Urban Survival Scenario

Codger_64

Codger_64

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I’m going to lay out a survival scenario, and see how creative we can be.

Location: Cold climate in winter...Michigan, North Dakota, Colorado, Alaska, Canada.

Shelter: Small modern apartment, ground floor, heated apartments on each side and above.

Situation: Job loss due to health/injury prevents working, finances prevent moving. Rent can be paid, but electric use must be kept to the very barest minimum. Water availability and conservation no problem, food storage taken care of.

Persons involved: One adult male in reasonable health with no dependants.

Object: Survive the winter with minimum heat, minimum electrical usage. Food, we have already discussed at some length, so creative but economical meals are expected.

Let’s hear your suggestions guys. Since I am the director of this movie, if you need clarification of the scenario, just ask and I'll do so.

Codger
 
Heavily Insulate The Back And Front Walls. Use Led Flashlights For Light Source(s) Whenever Possible. With The Apartments On Each Side And Above Being Heated, Radiant Heat Will Come Into This To Some Extent From The Ones Surrounding. Additional Insulation On The Front And Back Walls (the Ones That Will Loose Heat)will Help.
Wear Heavy Clothing Whenever Possible And Take Dishpan Baths
 
Really nice thread! Good idea for a scenario too!!

Here`s one of my ideas. I`ll probably be back with more later.

Well, additional insulation would be important for the walls facing outside, and especially windows, and doors. Windows, are probably responsible for alot of heatloss. Including ventilation, that is sometimes built into windows.
Need to close atleast a few vents off, if open. (Ventilation is important in an apartment, as CO2 buildup can become dangerous if the apartment is close to hermetically sealed.)

As for insulation, i`d say, newspaper. I get free newspaper/ads/etc. in my mailbox daily, so that could be a good idea. Fastening it to the walls could be done with nails, if the walls are covered with wood. If it`s concrete, i suppose you could use glue/ducttape. It would be a mess to get cleaned out, but then it`s a question of survival vs. some elbowgrease after you`ve survived.
The newspaper covering needs to be in a layer atleast 1/2 inch thick, maybe more. But since it isn`t hard to get ads and stuff, i doubt sourcing the material would be a problem.
 
Light the room with the computer screen (seriously, we want to keep in touch with society) otherwise learn to see in the dark. If we must go outside, to cash the unemployment check, walk. Foods will be high protein, easily eaten right out of the package...sardines, peanut butter, spam, corned beef...but we also want some lemons and limes to prevent scurvy. We will drink lots of healthful water, avoiding other harmfull expensive beverages...with the exception of a weekly bottle of Everclear. We will wash clothes in hot water only, no expensive soap. Run the wash water into the bathtub with a garden hose, where the water will radiate warmth until cold. Pull the exhaust vent on the clothes dryer so the heat will warm the living quarters.

That's enough for now, I'm getting circles under my eyes ;)
 
Hey I,ve heard of Everclear . Isn,t it only for the brave at heart or to be used as paint thinner? :D

Wouldn,t newspaper on the walls gather at least some moisture inside itself?
Are you not more or less creating a thermal sandwich . You would have the insulative factor of the wall, the relative heat of the cold you are trying to keep out of the lodging and then the insulative value of the inner newspaper.

I confess my comprehension of the factors involved is a little sketchy.

I know that window plastic coverings may help. They are expensive for what is essentialy a throw away item . Could you use a thin plastic dropcloth and tape a piece of it around the window? I don,t know what type of tape you would use. Duct tape would work . I don,t think it would be very kind to the paintjob.

What about sleeping in a sleeping bag? I don,t know how much of an advantage there is unless there are not a lot of blankets in the house.
 
Sleeping in a sleeping bag works. Especially a mummy bag. We used to do it in my uncle's unheated cabing during upstate NY winters. We stayed toasty warm until it was time to get up and face the frost.

We used heavy down and feather mummy bags but there are really good synthetics around now, like primaloft or polarguard.
 
Paintjob? That's the landlord's problem. Kevin, we're talking survival here, not interior decorating :D

We could recycle garbage bags from the dumpster, especially the clear ones to allow sunlight to filter in. (wipe off the blood stains in the snow) Personally, I would rather be on the second or third floor, not the first, as heat travels up. It's the law of gravity, ya know.

Edited: And that's another problem, If I'm stuck on the first floor. I would staple newspapers all over my ceiling to prevent the bastids on the second floor from getting my heat. Tinfoil too.

Now that I think more on it, maybe a second floor house invasion might be called for.
 
how about building a small wood stove and run a chimeny out a window? Then it you would only need to gather wood to keep it going.
 
blankets.

There is a lady at the local gun shows that makes Queen sized blankets for a very reasonable price. They are unbelievably warm.

Cover your windows, and get a draft stop for your door. These will be the biggest leaks.

As long as you have a wind break, like the appartment walls, a good sleeping bag and a pile of blankets will keep you warm at night, even if it goes below zero.

Use all your cloths and you jacket even though your inside.

if your range has a fume hood, you can burn scrap wood you find is a pie tin on the stove, and use it to heat water for your Nalgeen bottle. Opening the windows in winter, in an unheated appartment is asking for hypothermia. Run the fume hood on low for a few seconds periodicaly; avoid burning wet wood, leavs, plastics or styrofoam. Dry wood only. Things like popsicle sticks or small dry twigs

Another idea is to go hunting. Save the hides. sleeping under a pile of animal skins is very effective.
 
wade said:
how about building a small wood stove and run a chimeny out a window? Then it you would only need to gather wood to keep it going.
Click to expand...


I have to agree with this one. If there is some metal furnace ductwork or a metal exhaust tube from a dryer available. Use those for a chimney, and get a large coffee can or metal pail to fabricate a basic wood stove. For fuel, simply bust up the walls and furnature, chop up and use.

Food sources will vary where you are. Once the shelves are empty, and the stores are all robbed, then it comes down to your neighbor's pet. If they have a potbelly pig, then you are in good luck, if its something else then you have to decide.:rolleyes:
 
Codger_64 said:
Situation: Job loss due to health/injury prevents working, finances prevent moving.
Click to expand...

How about looking for a job that can be done with the injury at home. So be it if it’s only for a few hours a week and underpaid, it keeps you busy and provides some money.

Big problem in you situation is paying the bills of you basic needs, staying warm, eat a proper meal and heal!
 
Unless the insulation between apts is top notch, any heat used will go up into the above apt. I know, we live upstairs in a two story apt. and we usually don't have to use our heater, unless it gets into the 30s, while our downstairs neighbor runs her heater a lot.

I would start off by putting plastic over the windows front and rear, inside and out. I'd put a false ceiling in the living area and insulate between. We have a recycle, 2nd hand construction and household items at the local landfill and materials could be had for next to nothing. Main cost would be getting actual insulation, but lots of crumpled newspaper added to a lower R rating would help to keep costs down.

I'd also close down and seal off any non essential rooms, keeping the area needed to be heated to a minimum. In our case, that would mean sealing off both bedrooms and moving bedding into the living area and placing livingroom furniture into the bedrooms. The bathroom lies between the two bedrooms in the rear of the apt. and would be the main place we'd lose heat.

Keeping electric down would be easy, except for cooking, because we have a 220 electric stove, but using the microwave would take care of that. All of our appliances, except the stove, are eco friendly and energy saving. Lower watt lightbulbs and using fewer lights, would also help.

We have gas heating, which is considerably cheaper than electric and is more efficient, which would help keep costs down too.

Of course, if this isn't enough and for some reason we had to keep our heat to a minimum as well, then appropriate clothing and food like real butter, that contains lots of fat will help the body fend off the cold.
 
I posted this on another thread, so I'll just paste it here. Basically, the idea is to forget about insulating or heating the entire apartement. Think about insulating and heating a much smaller area, like beneath a large table:

"In a time of crisis, I recommend doing what the Chukchi do to keep warm. They live in homes made of animal hides in Siberia. And they stay perfectly warm at night. Their technique is heating a "tent-inside-a-tent" using nothing more than a candle. Inside their animal-skin home, they make a smaller interior chamber of animal skins. And they heat it with a candle.

In a modern suburban home this would involve hanging blankets in a room to make a smaller room inside of which you light a candle (safely secured to prevent fires). And you'll spend a nice warm and cozy night sleeping.

If instead you try to heat your entire home all day long and all night long, well, you just might run out of fuel long before the crisis is over."
 
Things could get desperate, but I don't think Codger laid out an ultimate scenario where all power and energy were shut off. It sounds more like what the Brits dealt with in WWII.

Closing off unnecessary rooms is smart. Likewise insulating windows and doors. Stashing water and food and candles also is smart, especially if you think you might be running arears on utility bills.
 
Great ideas! Ok, here are a few problems I see. First, you don't want to create a fire hazard by burning wood/paper/etc. with open flames. Loose paper insulation is just asking for trouble. Window coverings sound good. Painter drop cloth plastic at WalMart is cheap, staple it to the outer edges of the inner window trim through strips of stiff cardboard. That will preserve the appearance of the paint and trim. A "draft-dog" for the outer door is good. These can be simply old long socks filled with dry sand and tied shut. A room within a room? A decent sized dome tent comes to mind. It doesn't require staking like a rectangle tent, but you could safety pin it to the carpet if you wanted. Heat. Maybe a 60 watt light bulb in a metal droplight in the tent, if not in the room. They put off a surprising amount of heat for not a lot of cost. I have one of the Coleman fuel catalytic heaters, and I can heat a surprisingly large area with it. The fuel is not cheap though. I also have three old wick style kerosine lamps. These will heat a 14x20 room pretty well. Oil lamps stink less though. Mine will burn either, and give pretty good light if properly trimmed and adjusted. More blankets and sleeping bags, lamps etc. can be found at the goodwill and Salvation Army here. If an internet connection is not in the economics, public libraries have them, are a good place to warm up, and I hear they have magazines and books too.

Clothing? I opt for the Mil-surplus stuff because it is cheap. And most of those owners will love to dicker for a lower price on a pile of stuff that sits in boxes year after year. Like the Air Force quilted cold weather flyers pants and shirts. And the fleece jackets with a few burn spots. Boot liners too (for the "Mickey Mouse" boots), and wool out the ying-yang. My favorite cold weather hat is a tanker's helment liner (gots velcro ear flaps), topped with a wool balclava that you can pull down over your face and cover your neck. They have wool socks too. I bought three arctic survival down sleeping bags with wolf fur ruffs for $35 each.

Keep 'em coming guys!:thumbup:

Codger
 
We got 3,000 vacants in our city, many of them home to bums and geekers all winter long. I'll ask them next time I go to work. But from the looks of it they seem to do fine with a pile of smelly clothes and some 40 oz's.:D
 
There may be town pool/gym with heated locker room & shower facilities, free for seniors if this applies.

There are bulk emergency/plumbers candles and should work with hobo type stove.

If outside wall is not very well insulated, room within room with heavy cloth/blankets.

Electric Company might have minimum monthly charge.
 
There ya go Kevin, you can drape some plastic over your dining room table and live under it. Happy Days, good times! Burn a candle for me.

Seriously, folks, I think I would pick up the gun and go look for a better place to live.

We're talking about survival, not Martha Stewart's ten tips for throwing a blackout party!
 
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