What are your thoughts on having a panic room? Of course, nothing is impenetrable if someone has enough time, energy and the right tools. But buying time, securing property and having an escape route are all valuable assets in any emergency. How would you set yours up? Or what would you want yours to be built out of?
I would want the internal layer to be made of graphene reinforced steel, and the layers outside of that to consist of outward facing shaped charges for when they try to shoot or cut through. Especially if they try to cut through, as to blow limbs off and destroy cutting tools. I'd also have some friends help me rig up a remote controlled turret belt fed belt on a retractable, opposable arm above the ceiling tiles on the outside.
helped a friend in the 90's who built his home with a safe room / Gunroom in the basement design. Poured concrete walls fire proofed and vented escape hatch. He's a retired submariner so we put in a surplus over head korean war era submarine hatch which you cannot see from inside the homes xxxx floor and the entry door is a 6 dog surplus Navy passage way door for standard entry. Its 12 x 24 eats up half his basement but extremely cool. Rest of the basement is one hell of a nice maritime man cave so the door fits in with the decor nicely.
As the owner of a red team pen testing consultancy, one of the biggest and most surprising flaws we find in panic rooms, or secured doors in general, is that the walls the doors have been installed in often tend to just be typical 2x frame and drywall that a single person could force entry through via an 8 pound sledge
I agree that drywall would be weak in the sense of deterring or slowing down entry. If these walls were drywall I would have felt more inclined to change their composition.
Cinder block wall.....with vertical rebar reinforced. Then a rebar grid like a thick net.....then a 2nd Cinder block wall....sandwiching in the rebar grid thick net. THEN, fill all cinderblock with agragate cement. Rebar ceiling, with poured concrete. All hidden behind a fake drywall with a book case, media center in front of it. Book case swings out like a hidden door. YES.
So my husband did flooring for a doctor who'd come from a dangerous country, with kidnappings, raids, etc. He had hidden passages in some areas and a panic room. Thing is, the ceiling of his panic room was simply under another non-reinforced wood floor. He didn't grow up seeing Looney Tunes. Think of your ceiling-I'd store a layer or two of bags of potting soil, for the extra protection from radiation. Could always use the soil later if it's not contaminated. Super cool video!
In line with your thought about the camera(s): Install some ⅜"-½" Plexiglass secured in front of the cameras! But also, have a Tiny TINY camera installed in the ceiling, placed in a Real but just nothing but a shell Air Vent. Note: buy a couple to 3 more vents If you don't have others around your home, and install those as well. You don't want to just have a single vent in your house.
Glad you have an additional escape...nothing says "break in to me, it's worth it" like a vault door..one thing I learned in the military, worm-holing is EASY!
@@MagicPrepperI actually appreciate this. It's a good thing you didn't show everything. But this conversation needs to be had, otherwise someone might lose their life in a SHTF scenario when it could've been avoidable.
Nice work man. Didn’t see that coming. That door is more affordable than I would have guessed. Just a friendly heads up. Waste bags tend to expand after use and are very prone to exploding. Something about expanding gases inside a sealed plastic bag.
I think you and I agree. The only way to guarantee you win a fight is to not enter the fight. I can say I've won every fight I stayed out of. Almost without exception. Any fight you enter, you will have a bad day. Don't believe me. Try shooting yourself in the leg or arm. Even if you win the war, getting shot tends to make for a bad day. In a SHTF, you may not have a hospital. Even John Rambo tried to stay out of the fights until he couldn't any longer.
In haste we make waste MP. Consider half wall of cinderblocks waist high to give support to that door if your going to keep the wood exterior walls consider ballistic rated drywall from armorcore or ballisticrete. And air filtration like a safe cell not so much for the cbrn but air flow a few people in your safe room and it will get hot fast
Thank you bringing us inside to show what you normally would not. Not just this video but past ones as well. I know you give up some secrets/privacy, but the information you give us such tremendous value.
It is something that I have been hesitant about in the past but I do feel like it's worth sharing. I look at it similarly to networking. There is always a risk in bringing more people into your circle. But, without people, how much can you accomplish? Same goes for the channel.
I inspect high end properties in and around Jackson Hole for real estate deals. I have inspected some very interesting "panic rooms" over the years. I found some of them myself, because of the layout of the building. Some were pointed out to me by seller's agents. What they had in common is the entries were disguised. Several were entered through bookshelves with inobtrusive latches which took some finding. The entries themselves weren't armored. That seems like a good plan. I once inspected a very high end place just down the road from my humble abode which had a "panic tunnel". Once you figured out how to open the bookcase on the basement level, you entered a concrete tunnel, complete with emergency lighting. The tunnel was nearly two hundred yards long. At the end of the tunnel there was a side room, all concrete, that held a generator and, maybe, who knows what else. There was a door at the end of the tunnel which brought you out of a hillside next to an outbuilding that was, in part, a garage. Real James Bond stuff. I envisioned the owner running down the tunnel, stopping to pick up his plate carrier, vest, and M4, then jumping into his armored SUV. The guy who owned it must have had some enemies. Shows what you can do when money is no object. I recently inspected a log house near Grand Teton National Park that had a "bomb shelter". It was under the garage slab. It had a fitted concrete hatch which, when pulled up and to the side, revealed a room under the slab. A ladder let you down in. Now, the idea was good, but the execution was problematic. The concrete hatch weighed maybe 150 lbs. and me and the agent couldn't get it totally off the hatch. And we aren't weaklings. Anyway, I had a look down there: there were shelves with can goods and emergency supplies from fifty years ago. There was a foot of water in the bottom, guess the groundwater wasn't anticipated. If you got that lid back on you'd be pretty much trapped. Weird, and creepy. I worked on a remodel for a Swiss oil magnate who definitely had some enemies. He had a safe in his office with a full-auto Swiss service rifle, and other goodies. Seems like very, very rich guys are partial to full auto defense weapons: "Say hello to my leetle fren!" If he had a "panic room" he never showed me.
Id go through the framing. Im a framer it looks like your surrounding framing around the wall or door would be your week spot i would recommend doing some 2x blocking in between your 16 on center studs and put plywood up on both sides of your walls. Its not break in proff but it would slow someone down. The only other option would be to have your room in a basement and have actuall concrete blocks for your walls reinforced with rebar and concrete poured inside the blocks thats how we build foundations but i know thats asking alot😂😂
Haha I appreciate that you understand building an entirely new foundation or room for this project might be asking a lot. Many of the comments seem to assume that would be the only reason worth doing something like this. I am reinforcing some of the "weak" points but there are some things that have been done by design to restrict or slow any entry attempts.
Yep right through the walls, or ceiling. Easy to shoot through also. This is why having features on the outside and a way to view what's happening outside is important also. Pretty difficult to really vault up a whole room on a pre-existing house. Most haven't the mind to understand breaching and/or siege.
@@MagicPrepper that's good i know just slowing someone down can make a big difference i just try to think if someone came while you were gone and had a sawzaw and a grinder that would be the worst case scenario. Not all thieves carry power tools with them and have contracting backgrounds either if they did they probably wouldn't be our robbing people lol. But a good security system would mitigate that problem and i have a pretty good feeling that you might have one installed 😂😂
Very nice, thanks for sharing! We will be building a new house with a 4’ high foundation. My plan is to make a panic room underneath that would be accessible from the interior as well as underneath the house.
I would want a panic room to be bullet-proof. Maybe line the room with corrugated steel panels cut from a shipping container? I would want the door to a panic room to be hidden so the bad guys would never see it. Maybe hide it behind a wall-mounted mirror that slides to the side? Or a wall mounted bookcase that slides? Or have a doorway cut in the kitchen floor beneath a kitchen island that slides to the side to reveal stairs to a blocked off part of the basement? I would want the panic room to have good ventilation. Maybe a ceiling fan vent that goes from a pipe to the roof soffit? Or a vent fan in a walled off section of a basement that is connected to what looks like a drainpipe on the house exterior? I would want a panic room to have some kind of silent alarm I could trigger to alert a security company that I am barricaded inside and get a police response to my home. I would want a panic room to have electric lights connected to battery back-up power. It would be good to have a tunnel from the panic room to a hidden outside exit. Just in case the bad guys torch the house.
Very nice! We are looking at doing a little remodeling and I was wondering what is out there for maybe making a secure room. I like the idea of having the room available for storms etc.
AGREE, Have fall back to areas..Entrance, fall back to main hallway , fall back to small b-room , fall back to main b-room where most of weapons are n defend or retreat out the rear entrance..
Great comments below. I like the idea of a safe room. I would take it one step further, hide the entrance, behind false wall / secret entry. If bad people can't see it, they can't take it / get too you. Nice job on the room
Neat idea, I'd also look at making sure the walls are not going to be either breached easily by bullets or a charge, if possible, and resistant to spawling, dont want to have something kinetic strike it and end up shredding everyone, even with a failed breach. The door is impressive, but I would imagine if bad guys know its a panic room, they will just try to breach the walls, esp if theyre ex dotmil. Another thing nice to have if possible would be a way to reach out and touch them from inside the room, say a small opening you can shoot or drop some gas or other, shall we say "off the books" items that you could drop out and into the room next to the panic room might be helpful. (i'm guessing say a baseball sized piece of tannerite and ballbearings you could shoot would clear that area next to the panic room real fast^^ - in minecraft, of course. Something to look at down the road, if you can seal it air tight is some co2 scrubbers and air supply sort of like the bunker guy in texas does, while its great to have CBRN masks, if you can prevent that attack as much as possible it will save you having to make a speedy, unplanned exit, but of course may be $$$ and time intensive, and depending on the layout as well.
ICF blocks using a 6" reinforced concrete core on a solid concrete slab with a solid reinforced concrete top tied into the concrete in the walls. Concrete walls tied into the reinforced concrete slab. 2nd access up to you. Add a fire proof door with a false bookcase in the living area or your vault door. Just a thought........... Should be able to take a moderate to larger tornado without much damage.
A $300 heavy wood door would be sufficient. People that see a vault door, are not going to lose interest. They'll stick around and chisel or cut thru walls or floors to get to you. Keep in mind, most likely your ceiling is a flimsy plywood floor with wood floor joists. A $40 skill saw and 20 minutes of cutting thru the floor, will allow people to access the safe room. Unless you have a poured steel reinforced floor, ceiling, wall people can easily cut into it thru weak points. Silly to harden only 1 access point when the rest is weak (weakest link of chain thing). Considering all the contingencies, no need for a steel door, or fire resistance, etc. In fact the benefit of wood, is that you can observe someone on the outside and shoot thru the door to end the threat.
A wood door comes down much faster. The time to respond, equip or escape is greatly diminished. And during normal times of operation, it gives time for a response. Whether that be neighbors or police. There is a lot more to it than just making it impenetrable. Besides, I had a room with no other access points and an escape route sooo...
Right on for ensuring a second egress. At a private compound in AFG, the company I was with put in a panic room as a fallback position, but I never planned to use it because it was a single access room that wasn't going to protect against anything more than some AK fire for a while. We had no guarantee of support, and I didn't want to get myself locked into a room and lose mobility. Bunkers can be useful, but if no one is coming to help you, they shouldn't kill off all other options.
Reinforcing your walls would be a good idea, I can get through an interior home wall with a hammer. Maybe look into sheet metal panels you can screw to the studs on the inside. Doesn’t have to be bulletproof, once they start working on the metal you can fire through it. Just a thought
Love the mood lighting, all that's missing is a disco ball. Seriously, great job with the room. You mentioned cameras, what about comms? Even a simple radio could give you info about what is going on in the outside world and when it might be safe to come out.
Great video.... so hard to find the right balance of strength and accessibility with these things. Hope the final project works out for you. Cheers from Alberta!
Nice room . I used regular steel door with lock and deadbolt as it will blend in looking normal in my basement. Studs spaced less than 16 inches for extra strength and so someone cant fit through wall. Insulated with roxul for fire proof. If someone wants and brings tools like saws they can pretty much penetrate anything with time.
I would like to build a room like this in my basement. Using heavy steel and cement to reinforce the existing walls and ceiling. My thought is to have the door hidden behind a false wall so nobody knows its there. I also want a escape tunnel that i could get out in case I needed.
The vault door is nice, and those that can swing it probably should get it. Otherwise at least replace your doors tiny screws with 3" ones and consider a door stopper of sorts as well.
My $1.10 (inflation) is to install pressure sensors (DIY ones are cheap and easy to build) under the carpet at main points of entrance and just in front of your panic room door connected to a light bar switch board in the panic room so you will know (without opening the door) if there is an uninvited guest in his house. Also, install self-closing hinges on your outer doors with contact switches on those doors and your windows to let you know if someone is coming or going! Tie those into your switch board! A air vent that comes directly from the outside (hidden of course) should come up though the panic room floor and a couple of small bottles of oxygen inside might be useful! I'm assuming that your hidden exit is in the floor since you don't want to climb up in a fire. Most houses have a crawl space that is easy to get into so lining the outer lower walls with sandbags will at least slow any intruder down! Your hidden exit should go to a out building (maybe an old dog house) or even a bile of trash out of easy sight from your house!
The only thing this room is missing is video camera access of the house with monitors in the safe room so you can see what is going on in the house and property.
I have been thinking for years about starting a company to build panic/safe rooms for people in their homes. I was thinking about converting existing rooms in the house or using part of the garage. I have been in construction for almost 30 years, so I have the knowledge and connections, but I have never been much of a risk taker as far as starting my own business.
Was just talking to the wife about remodeling our walk-in closet as a walk-in safe for valuables in case of robbery. Worst case it could also be a safe room until the police arrive. Luckily she has a reasonable amount of clothing/shoes and is open to the idea.
Watch the movie panic room for more ideas. Which brings up, do you have cell phone reception in this room or do you need a signal booster. You could make fold down table off the back wall. A air intake with a fan for fresh air, with screens to keep bugs out. Electric heater, gets cold in the winter in ND.
What about the walls of the room ? The door is heavy duty and would be tough to breach but if the walls are not reinforced as well, then it would be relatively easy to make entry. I spent 32 years in the fire service and many times making entry through a wall is much less labor intensive than trying to make entry through a well installed security reinforced door.
Great video. Thanks for the information. Hopefully you replaced some of that hardware with longer and thicker screws. The hardware pack looked like standard size door hardware for the most part
I remember my grandfather having a hidden room where when the “door” was shut it blended into the wall and you wouldn’t know it was there. Always wanted a room like that in my house.
I think due to your prominent channel. I would consider (post exposure for whatever you want disclosed forchannel ideas). I would work on making the door less obvious. Your best chance to avoide "looters", marauders/raiders... concealment of the room be it a pretend shelf. Or other less obvious than a big safe door.
Not sure if you did this but putting concrete in the walls makes it bullet resistant and potentially help if they light the home on fire. Concrete disperses heat (gun safe walls are filled with concrete) If you do that though route all wiring through a PVC tube so you can still access the wiring for upgrades or fixes.
Being able to unlock the door from the inside is an absolute necessity, but a lever could potentially be manipulated from the outside. Something as simple as a coat hanger could, depending on the design of the bottom of the door be slid under the door, rotated up to hook the lever and then pulled down, unlocking the door. This method would be easily defeated if you were occupying the room or if a simple shield was installed to prevent the lever from being hooked. Just a thought.
I noticed everyone throwing shade on the walls, maybe add some steel on the inside and dedicated ventilation. Still wouldn't be much a boom / storm shelter but at least your family would be safe from flying lead and agro dudes with saws. Does the door unlock and open from the inside when you actuate the handle? Or do you have to unlock it from the inside to exit?
It automatically unlocks from the inside. And yup there is some reinforcement. I guess I should've just built an entirely new structure in my home rather than using what I have available to me according to the comments 😉
This may have already been asked, but can you say whether you used standard wall framing materials and sheetrock for this room? Don't violate your OPSEC plan, but only having drywall between a threat and me or my family might not be the best solution. Great video!, thanks!.
Nice door! The walls are wooden, or do you have reinforced steel behind the boards? Do they have a fireproof coating? what about airflow? Do you have a good particle filter in the room? you will leave the door in sight of everyone or will you hide it? just saying...
It would be a good idea to have an escape tunnel from your house, to a less visible part of your property. That is where you would need a panic room. Also booby traps in the escape tunnel to prevent someone from attempting to follow you. If possible, dont have the tunnel directly connected to your panic room, but rather an exit you could make a mad dash from, to a hidden entrance to the panic room. Its never safe to directly connect your escape location to your primary residence. Tunnels should not be in a straight line, as anyone in pursuit could simply shoot straight down the tunnel. Releasing methane into a tunnel behind you, could be a good deterrent as it's both flammable, and cant be filtered by a gas mask.
The lighting was a smart way to conceal the contents of your room. Are the walls around that door 2x4 stud walls or block walls? I would submit cement block walls would be better. You dont have to answer...I just hope you thought of that because that door is useless if they can just smoke you by firing through the wall.
There is an old bank building here in my home town that's for sale since the main office closed the branch. It'd be more cost efficient to buy that than to convert my home. I don't know about codes.
The safest way is to make sure your panic room is invisible or very well disguised and hidden, because if they know its there, they will get in eventually, especially when it looks very secure for some reason.
I’m curious about the lighting in the video. Is that so we don’t see specifically what is in there or are you saving electricity? Or is that red light therapy? Did I miss something?
If someone knows someone is in there but can't get past door depending on room location shouldn't you also fortify the room as far as if they try to shoot through walls on the sides or back of the room where maybe some inside wall work or putting thick steel panels would make it less accessible
How about rifle ports at the top w/ metal covers.. A bulletproof sm window?? To see n deal w/ those coming toward the door.. The walls, how thick ?? What caliber will they take?? AIR is kind of important😄😄
Lmao, who the hell is gonna walk around with a chainsaw dude. Nothing is gonna be 100% secure, even concrete. The idea is to give you and your loved ones enough time to arm up and wait for backup to arrive. What he built will give him more than enough time to prepare for what’s on the other side of the door
@@ThinBluLne Seems like a terrible idea. You're in a tiny space and I'm in a huge space, and so me shooting randomly through the walls is more likely to hit you than you are to hit me. You've made your situation WAY worse unless you've got armored gun ports you can see out of.
@@ThinBluLne then what’s the point of the vault door. Just lock the door with a padlock or deadbolt, because who’s going to carry a sledgehammer. If they’re willing to break the door down, they’re probably willing to bust through sheet rock walls or wood paneling right
Ok, not to be the "downer" on this idea.....which is a great idea.....except...are the walls on either side of the vault door and all the way around inside reinforced also..and are the hinges on the inside or outside the door? Great idea for escape "hatch".
You should’ve shown us your escape hatch so that we can get some ideas on what to build. It’s not like any of us know you personally or know where you live
Im going to watch this in about an hour, but for SHTF situations, I'm not convinced I want to be literally trapped in any location. Once you run into a hidey hole, that's your last place. You probably want to be sure you've saved one in the chamber for yourself after you've had your last chat with our Creator.
Back in the Middle Ages, many castles had a secret escape tunnel leading from the keep to a hidden exit far outside the walls. Anyone planning to build a panic room should consider a similar feature.
What are your thoughts on having a panic room? Of course, nothing is impenetrable if someone has enough time, energy and the right tools. But buying time, securing property and having an escape route are all valuable assets in any emergency. How would you set yours up? Or what would you want yours to be built out of?
One step up from a bucket would be the old Luggable Loo™. There are also chemical toilets.
@@Provocateur3 Poo gel comes to mind!
I would want the internal layer to be made of graphene reinforced steel, and the layers outside of that to consist of outward facing shaped charges for when they try to shoot or cut through. Especially if they try to cut through, as to blow limbs off and destroy cutting tools. I'd also have some friends help me rig up a remote controlled turret belt fed belt on a retractable, opposable arm above the ceiling tiles on the outside.
Bring the batteries for your power tools inside during shtf so they don't use them against you to get in.
helped a friend in the 90's who built his home with a safe room / Gunroom in the basement design. Poured concrete walls fire proofed and vented escape hatch. He's a retired submariner so we put in a surplus over head korean war era submarine hatch which you cannot see from inside the homes xxxx floor and the entry door is a 6 dog surplus Navy passage way door for standard entry. Its 12 x 24 eats up half his basement but extremely cool. Rest of the basement is one hell of a nice maritime man cave so the door fits in with the decor nicely.
That sounds awesome!
Super cool!!
Thats badass dude. Prepper goals
As the owner of a red team pen testing consultancy, one of the biggest and most surprising flaws we find in panic rooms, or secured doors in general, is that the walls the doors have been installed in often tend to just be typical 2x frame and drywall that a single person could force entry through via an 8 pound sledge
Yep.
I agree that drywall would be weak in the sense of deterring or slowing down entry. If these walls were drywall I would have felt more inclined to change their composition.
@@TexasTexan good luck
AaMmen!
I couldn't help but wondering if he had Beefed up that wall structure!
Cinder block wall.....with vertical rebar reinforced. Then a rebar grid like a thick net.....then a 2nd Cinder block wall....sandwiching in the rebar grid thick net. THEN, fill all cinderblock with agragate cement. Rebar ceiling, with poured concrete. All hidden behind a fake drywall with a book case, media center in front of it. Book case swings out like a hidden door. YES.
So my husband did flooring for a doctor who'd come from a dangerous country, with kidnappings, raids, etc. He had hidden passages in some areas and a panic room. Thing is, the ceiling of his panic room was simply under another non-reinforced wood floor. He didn't grow up seeing Looney Tunes. Think of your ceiling-I'd store a layer or two of bags of potting soil, for the extra protection from radiation. Could always use the soil later if it's not contaminated.
Super cool video!
You should install cameras outside the panic room to see whoever is up to. A small camera that they can't really see unless they search for one.
In line with your thought about the camera(s):
Install some ⅜"-½" Plexiglass secured in front of the cameras!
But also, have a Tiny TINY camera installed in the ceiling, placed in a Real but just nothing but a shell Air Vent.
Note: buy a couple to 3 more vents If you don't have others around your home, and install those as well. You don't want to just have a single vent in your house.
Glad you have an additional escape...nothing says "break in to me, it's worth it" like a vault door..one thing I learned in the military, worm-holing is EASY!
If i was stuck in that room with that lighting id definitely panic
Submarine tactical…
Rule #1 never tell/show people your panic room. 🤦🏼♂️
Agreed.
@@MagicPrepperI actually appreciate this. It's a good thing you didn't show everything. But this conversation needs to be had, otherwise someone might lose their life in a SHTF scenario when it could've been avoidable.
@@MagicPrepperHave a fake panic room to show that has an incinerator, chainsaw roombas and spikes in it. 😂
@@MagicPrepper😂😂😂
@@silence6408LOL
Nice work man. Didn’t see that coming. That door is more affordable than I would have guessed.
Just a friendly heads up. Waste bags tend to expand after use and are very prone to exploding. Something about expanding gases inside a sealed plastic bag.
There are definitely some more expensive options available.
Maybe a camp toilet would be a better idea. Or a composting toilet.
That is true. Waste is so lovely haha
I shit in plastic bags for 4 years in prison in the Bahamas. Never saw or heard of exploding shit bags
@@Jhenry55677 lol, I only did it for a couple weeks while training with the military. We had bags explode and dudes got dookie on them.
I think you and I agree. The only way to guarantee you win a fight is to not enter the fight. I can say I've won every fight I stayed out of.
Almost without exception. Any fight you enter, you will have a bad day. Don't believe me. Try shooting yourself in the leg or arm. Even if you win the war, getting shot tends to make for a bad day. In a SHTF, you may not have a hospital. Even John Rambo tried to stay out of the fights until he couldn't any longer.
In haste we make waste MP. Consider half wall of cinderblocks waist high to give support to that door if your going to keep the wood exterior walls consider ballistic rated drywall from armorcore or ballisticrete. And air filtration like a safe cell not so much for the cbrn but air flow a few people in your safe room and it will get hot fast
Good points! I do have some ventilation and a hardened area for ballistics.
Thank you bringing us inside to show what you normally would not. Not just this video but past ones as well. I know you give up some secrets/privacy, but the information you give us such tremendous value.
It is something that I have been hesitant about in the past but I do feel like it's worth sharing. I look at it similarly to networking. There is always a risk in bringing more people into your circle. But, without people, how much can you accomplish? Same goes for the channel.
@MagicPrepper Yes sir.
Sleeping bags, entertainment for the kids, oxygen lol. I'm happy for you. Would love to live in a place where I could do that.
Haha I appreciate these suggestions!
Me, secure behind my fancy vault door.
Outside: This is the Lockpicking Lawyer, and today, we're breaking and entering.
I inspect high end properties in and around Jackson Hole for real estate deals. I have inspected some very interesting "panic rooms" over the years. I found some of them myself, because of the layout of the building. Some were pointed out to me by seller's agents.
What they had in common is the entries were disguised. Several were entered through bookshelves with inobtrusive latches which took some finding. The entries themselves weren't armored. That seems like a good plan.
I once inspected a very high end place just down the road from my humble abode which had a "panic tunnel". Once you figured out how to open the bookcase on the basement level, you entered a concrete tunnel, complete with emergency lighting. The tunnel was nearly two hundred yards long. At the end of the tunnel there was a side room, all concrete, that held a generator and, maybe, who knows what else.
There was a door at the end of the tunnel which brought you out of a hillside next to an outbuilding that was, in part, a garage.
Real James Bond stuff. I envisioned the owner running down the tunnel, stopping to pick up his plate carrier, vest, and M4, then jumping into his armored SUV. The guy who owned it must have had some enemies. Shows what you can do when money is no object.
I recently inspected a log house near Grand Teton National Park that had a "bomb shelter". It was under the garage slab. It had a fitted concrete hatch which, when pulled up and to the side, revealed a room under the slab. A ladder let you down in.
Now, the idea was good, but the execution was problematic. The concrete hatch weighed maybe 150 lbs. and me and the agent couldn't get it totally off the hatch. And we aren't weaklings. Anyway, I had a look down there: there were shelves with can goods and emergency supplies from fifty years ago. There was a foot of water in the bottom, guess the groundwater wasn't anticipated.
If you got that lid back on you'd be pretty much trapped. Weird, and creepy.
I worked on a remodel for a Swiss oil magnate who definitely had some enemies. He had a safe in his office with a full-auto Swiss service rifle, and other goodies. Seems like very, very rich guys are partial to full auto defense weapons: "Say hello to my leetle fren!"
If he had a "panic room" he never showed me.
Id go through the framing. Im a framer it looks like your surrounding framing around the wall or door would be your week spot i would recommend doing some 2x blocking in between your 16 on center studs and put plywood up on both sides of your walls. Its not break in proff but it would slow someone down. The only other option would be to have your room in a basement and have actuall concrete blocks for your walls reinforced with rebar and concrete poured inside the blocks thats how we build foundations but i know thats asking alot😂😂
Haha I appreciate that you understand building an entirely new foundation or room for this project might be asking a lot. Many of the comments seem to assume that would be the only reason worth doing something like this. I am reinforcing some of the "weak" points but there are some things that have been done by design to restrict or slow any entry attempts.
Yep right through the walls, or ceiling. Easy to shoot through also. This is why having features on the outside and a way to view what's happening outside is important also. Pretty difficult to really vault up a whole room on a pre-existing house. Most haven't the mind to understand breaching and/or siege.
@@MagicPrepper that's good i know just slowing someone down can make a big difference i just try to think if someone came while you were gone and had a sawzaw and a grinder that would be the worst case scenario. Not all thieves carry power tools with them and have contracting backgrounds either if they did they probably wouldn't be our robbing people lol. But a good security system would mitigate that problem and i have a pretty good feeling that you might have one installed 😂😂
Not a step I myself am doing but it looks great. If they get in my place that will be where it ends for me. Thanks for showing it, very cool
No worries! Thanks for the support!
I agree. Don’t panic. Just open fire.
Cool panic room. Very useful in numerous situations. Wish I could build one in my house
Very nice, thanks for sharing! We will be building a new house with a 4’ high foundation. My plan is to make a panic room underneath that would be accessible from the interior as well as underneath the house.
Sounds awesome!
@@MagicPrepper when we’re ready, I’ll probably order that vault door from Midway USA.
I would want a panic room to be bullet-proof. Maybe line the room with corrugated steel panels cut from a shipping container?
I would want the door to a panic room to be hidden so the bad guys would never see it. Maybe hide it behind a wall-mounted mirror that slides to the side? Or a wall mounted bookcase that slides? Or have a doorway cut in the kitchen floor beneath a kitchen island that slides to the side to reveal stairs to a blocked off part of the basement?
I would want the panic room to have good ventilation. Maybe a ceiling fan vent that goes from a pipe to the roof soffit? Or a vent fan in a walled off section of a basement that is connected to what looks like a drainpipe on the house exterior?
I would want a panic room to have some kind of silent alarm I could trigger to alert a security company that I am barricaded inside and get a police response to my home.
I would want a panic room to have electric lights connected to battery back-up power.
It would be good to have a tunnel from the panic room to a hidden outside exit. Just in case the bad guys torch the house.
Very nice! We are looking at doing a little remodeling and I was wondering what is out there for maybe making a secure room. I like the idea of having the room available for storms etc.
Yea its a good deterrent and peace of mind type solution.
Do your research, there is plenty of ideas out there for the willing and able
My panic room is every room I’m in at any given time 😂
Ha!
🤣
AGREE, Have fall back to areas..Entrance, fall back to main hallway , fall back to small b-room , fall back to main b-room where most of weapons are n defend or retreat out the rear entrance..
Great comments below. I like the idea of a safe room. I would take it one step further, hide the entrance, behind false wall / secret entry. If bad people can't see it, they can't take it / get too you. Nice job on the room
Neat idea, I'd also look at making sure the walls are not going to be either breached easily by bullets or a charge, if possible, and resistant to spawling, dont want to have something kinetic strike it and end up shredding everyone, even with a failed breach. The door is impressive, but I would imagine if bad guys know its a panic room, they will just try to breach the walls, esp if theyre ex dotmil. Another thing nice to have if possible would be a way to reach out and touch them from inside the room, say a small opening you can shoot or drop some gas or other, shall we say "off the books" items that you could drop out and into the room next to the panic room might be helpful. (i'm guessing say a baseball sized piece of tannerite and ballbearings you could shoot would clear that area next to the panic room real fast^^ - in minecraft, of course.
Something to look at down the road, if you can seal it air tight is some co2 scrubbers and air supply sort of like the bunker guy in texas does, while its great to have CBRN masks, if you can prevent that attack as much as possible it will save you having to make a speedy, unplanned exit, but of course may be $$$ and time intensive, and depending on the layout as well.
Your are an all around survivalist
I like the door...lucky family xx🙏❤💖☮👀
Much appreciated!
ICF blocks using a 6" reinforced concrete core on a solid concrete slab with a solid reinforced concrete top tied into the concrete in the walls. Concrete walls tied into the reinforced concrete slab. 2nd access up to you. Add a fire proof door with a false bookcase in the living area or your vault door. Just a thought........... Should be able to take a moderate to larger tornado without much damage.
Thanks for the ideas!
I though about making our master bedroom or bathroom also a saferoom. Secure door, all that good stuff
Never a bad idea!
A $300 heavy wood door would be sufficient. People that see a vault door, are not going to lose interest. They'll stick around and chisel or cut thru walls or floors to get to you. Keep in mind, most likely your ceiling is a flimsy plywood floor with wood floor joists. A $40 skill saw and 20 minutes of cutting thru the floor, will allow people to access the safe room. Unless you have a poured steel reinforced floor, ceiling, wall people can easily cut into it thru weak points. Silly to harden only 1 access point when the rest is weak (weakest link of chain thing). Considering all the contingencies, no need for a steel door, or fire resistance, etc. In fact the benefit of wood, is that you can observe someone on the outside and shoot thru the door to end the threat.
A wood door comes down much faster. The time to respond, equip or escape is greatly diminished. And during normal times of operation, it gives time for a response. Whether that be neighbors or police. There is a lot more to it than just making it impenetrable. Besides, I had a room with no other access points and an escape route sooo...
Very nice!
We really need a storm shelter her in north Louisiana. More and more tornadoes every year
We're still working on ours. But soon!
Right on for ensuring a second egress. At a private compound in AFG, the company I was with put in a panic room as a fallback position, but I never planned to use it because it was a single access room that wasn't going to protect against anything more than some AK fire for a while. We had no guarantee of support, and I didn't want to get myself locked into a room and lose mobility. Bunkers can be useful, but if no one is coming to help you, they shouldn't kill off all other options.
Reinforcing your walls would be a good idea, I can get through an interior home wall with a hammer. Maybe look into sheet metal panels you can screw to the studs on the inside. Doesn’t have to be bulletproof, once they start working on the metal you can fire through it. Just a thought
Love the mood lighting, all that's missing is a disco ball. Seriously, great job with the room. You mentioned cameras, what about comms? Even a simple radio could give you info about what is going on in the outside world and when it might be safe to come out.
Nice door and panic room glad you thought of a secondary way out Incase someone decided to torch the place when the can't get in the door
Good call on the lighting and explaining why!!
Great video.... so hard to find the right balance of strength and accessibility with these things. Hope the final project works out for you. Cheers from Alberta!
Damn that is amazing
I'm pretty stoked about it.
Fire bad! 2nd hidden “entry” good! Cinder block filled with concrete also good.
Very nice I wish I could have something like this in my house 🤙🏻🤟🏻🇺🇸
It's definitely cool. I appreciate the support!
Dude this is so badass! I aspire to be at this level
You'll get there!
You need to paint 111 on the front. Good stuff man!
Haha you're right.
Nice room . I used regular steel door with lock and deadbolt as it will blend in looking normal in my basement. Studs spaced less than 16 inches for extra strength and so someone cant fit through wall. Insulated with roxul for fire proof. If someone wants and brings tools like saws they can pretty much penetrate anything with time.
Great video buddy, 10 out of 10!
Well thank you!
Agree.
Fresh air pipe would be something i would work into the site eventually
I would like to build a room like this in my basement. Using heavy steel and cement to reinforce the existing walls and ceiling.
My thought is to have the door hidden behind a false wall so nobody knows its there.
I also want a escape tunnel that i could get out in case I needed.
The vault door is nice, and those that can swing it probably should get it.
Otherwise at least replace your doors tiny screws with 3" ones and consider a door stopper of sorts as well.
Not gonna lie that’s pretty sick! Adding to the list.
Great door.
They can probably shoot through the frame walls on either side.
Yup. There are some places that are more protected luckily.
My $1.10 (inflation) is to install pressure sensors (DIY ones are cheap and easy to build) under the carpet at main points of entrance and just in front of your panic room door connected to a light bar switch board in the panic room so you will know (without opening the door) if there is an uninvited guest in his house. Also, install self-closing hinges on your outer doors with contact switches on those doors and your windows to let you know if someone is coming or going! Tie those into your switch board! A air vent that comes directly from the outside (hidden of course) should come up though the panic room floor and a couple of small bottles of oxygen inside might be useful! I'm assuming that your hidden exit is in the floor since you don't want to climb up in a fire. Most houses have a crawl space that is easy to get into so lining the outer lower walls with sandbags will at least slow any intruder down! Your hidden exit should go to a out building (maybe an old dog house) or even a bile of trash out of easy sight from your house!
Cool video , thanks for sharing , God bless !
Thanks Michael!
The only thing this room is missing is video camera access of the house with monitors in the safe room so you can see what is going on in the house and property.
Just when I thought I caught up with this guy, he goes and does this 😂. Just ordered some more tools from Midway USA 🇺🇸👍
Haha I'm sorry to be such a problem!
@@MagicPrepper Oh no I look at this as a learning experience so thank you 👍
Your going to need to camouflage that door. But nice job its a good thing to have. Hope you never need to use it except for storage.
That door would camouflage easily. Just build some moveable shelving in front of it.
I have a closet to Narnia. Stuff as well as a safe place for a tornado or other emergency. Mine is good metal door, but it's a bit hard to "hide".
I have been thinking for years about starting a company to build panic/safe rooms for people in their homes. I was thinking about converting existing rooms in the house or using part of the garage. I have been in construction for almost 30 years, so I have the knowledge and connections, but I have never been much of a risk taker as far as starting my own business.
That is valuable knowledge that many, including myself, do not have. You might be on to something!
Was just talking to the wife about remodeling our walk-in closet as a walk-in safe for valuables in case of robbery. Worst case it could also be a safe room until the police arrive. Luckily she has a reasonable amount of clothing/shoes and is open to the idea.
Watch the movie panic room for more ideas. Which brings up, do you have cell phone reception in this room or do you need a signal booster. You could make fold down table off the back wall. A air intake with a fan for fresh air, with screens to keep bugs out. Electric heater, gets cold in the winter in ND.
Guess I could turn my Man Cave basement into a panic room 🤔
I'm not opposed
@@MagicPrepper Keep a lot gear down there anyway especially the bigger "Problem Solvers" if you know what I mean!
i wonder what the real panic room looks like? love the youtube staged one though ;)
😉
Great he gets it for free to brag to us 😆, great topic magic just teasing.
Awesome! We'd love to have one. Don't know if it's possible in our house but I dig yours....I need a sponsor.😅
Pretty cool! Hopefully one day I can have something similar. I'm working extra hard and trying to build my credit to get out of the rent pool.
felt like I needed old school 3D glasses for this
What about the walls of the room ? The door is heavy duty and would be tough to breach but if the walls are not reinforced as well, then it would be relatively easy to make entry. I spent 32 years in the fire service and many times making entry through a wall is much less labor intensive than trying to make entry through a well installed security reinforced door.
awesome! you should look at getting some CCTV so you can see who's at the vault door! I have some skills when it comes to ICD705
Great video. Thanks for the information. Hopefully you replaced some of that hardware with longer and thicker screws. The hardware pack looked like standard size door hardware for the most part
I remember my grandfather having a hidden room where when the “door” was shut it blended into the wall and you wouldn’t know it was there. Always wanted a room like that in my house.
I think due to your prominent channel. I would consider (post exposure for whatever you want disclosed forchannel ideas). I would work on making the door less obvious. Your best chance to avoide "looters", marauders/raiders... concealment of the room be it a pretend shelf. Or other less obvious than a big safe door.
Loved this - good info.
Not sure if you did this but putting concrete in the walls makes it bullet resistant and potentially help if they light the home on fire. Concrete disperses heat (gun safe walls are filled with concrete)
If you do that though route all wiring through a PVC tube so you can still access the wiring for upgrades or fixes.
Is the room cinderblock? If not some type of ballastic paneling on the inside so rounds aren't sent through drywall!
There are reinforced areas.
Being able to unlock the door from the inside is an absolute necessity, but a lever could potentially be manipulated from the outside. Something as simple as a coat hanger could, depending on the design of the bottom of the door be slid under the door, rotated up to hook the lever and then pulled down, unlocking the door. This method would be easily defeated if you were occupying the room or if a simple shield was installed to prevent the lever from being hooked. Just a thought.
Someone just lights the house on 🔥
Good looking setup. Does the room have its own ventilation system with a good filtration system?
Pretty slick room
lol, the first thing that came to my mind was also: "light the whole place on fire"
Exactly. Hence, escape hatch?
You can use cat litter in the bucket . Also try to separate the liquids from solids. It will not sink as bad.
Pretty sick set up bro !!
I noticed everyone throwing shade on the walls, maybe add some steel on the inside and dedicated ventilation. Still wouldn't be much a boom / storm shelter but at least your family would be safe from flying lead and agro dudes with saws. Does the door unlock and open from the inside when you actuate the handle? Or do you have to unlock it from the inside to exit?
It automatically unlocks from the inside. And yup there is some reinforcement. I guess I should've just built an entirely new structure in my home rather than using what I have available to me according to the comments 😉
This may have already been asked, but can you say whether you used standard wall framing materials and sheetrock for this room? Don't violate your OPSEC plan, but only having drywall between a threat and me or my family might not be the best solution. Great video!, thanks!.
He got the door for free and obviously didn't put much thought into construction.
Nice door! The walls are wooden, or do you have reinforced steel behind the boards? Do they have a fireproof coating? what about airflow? Do you have a good particle filter in the room? you will leave the door in sight of
everyone or will you hide it? just saying...
It would be a good idea to have an escape tunnel from your house, to a less visible part of your property. That is where you would need a panic room. Also booby traps in the escape tunnel to prevent someone from attempting to follow you. If possible, dont have the tunnel directly connected to your panic room, but rather an exit you could make a mad dash from, to a hidden entrance to the panic room. Its never safe to directly connect your escape location to your primary residence. Tunnels should not be in a straight line, as anyone in pursuit could simply shoot straight down the tunnel. Releasing methane into a tunnel behind you, could be a good deterrent as it's both flammable, and cant be filtered by a gas mask.
Treat your secret panic room like its your own secret area 51.
Really nice, is the walls bullet proof if not sand bags would be an option for that..
The lighting was a smart way to conceal the contents of your room. Are the walls around that door 2x4 stud walls or block walls? I would submit cement block walls would be better. You dont have to answer...I just hope you thought of that because that door is useless if they can just smoke you by firing through the wall.
Is that non-enforced wood panels around the door and walling? Wood?
Lots of wood.
Need inside dooricade security door bar. Just in case!
Good idea!
There is an old bank building here in my home town that's for sale since the main office closed the branch. It'd be more cost efficient to buy that than to convert my home. I don't know about codes.
The safest way is to make sure your panic room is invisible or very well disguised and hidden, because if they know its there, they will get in eventually, especially when it looks very secure for some reason.
It would be funny if there just a creaky screen door that leads in from the outside like on the Simpsons.
I can't do this where i live but i do plan to build a bunker similar to this somewhere outside.
Nice job!
I’m curious about the lighting in the video. Is that so we don’t see specifically what is in there or are you saving electricity? Or is that red light therapy? Did I miss something?
If someone knows someone is in there but can't get past door depending on room location shouldn't you also fortify the room as far as if they try to shoot through walls on the sides or back of the room where maybe some inside wall work or putting thick steel panels would make it less accessible
Pure Magic!!!
Big kid made ultimate hiding spot
Fallout (the game) stickers/signage are mandatory for the interior of this room.
How about rifle ports at the top w/ metal covers.. A bulletproof sm window?? To see n deal w/ those coming toward the door.. The walls, how thick ?? What caliber will they take?? AIR is kind of important😄😄
Chainsaw through the walls? Are you making concrete walls?
Lmao, who the hell is gonna walk around with a chainsaw dude. Nothing is gonna be 100% secure, even concrete. The idea is to give you and your loved ones enough time to arm up and wait for backup to arrive.
What he built will give him more than enough time to prepare for what’s on the other side of the door
@@ThinBluLne no argument here , just wondering about the walls, geeeeshhhh
@@ThinBluLne You don't need a chainsaw. You can cut a wall with a drywall saw which is basically a large serrated knife.
@@ThinBluLne Seems like a terrible idea. You're in a tiny space and I'm in a huge space, and so me shooting randomly through the walls is more likely to hit you than you are to hit me. You've made your situation WAY worse unless you've got armored gun ports you can see out of.
@@ThinBluLne then what’s the point of the vault door. Just lock the door with a padlock or deadbolt, because who’s going to carry a sledgehammer. If they’re willing to break the door down, they’re probably willing to bust through sheet rock walls or wood paneling right
Good job!
Ok, not to be the "downer" on this idea.....which is a great idea.....except...are the walls on either side of the vault door and all the way around inside reinforced also..and are the hinges on the inside or outside the door? Great idea for escape "hatch".
Hinges are inside. The walls have some reinforcement in certain areas. The escape hatch is a necessity.
@@MagicPrepper Got it....😀❤
You should’ve shown us your escape hatch so that we can get some ideas on what to build. It’s not like any of us know you personally or know where you live
Im going to watch this in about an hour, but for SHTF situations, I'm not convinced I want to be literally trapped in any location. Once you run into a hidey hole, that's your last place. You probably want to be sure you've saved one in the chamber for yourself after you've had your last chat with our Creator.
Back in the Middle Ages, many castles had a secret escape tunnel leading from the keep to a hidden exit far outside the walls. Anyone planning to build a panic room should consider a similar feature.
If you watch the video he has a second way out.