Let’s just be honest, the zombie apocalypse is going to eventually happen and if it happened today you and your home are not equipped properly to see it through. Fortunately for you, we at homeyou are selfish about our Z-Day preparations and don’t want all of you swinging by to deplete our resources and draw unwanted undead attention. That’s why we’ve put together a few basic steps you should take now to prepare your home for its new role as Zombie Fortress HQ. Use these simple tips and your own survival skills and we’ll see you on the other side.
Exterior Steel Doors
A zombie by itself isn’t much of a problem for anyone or anything. Dealing with them in large numbers, however, is a very different thing. With the force of a zombie mob bearing down on your ground floor entrances, the first line of defense for your home should be a dependable, 1 ¾ inch steel core ANSI/SDI certified “maximum duty” door. In recent years homeowners around the country have been having these steel door installations performed mostly because they have a very dependable return on investment and have low maintenance needs. On top of all that, however, they also provide a highly durable defense for your home and loved ones. For extra security we recommend installing a few throughout the interior of the home in select choke-points to have layers of defense you can count on if things worsen.
Window Security Laminates
You’ve seen movies. How do the zombies try to get in when the door doesn’t give? That’s right! They pound and push on the windows, breaking the glass and landing a surprise bite before you can get out of the way. Everyone’s go-to response to this threat seems to be piling up furniture barricades or sloppily nailing 2x4s across the window frames and while these methods serve as a good backup to other plans, it’s only a matter of time until they’re broken through, Shaun of the Dead style. For a more permanent and dependable window defense consider transparent window laminates. A fairly new development, window laminates are a coating which goes directly on your window panes and have the strength to stop wave after wave of zombies in their tracks. Best of all, these features are transparent allowing you to keep track of your surroundings and identify the best times to send out scavengers and make a break for the closest safe-zone.
Stores and Stairs
If they’re anything you should’ve learned from the original Night of the Living Dead, aside from the fact that Johnny’s both prophetic and a jerk, it’s that you should never rely on your basement for your last stand. Zombies may not be the most coordinated things on the planet but they can still manage to fall down stairs well enough to attack whatever’s at the bottom. That’s why your very last place to retreat should be upstairs (ideally in your attic). If/when the undead break through your groundfloor having a second or third floor to escape to where you have extra stores of food and supplies is crucial to your survival. Just as important is a means to destroy the way you came up while still having a new way down. If you have time to plan your staircase disassembly we advise DIY guides like this one, much more likely you won’t have that kind of time so a bit of demolition improv will be called for. In addition to that, invest in a retractable escape ladder to have a dependable way of escaping if things get better. Or if they get much, much worse.
