Sharp as a Marble - Tactical feng shui

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Tactical feng shui

Self Defense

Casa de SaaM is not a tactical house, and it is one thing that I never considered when I bought it. It's basically the letter L with the girl's bedrooms at one end and ours on the other. The only entrances are at the crook of the L, so if there's a break in, it's most likely going to happen between my daughters and I.

Using rule #4, I know what lies beyond which parts of the walls. I've determined safe areas that won't cover where my daughters are most likely to be in case of needing to fire a weapon. However, and this is something I've thought about but until today haven't really put enough effort into, there are quite a few blind spots through the path from my bedroom into the rest of the house.

Enter Tactical Home Decor.

Looks like I'll be buying some mirrors soon.

Hat Tip Linoge

posted @ 8/6/2009 7:59:22 AM

Comments

Gun Shy Tourist says:

on 8/6/2009 12:53:28 PM

The video in this commentary may be of interest to you Robb:

http://aroundotown.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-safe-are-you-in-your-urban-dwelling.html

Gun Shy Tourist says:

on 8/6/2009 12:58:29 PM

You may want to check out what I term as the "claymore effect" for those uninvited late night visitors:

http://aroundotown.blogspot.com/2009/08/ocala-man-killed-in-home-invasion-quote.html

Anon says:

on 8/6/2009 1:42:52 PM

I didn't consider tactical considerations when I bought my Florida house, either; it's a 4BR 3/1 split - master on one end, kids' bedrooms on the other, the rest of the house in between.

Only things I can suggest are: LED nightlights from Lowes (mfg by Pass & Seymour); they have combo LED night light/120V receptacle units that replace one of the 3-prong receptacles with an LED night light, and they have 3-LED lights that replace the entire receptacle (if you have an alarm system with system smoke detectors think replacing the 120V-supplied smoke detectors with the 3-LED lights).

I've discovered that both are useful for providing cheap, constant light that silhouettes bodies moving around the house.

A couple of mfgs make motion-sensing light switches which are getting cheaper; it may alarm the wife and/or kids to have the family room, kitchen or living room ceiling light turn on when they go to the kitchen for a snack, but it's pretty effective for highlighting am intruder and/or keeping the kids in bed.

Anything you can do to surprise an intruder and put the advantage on your end is a Good Thing.

John A says:

on 8/6/2009 2:21:04 PM

motion-sensing light[s]... I use a remote-control set (X10: [Radio] Shack "security" section). Originally so that during the night I could turn on a light in another room before traipsing to the bathroom and let my eyes adjust on the way, then so I could turn on a porch light from the car so I could see the path, but now also I can turn on lights in the room furthest from me and distract/mislead an intruder.

OrangeNeckInNY says:

on 8/6/2009 8:32:13 PM

You could put a ladder up to the attic from your bedroom, and finish up the attic for stealth movement, with viewing/shooting holes strategically placed in the ceiling; usually faux vent grilles, etc. This way, you have free run of the entire layout of the house without being detected. And lead-line the attic floor so bullets won't go through if they're shooting at you.

Jake says:

on 8/6/2009 11:06:39 PM

Aaaaaand now you've reminded me of something else to think about while I'm looking for a house to buy.

Not that I have a lot of choice given my price range and the overinflated housing market here, but it's still one more thing to consider.

Homer says:

on 8/7/2009 11:04:41 AM

Thinking about this some more, I'm reminded of something I ran across when designing an indoor range a while back: 3 1/2 inches of pea gravel will stop any handgun round and most rifle rounds.

If the drywall was removed from both sides of a wall from floor level up to 48" from the floor and replaced with 1/2" plywood glued and screwed to the studs, and the bays between studs filled with clean, dry pea gravel, that section of wall becomes bulletproof from handgun rounds. The studs are the weak point - a 2X4 stud offers less resistance to bullets than the gravel. A 1/8" thick 1 1/2" wide strip of flat steel bar stock on each side of the stud (between the stud and the plywood) will solve that. It leaves the plywood section 1/8" thicker than the drywall part, but using either 5/8" drywall or a trim strip such as chair rail at the joint can hide it.

Plywood is tough to hide, but a skim coat of drywall compound and some spray texture gets it looking just like drywall.

It's not practical to do this to an entire house, but there may be a few places where filling a couple of stud bays might be useful, or maybe an 8' section of the 16" closest to the floor in a bedroom.

And, it's also a training issue: kids should be trained how to handle common emergencies, such as fire, or an intruder. One command, or loud sound such as a hand-held air horn, should be enough to alert them so they can assume the safest position, depending on the threat. A loud electric klaxon controlled by a switch in the master bedroom, or manually triggering a burglar alarm, would also work well, and might help disorient the intruder.

Oh, and those tactical mirrors? Don't forget they work both ways.

Robb Allen says:

on 8/7/2009 11:20:44 AM

Homer, while that kind of thing would work just fine, I'm really not sure the ROI is there. Yes, there's always a chance of a stray shot (I have a family member who had an ND and the round missed his wife's head by inches where it came out of the wall), but it is so rare as to make that kind of effort probably not worth the time or cost.

I do need to work with my children on drills though. Both girls can fit under their beds and in case of a break in, that would be the best place for them.

As for the mirrors, yes they do, but I have the advantage that I know the layout of my house better than someone who is going to be in there for the first time, probably at night.

Something else I have thought about is somehow being able to temporarily activate some really bright lights. I mean REALLY bright. This would kill anyone's night vision and being that I'd be the one doing it, I could keep mine just fine.

My alarm system needs upgrading for sure. The dog loses her shit when someone comes in, so that's a good thing, but she also tends to sleep pretty soundly ;)

DirtCrashr says:

on 8/9/2009 7:13:39 PM

For all intents we live in a glass house with glass ends - it's not tactical at all.
But I do have the high ground and an escape hatch.

OrangeNeckInNY says:

on 8/10/2009 1:00:01 AM

Strategically placed pepper spray nozzles in your drywall that can be remotely activated by you.

DirtCrashr says:

on 8/11/2009 7:14:18 PM

These guys do housing stuff that I admire and wish I could duplicate. I can drywall with the best of them, and faux paint wood panels, just need some counterweights and a welder to make them start revolving.

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