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If you have questions, comments or feedback to my last blog post Urban Survival in Apartment please post here.
Knowledge is like ammo. You want to gather as much as you can but don’t give up any to others. Balancing that will be an everyday affair.
Be the person that says hello to others. You may be in a hurry but an additional 2 or 3 minutes can pay dividends.
A fruitful conversation is a two way street. If asked just give a general answer: “Where do you work? Oh, I am a teacher/garbage man/street worker.” will put your subject at ease and then you can start asking them stuff. So many people go through life not telling anyone, except family, about what they do for a living.
Most conversations are about: job, personal health, health of family. Keep your questions to these categories and you will be surprised what you learn.
RobinYes, knowing your neighbors is a must and to that I would add making yourself useful either through things you do or things you know can result in you being perceived as an asset to the neighborhood rather than a liability. This is perhaps easier in small town or rural settings where being anonymous is very difficult to do. It is probably also easier for extroverts than introverts. Regardless of where you live or your personality type, just making it a point to smile and say hello to everyone you see in your neighborhood or building will get the process started. If you look for opportunities to be helpful, you’ll see them. They’re there.
The issues of water, heat, and food (and I would throw in sanitation) in apartments is a tough one perhaps but as Selco points out, there are options if you think through your specific situation. To the extent you have thought things through you can make yourself a valued asset by guiding others who live in your building/neighborhood when the SHTF.
On the issue of wood stove smoke. Catalytic converters burn the smoke. Using one should reduce the signature significantly. However none of my stoves had them in the past so perhaps someone burning one could comment on how effective catalytics are at reducing visible smoke.
My old wood stove had a catalytic converter and it didn’t seem to eliminate the smoke, but it was maybe 16 years old when we bought the place and perhaps wasn’t working right. We replaced it a year or so ago with a new non-catalytic stove.
MB,
Age is a factor for catalytic converters, I was reading about them earlier and they only last about 12,000 hours. Not a great deal of time, 500 24hr days.One think to remember in apartments is they do not have much room for storage. Water will be a problem. A think to remember in an apartment is since many may leave to a BOL there will be many apartments empty. In these empty apartments there is water in the water heaters and all the water pipes. Study ways to get to this water. There maybe 30 to 60 gallons of water in each apartment.
I would want as many hand tools as I could accumulate so I could make modifications to my building. Im not an apartment dweller but after shtf I would start making alterations to my building to suit the situation.
If there are empty apartments I would set one up with storage barrels. A lot of buildings can have the roof drainage system modified to divert water to a new location. Just cutting a hole in the wall near the down spout and adding an elbow will bring it indoors.
I would suggest a good supply of large nails and a framing hammer for use in securing the building and individual doors as needed. An edge nailed door (both edges) with a board nailed to the floor behind the door, won’t open until the door collapses. Reinforcement to the door can be added as needed.
Scope out commercial buildings around the area close by for spigots , etc. Even if the water goes off , there may still be enough pressure to fill a few things in those places . Sillcock key spigots are what you want , because if you have a key , you will be able to get water denied to others . Multi story office buildings should be looked at also for that . The higher the building the more water is going to be available , as it will be draining from the top down .
Thanks 74, based on those #’s a catalytic converter is only going to be good for 3 or 4 heating seasons. Mine was 20 years old when we replaced it.
I would prefer not to be in an apartment when shtf but if it were so one would need to be ready as can be. Seems some adaptations could be applied even to those not living in an apartment.
Excellent ideas on finding water in other apartments, commercial buildings and exploring ways to get it. I didn’t know about Sillcock key spigots. Thank you for that information.
I have many times wonder how one stays inconspicuous with smoke coming from wood burning. I appreciate the information on the catalytic converters and the aproximate life of them. I learned something new.
speakingtruth2you
I didn’t know about them either until flatlander clued me into them. Funny how us rural people don’t know all that new fangled city stuffs…..
The idea of surviving in an apartment scares the snot out of me. Just the idea of having to actually depend on a bunch of people that I barely know just gives me the willies.
http://ageofdecadence.com
I tend to agree a bit with sledjockey. I know it’s very valuable if possible to team up with others but so far hasn’t been my experience. I hope that might just change in time.
speakingtruth2you
Another source of water are sprinkler systems. The systems are large pipe and hold large volumes of water. Some times the water tends to be the next thing to oily pond scum so I wouldn’t try it unless the building was fairly new and the water was for other than drinking. Sprinkler systems have a 2″ drain pipe at the control valve that exits the building adjacent to the valves. One person could open and close the valve while the other collects the water.
Great information @74
Thanks and going to keep this in my survival solutions.speakingtruth2you
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