Are you including the building materials into prepping?

[Taz Baby]

When you are out shopping and see a sale on food or clothes, you might pick up extra on those items. But do you go to Home Depot or Lowes or a lumber/hardware store looking for sales? When those items are no longer available what are you going to do if you need to repair your house or fence or build some new animal shelter? As you guys know we are building now so we are buying more of what we need now and finding as much free stuff as we can. What are you going to do in the shift if you can not buy building material? What are you doing now to prep for this?

[The Stig]

Excellent point and one that gets to the heart of being prepared.

Doesn't matter if your SHTF event is a hurricane, wildfire or total meltdown. You must be able to sustain yourself.

We keep a healthy amount of fasteners, caulks/sealants, tarps, extension cords, scraps of wood, some plywood, some left over siding from our closet addition, etc etc etc on hand for hasty repairs. It might not be pretty but I can handle most things short of catastrophic damage.

Also, whenever I tackle a home improvement project I have a tendency to pick a couple extra's if I think the needed component could be handy elsewhere.

Excellent subject.

[LUNCHBOX]

Taz, this is an overlooked area imo. Previously, I would pick up whatever I could get my hands on. Since the move I have had to limit myself to the extras I can keep around.

[ladyhk13]

We have all kinds of stuff saved. Dh doesn't throw anything away. He especially keeps all bolts/screws...ect. that are stainless steel since they don't rust. We will also be getting extra car alternators for our hydropower system and everything else that we can get doubles of in order to keep the system running. We plan on going solar first and once the hydro is up and running we will pack the solar away to save in case the hydro ever fails. Many parts can be bought at home centers and auto supply stores. Lotsa PVC pipe!!

[bacpacker]

Great post Taz! I have been working on this line for years. Like ladies DH, I keep most all fasteners that are worth reusing. When i was building the chicken coop, I bought double the nails I used. I have been able to store up over 1000 board feet of lumber, some dimensional (2x,4x), some siding, some plywood. Still got more to get, but stuff like that is on the list.

Areas I am short in right now, screws for wood and metal, hinges, hasp, fencing, post, steeples, wire, and insulators. I need more plywood as well. I'm also short on metal of various types.

[Echo2]

Yes.

[Katrina]

Oh yes and DH is having fits about the plywood, screws, nails etc. I keep around. He just has to clean out and organize the garage better, tee hee. I also want to keep the waterbed mattress now that we have the regular bed. Don't know what for yet but it may come in handy (Oh, Oh, pack-ratitis is striking again)

[Sniper-T]

I have enough material on hand to rebuild 1/2 my house if need be. I have everything from 1x2 up to 2x10, and throw in a stack of 4x4 and 6x8's as well.

add in about 40 sheets of osb, several rolls of poly, bales of insulation, etc

enough hardware to sink the Titanic (oh, wait...)

I save everything usable, and double buy everytime I need something

[Kodiak]

All ive got is several skids and a few 2x4's as wood goes and a few boxes of nails and screws. I have the typical garage stocked with tape, plastic sheeting, tools ect... Im not much of a handy man but can huckle buck something if need be in a pinch. Ive been wanting to build/buy a shed for awhile so I can start stocking up on materials, its on the to-do-list thats seems to be growing every day.

[slowz1k]

Unfortunately I only keep a few 2x4's and smaller lumber on hand for various projects. I keep quite a few wood screws, and nails of different sizes, and over the past few years, I have started collecting hand tools. Brace and bits, yankee drill, planes, crosscut and rip saws, hammers, etc...

[realist]

If you have a gravity flow water system you need pipe, it you have a garden you should have pipe, if you have animals you should have pipe. This will allow you to put your time to other things. All different sizes and couplings.

[bacpacker]

Great point on the pipe. I have a little pvc but very little. One more thing to go on the list.

Some other stuff i thought of. Hose hose clamps, pipe fittings, muffler clamps,o rings kit, rivet set, gasket material, oil for many uses.

[Evolver]

Great Thread!!! I'm in the same situation as others as far as the lack of dry storage space for lumber goes so I'm more dependent on the hand tools that I have for rebuilding. I do have a good supply temporary fix materials like plastic sheeting, wire, pvc pipe, hose, plumbing fittings, clamps, fasteners and I will be scavenging for building material if need be. My first go to will be fences for 1''x6",2''X4'' and 4''x4''.

[Evolver]

I will add.. We are urbanites so we will be hunkered down until the dust settles.

[rentprop1]

How are all of you keeping this stuff from warping, you can't leave a 2X4 anywhere in Fl for very long and expect it to stay useable

[ladyhk13]

How are all of you keeping this stuff from warping, you can't leave a 2X4 anywhere in Fl for very long and expect it to stay useable

You need to first keep it off of the ground by putting blocks of some sort down. Then you put your wood one layer thick on it. Next you put some 1x1's or other wooden type blocks depending on what kind of wood you are storing (sheets, planks...) and set them out in intervals perpendicular to what you are storing then put your next layer of wood on them. This allows air flow and also keeps them straight, just make sure you use enough "bracing" strips as to give your wood a good solid base for each level. That is just one way to do it. Hope I made it understandable.

- - - Updated - - -


Oh yes and DH is having fits about the plywood, screws, nails etc. I keep around. He just has to clean out and organize the garage better, tee hee. I also want to keep the waterbed mattress now that we have the regular bed. Don't know what for yet but it may come in handy (Oh, Oh, pack-ratitis is striking again)

You can always build a platform for it and create an outdoor shower. Of course you wouldn't want to fill it all the way up because of the weight but you could get quite a bit of water it in and let it heat for a hot shower when needed. Gravity fed but better than nothing.

[bacpacker]

I used to work for a company that mail ordered wood working supplies, including lumber. We had 4 homemade drying kiln's. We would load them with green lumber using the same technique LadyHK described. We would start with 8" cinder blocks across the kiln (which was 4' wide x 7' high x 24' long) and place them every 2', put down a layer of wood, 4' sticker (1x1/2" wood strip), layer of wood and so on till we had it full. It took about 3-4 weeks to get the moisture content below 8-10%.

The same technique will work with wood stored either inside or under a shed. Even outside with the stack covered by sheets of tin.

Here is a thread I started showing some pics of a storage rack I made for lumber. Same spacing, but it stores it up the wall and takes up less floor space in the shop.

http://www.shtfready.com/threads/1204-Lumber-Rack?highlight=Lumber+rack

[Katrina]

lady ,
That's an idea. I'll have to ponder a bit more on this. Thanks.

[Taz Baby]

Twin the waterbed thing does work. That was the first shower we used when I was in the jungle. It was a twin matteress on a platform with a hose and showerhead attacted, with a cut off valve

[Evolver]

How are all of you keeping this stuff from warping, you can't leave a 2X4 anywhere in Fl for very long and expect it to stay useable

I will add. I'm having a hard time finding good dry lumber here in Florida. What I've learned is to stay away from buying from places that you can see that they store they're bunks (large pallets) unprotected out side. I think what RP is saying falls under ether kiln dried lumber that is poorly dried or has been rehydrated by rain or high humidity when it's stacked and banded. What happens is they bring it in the store and remove the bands and for awhile it's all nice and straight until it starts to dry out again even after you have bought it and have it nicely stacked or even used it for a build. When it dries it will twist, cup or crown (bow) badly. So... Pick your lumber carefully.