sort of an urban ghillie suit to analyze the civil
    unrest and assess the situation for bugout or to find allies.

  • Distracting and confusing: In the event of civil unrest, a
    strategy to employ to confuse and distract looters is to throw
    useless items on the lawn to make it appear that the
    property has already been looted. Broken glass scattered
    strategically might also make the property appear previously
    pilfered. Such tactics could provide essential and sufficient
    distraction while a family is thriving safely inside in a safe
    room or bunker.

  • Safeguarding: To defend your home from looting in the
    event of civil unrest, there are several ways you can
    safeguard.

Having the forethought to invest in body armor, such as a
affordable bullet-proof vest can enhance preparedness on the
defensive strategy. Other non-conventional tools of self defense
might include using Wasp spray or Bear spray (instead of mace).

Looking to build a shelter in the wild?

How to create shelter when you bug out
Shelter is among the first considerations when you are in survival
mode. Being prepared means securing your shelter in uncertain
times. Shelter is of paramount importance when it comes to
wilderness survival. In fact, it's at the apex of the survival.

The survival rule of three is that you can survive:
  1. three minutes without air.
  2. three days without water.
  3. three weeks without food.

Many preppers have expanded the concept to include shelter.
Namely that a human can live just three hours of harsh weather
exposure without shelter.

In the unfortunate event that shelter suffers damage of any kind,
the Happy Prepper has a personal "
bug out" plan. The basic
human instinct of
fight or flight dominates the decision to "bug
in" or "bug out."

Learn how to build shelter in the wild using Hawke's Special
Forces Survival Handbook, lower left. In it, the author, T.V.
personality and survivalist Mykel Hawke, illustrates basic survival
shelters for various scenarios. It's a gorgeous book, well laid out
with loads of valuable information. It's just about
the best $10 a
prepper can spend on Amazon.

In the event of a cataclysmic event, Preppers often speculate how
gangs will form from the surviving ranks following a catastrophe.
Banding together, these new gangs will go from house to house
to forage whatever they can, taking life and limb. How will you
defend your home?

Take a moment to heed this note about your firearms and how
you post signs on your property. You may be held accountable for
your actions, and the court will extract signage from the premises
to make you look like a gun nut when they prosecute! It may
make you think twice about posting signs, such as"Nothing inside
worth dying for," or "We don't dial 911."
Prepper's Home Defense Strategy
You don't have to feel vulnerable to intruders. You can feel in
control when you make preparations for your home, the way you
handle your other preps. You'll need to make a home defense plan
for two contingencies: good times and bad.

Before you learn how to defend your home from burglary and
home invasion, it's important to take a look at how intruders
could make way into your home in good times and in bad:

  • In good times, intruders will make point of entry to your
    home at your weakest link, but only when intrusion is
    relatively easy and quiet. In good times, intruders will work
    alone or in pairs. They will pose as solicitors, repairmen,
    gardeners, dog walkers or pool cleaners.

  • In bad times (SHTF scenario), intruders will make way
    inside your home in gangs and they will be ruthless, load,
    irrational and arrogant because they will have weapons and
    mass, and they will be hungry. This is not a good combo.

Not everyone can afford to escape in an underground bunker. How
will you defend your homestead to safeguard what is rightfully
yours? We have some ideas that go beyond guns and
ammunition. Learn to deter, delay and defend the homestead to
fortify your shelter.

Want more? Season veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and police
force, Dave Young has life-saving information that will turn
chilling “what-if ” scenarios into planned strategies to protect your
loved ones and belongings from any threat. In his popular five-
star book "
How to Defend Your Family and Home,"  he shares
everything he’s seen and learned about home invasions. View
your home from a criminal’s perspective, identify weak spots in
your defense and correct them.  This book is for everyone ―
whether you own a firearm or not ― because in reality, you can’t
depend on a gun to save you in every situation.

How intruders gain entry to your home:

Point of entry #1: Your Vacation.
An open opportunity to intruders is your vacation! July through
August are good months for thieves to break in your home when
you are off on vacation, particularly just before school starts. Did
you know February is the month least likely to have a break in?
That's because you're likely home from the holidays; you've used
up all your vacation; and the kids are in school.

Among the telltale signs you're on vacation, include:
  • fliers, newspapers and circulars scattered on the driveway;
  • mailbox jammed with magazines and mail;
  • no cars parked in the driveway (or cars in the driveway, but
    the RV missing);
  • no dogs on the property (when usually they are busy barking);
  • no lights in the home for days;
  • no doorbell response.

  • Defensive solutions:

  • Don't brag about vacations, business trips, or weekend
    getaways, but do inform your most trusted neighbors just
    when you are leaving.

  • Make sure to have cars parked in your front yard (ask a
    neighbor or friend to park an extra car in your space).

  • Have a neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or stop
    your mail and newspaper deliveries.

  • Inform several neighbors of your whereabouts so they can
    scout out your home for trouble.

  • Hire a dog sitter (if you trust this person or agency), instead
    of sending your dog(s) to the kennel.

  • Fix your doorbell.

  • Get a dog! Even little ankle-biting yappers will deter theft.

Point of Entry #2: An open garage door/ and even
one that's locked.
A garage door is often the weakest link by carelessness alone.
Complacency sets in when occupants feel safe in the
neighborhood, and then they simply forget to lock the garage.
Always lock the garage door, but know also that entry through an
unlocked garage isn't always the case. Forcible entry through the
garage commonplace because a would-be thief will attract less
attention at this point of entry.

  • Defensive solution: A Security Camera. The Security 2020
    dummy dome security camera, pictured right, is the same
    model used by major retailers to deter theft and criminal
    activity in parking lots, garages, and store facilities. The
    dome gives the impression your garage is under 360 degree
    video surveillance. All weather domes is easy to mount.

Point of Entry #3 Locked and unlocked windows.
It takes only a good swing of a baseball bat to crack open your
windows. Pre-laminated glass is an expensive option.

  • Defensive solution: Clear safety window film is an effective
    deterrent.

Point of Entry #4: Your locked front door.
An ordinary locked door poses an easy break-in opportunity for
theft.

  • A credit card is all it takes to slide open the locks of a
    typical apartment door (no fancy lock-picking tools required).

  • A point of entry is through a house or apartment is often a
    swift kick to break the door.

You can block the front door access very easily:
buddy bar door jamer home defense bar door
Lidocaine Pluse
Above Jeff from Modern Combat and Survival discusses firearm defense.

Happy endings...
The happiest ending possible to a home intrusion is to avoid one
altogether! Advanced planning and resourcefulness is what it's all
about. Start to think creatively so you're only "home alone" if you
want to be!

Prepping articles...

Prepare to live happily ever after with us at happypreppers.com - the Web site of
emergency preparedness, prepping, survival,
homesteading and self-sufficiency.
the SAS self-defense handbook
Fake security camera
Warning sign
Home defense
Glow sticks versus chem lights
These tire spikes are no longer
available on Amazon.
Best water purifiers for preppers
Prepper carts, dollys, hand trucks, wagons and wheelbarrows
Prepper Toilets
Indoor emergency cooking options
How to use iodine for survival
Radiation blast how to survive fallout
Radiatio Remedies
Duct tape survival
HEPA filters and why you need one
How to fortify your home before crisis
Why every prepper should have a carbon monoxide detector
How to homestead without the farm
Thinking of prepping off grid in Alaska?
Deploying barbed wire when in an SHTF situation
Easy Prepping projects
How to defend your home
Brown Bread in a Can
Best Emergency Survival Food Bars
How to get started prepping
Pemmican as a prepper survival food
happypreppers.com
Facebook: happypreppers.com
Pinterest: happypreppers.com
gab social media profile for happypreppers