Sandbags
Posted by Minimum-Major248@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 43 comments
So, as Russia starts mass producing and distributing fallout shelters, I want to do some work in my basement. I have six of those small windows at ground level that standard basements have, and I’d like to put some sandbags on the outside covering the windows and glass. It would make the basement dark absent any artificial light. I’m sure I can purchase sandbags online and then go to a local landscaping lot or nursery to fill them, but is there an easier way that I’m missing to accomplish the same thing?
(https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-begins-mass-production-radiation-resistant-mobile-bomb shelters-2024-11-19/)
bigkoi@reddit
Keep in mind fallout lands on your roof. The material on the roof isn't enough.
I'd suggest building a small shelter inside your basement that's enough for you to sit/lay in for 48 hours. There are old plans for these online that are pretty much just cement blocks stacked with wood beams, plywood and sand/cement blocks overhead....all inside your basement.
The first 48 hours are the most critical to protect you from radiation. After that you can go out from time to time and walk around the basement. Continue to spend most of your time in the shelter until the radiation fades away.
illkeepthatinmind@reddit
bigkoi@reddit
illkeepthatinmind@reddit
Great diagram. The real question is how you get a spouse to agree to something like this being built in your limited basement square footage. Short answer...usually you can't, so for me I'm thinking about what I can assemble in a short time from materials I don't have to store for only this purpose in my house. Like water, canned food, books, dirt, etc.
AustralianCakes@reddit
Have her watch Threads
big_bob_c@reddit
Don't say it's a shelter. It's a big shelf that you can store things on to keep them off the floor, thus giving you more storage space. Under it, you keep things in easily movable bins.
Girafferage@reddit
There was a design for a frame you lean against a wall in your basement and then stack sand bags on top of. Can be thrown together in less than an hour.
illkeepthatinmind@reddit
Hmm even a tall bookcase could be used for that, interesting.
Girafferage@reddit
A bookcase that is make extremely well, since you need to still stack the sandbags level to maintain density.
bigkoi@reddit
Nuclear war would most likely have a build up in tensions and escalations. In that case your wife would be on board with it.
Additional-Stay-4355@reddit
This is where you live when the divorce is finalized.
popthestacks@reddit
You’re dreaming if you think lethal doses of radiation will fade away in 48 hours
Sure the most lethal goes quickly but there’s no way to avoid constant radiation exposure that will stick around
bigkoi@reddit
Notice I said you can go out into the basement from time to time. The basement is still providing significant protection after 48 hours. You sleep in the shelter and spend most of your time there. You can leave the shelter to use the restroom in the basement and not risk your health.
NBA2024@reddit
Where do you live
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
Catskills in NY
NBA2024@reddit
Sounds like a completely illogical prep to me then
popthestacks@reddit
Why?
ballskindrapes@reddit
I wouldn't worry about Russia at all
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_lines_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
Look at all the times they threaten this type of crap...and not one time have they done it...but surely they'll do it this time!
Elegant_Drop_1193@reddit
People said the same thing about the amount of times they staged “war games” year after year on the border of Ukraine until they actually invaded this time.
ballskindrapes@reddit
Yeah but that is actually kind of completely different.
One is something they clearly are bluffing, as all the evidence shows. The other was a basically known desire of putin's to slowly recreate the USSR. And nuclear war is something that destroys the very goals Putin wants to acheive.
See, putin doesn't want nuclear war, he does want Ukraine. And saber rattling about nuclear weapons is just him trying to get more leverage in ukraine.
popthestacks@reddit
You don’t know what’s in that lunatics head any more than our policy and decision makers - and they don’t know shit either
popthestacks@reddit
You’ll just die in a fire
Imagine tens of thousands of fires burning uncontrolled around the US with nobody to put them out.
If the blast doesn’t get you, the fire will. If you survive that, the radiation. And if you survive that, dehydration or starvation.
There is no survival in the US, Europe, Russia, or Asia. Especially when most plant life dies.
Objective-Title-681@reddit
Why not get a shovel and place dirt from your yard over the basement windows? I'd pre-dig the dirt already and have a good pile incase you need it. Don't waist time filling sandbags just shovel dirt over the windows.
TopAd1369@reddit
The windows will break from a shockwave or over pressure of air. Bad idea.
crazysmitty27@reddit
Not if you’re outside the blast radius.
If you are inside the radius to incur shockwave damage, you’re gonna have a whole other host of problems beyond dirt inside your basement.
OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit
People DO realize there's a huge effort on by Russian trolls to amp up fear in the wake of Putin's nuke doctrine change, right? You can't go anywhere without seeing people wailing and gnashing their teeth over Oh My Gosh The Nukes Are Coming!
Most of this wailing is Russian trolls and bots. It's called propaganda, people.
Putin will nuke exactly no one. If he tries so much as a single tactical in Ukraine, NATO is going to clean his clock (conventionally) and he knows he has neither the air power nor the troops to do anything about it. He's talking like he has a royal flush but he's holding a pair of threes. Sadly for him, the world knows it.
ETMoose1987@reddit
I also expect us to surface a SSBN off the coast of Norway again just to remind them it takes their missiles 30 minutes to get to us but 2 for ours to get to them.
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
Didn’t the Russians have a boomer off the coast of Cuba this Spring?
ETMoose1987@reddit
It was a cruise missiles sub not a ballistic missile sub, but was still capable of carrying a nuclear tipped cruise missile.
The difference between ours and theirs is that ours don't need to deploy with a tug boat incase they break down.
We spend more money to maintain our existing nuclear arsenal than Russia does on their entire military.
Southern_Loquat_4450@reddit
Cool - thank you!! Happy Holidays to you and yours!!
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
You, too!
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
Whether you are trolled or not depends on where you get your news. I go to legit sites and places like The Drive, the Atlantic Council and so on. I wouldn’t believe stuff on Facebook or X even.
Southern_Loquat_4450@reddit
Hey all! Question about potential targets - I live <5 miles from a major commercial & military air traffic control center. Is there a list that has potential targets?
ETMoose1987@reddit
Best guesstimate
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
You can find one on the Web, not that there’s any accuracy to it. I’m sure the Russians play their cards as close to their vests as we do.
Halo22B@reddit
Reuters....lol
oranggit@reddit
Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearney
No-Garden8616@reddit
Reuters recently is terribly biased. But apart from validity of that "news" item (i remember similar news are surfacing periodically for the last year), sandbags are typically sold along construction materials, in home improvement centers.
symplton@reddit
Most home improvement centers sell Quikrite 60 lb. tubes of sand that work well for this purpose. That should be all you need.
Minimum-Major248@reddit (OP)
Excellent. Thank you.
Usernamenotdetermin@reddit
bags of dirt at Home Depot or Lowes are really cheap and you dont have to bring a shovel to fill them.
TheSensiblePrepper@reddit
I would recommend you watch this video on the subject. It explains your options, from best to worst, in this situation.
Note that this video is from Canadian Prepper but he is talking with an expert on this subject.
PrisonerV@reddit
Anything to distract from their sudden jump in food prices and loan interest rates.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-inflation-potatoes-butter-central-bank-interest-rates-putin-2024-11