Instead of cluttering up your house / garage or shed in general with your bug out gear or survival rations instead use your loft for storage space.
You can have it boarded out with stow away ladder and light for around £200-£300 and you can have loads of extra safe storage space.
Easily accessible when required and your gear can be stored ready to go not just thrown in any old how as we tend to use our lofts for when they're not boarded out.
Use vacuum packs to compress clothes, blankets etc and it will also protect them from the elements.
Just type in "loft boarding" in to Google and it will list local companies who specialise in this service.
Be wary of rodents, they love loft spaces and will ruin everything from blankets to food.
Also, your Bug Out gear should be kept fairly close to hand... Typically carried with you to work and other short trips, it should be enough to enable you to rapidly and quietly bug out of an unfavourable situation and get home or to another place of refuge.
And welcome to the forum, I look forward to your intro
Last edited by Malthouse on Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I was thinking of using my loft space, as there's acres up there!
I've now decided on all non essentials and non perishables.
As Su said, the heat can be an issue, particularly with your heating on, or during summer.
It's a good idea, but just be aware of what you store.
Food storage for me is an issue, I need to get more inventive!
Steve268 wrote:I was thinking of using my loft space, as there's acres up there!
I've now decided on all non essentials and non perishables.
As Su said, the heat can be an issue, particularly with your heating on, or during summer.
It's a good idea, but just be aware of what you store.
Food storage for me is an issue, I need to get more inventive!
I was trying to find some links for you about food storage ideas we've discussed in the past.
Here's a link to one idea for making sure you can rotate tins easily. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/ ... ting-rack/
Well common sense would have to come in to play here, you will have to use lockable metal or other tough materials containers or boxes to store food or perishables in, but I was mainly thinking of long life foods, pastas, dried foods etc.
I should imagine rodents would get to them, just like your garage or shed / out house etc. so best to use decent solid containers.
Heat and cold ? yeah vacuum packs for clothes, blankets protects from the elements, heat..? well depends how hot it can get in our loft in summer, use decent storage boxes and don't keep chocolate in them lol
I drive that many vehicles that I couldn't possible carry my bug out gear around with me but I can access my loft in 30 seconds, at least I know where it is and I can get to it pretty fast to when I need it.
Its an option for those who have little or no space at all.
I agree prepbug, as you say, common sense needs to be used.
It's about the only place I have available that is secure, and out of the kids reach, so I use it a lot.
My main concern is that it becomes my main area, and I naturally gravitate toward it in a bug in.
I'm sure there's plenty of discussions on whether it's a good idea to lock in your loft or not, but it's something that worries me!
I use our loft for storage. Ok I did actually intend putting a model railway layout up there , not very prepper related I know but it can't be all zombies and running to the hills. However, I never really got round to that and it's used for storage.
There was a fair amount of work involved getting the space ready though. Firstly the floor was strengthened and deepened allowing me to get 10" of insulation in. That also got me round existing timbers to give me a flat floor. Then I fitted salvaged king span insulation between the rafters leaving a gap between the tiles and the insulation before over boarding with hardboard. I would have used 12mm insulation board but the hardboard was free. Coat of paint , lights ,cupboards and a socket and it was all done.
It has given us an area which is fairly stable temperature wise , dry and a lot cleaner than it was when we first moved in.
