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Gnerd
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 11:58
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I know that it's pretty much impossible to stop a sufficiently motivated thief/vandal who has the time and equipment, but basically what I want is to build a cabin that can't be broken into in less than 60 seconds by smashing through the door or cutting a hole through the wall with a sawzall. Preferably it should also stop some idiot from punching holes through the wall with a .22. (Ideally I would want it to stop a .308, but presumably that would be prohibitively expensive, and I can always build an underground shelter if I want to.)
Log construction would I'm sure be sturdy and hard to cut/smash through, but if logs are not available for me to cut myself, are there ways of beefing up a frame structure?
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 12:11
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Sea Container home?
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jhp
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 12:27 - Edited by: jhp
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One of the better examples of more-secure-than-average I've seen is the Tin Can Cabin.
Maybe this could give you some ideas:
http://www.tincancabin.com/
I also really like how this shipping container cabin was laid out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrq-ISM7bs&t=1s
Even if you're not doing shipping container and use regular metal siding, this is a really neat way to protect against storm damage and typical smash-and-grabs.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 17:15
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Well there's concrete..
I have a concrete box 14x14. Was a bomb shelter. 8" thick walls. You're welcome to, you haul. 
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 18:14
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The way I see it, if your going to have windows, its a moot point.
I make mine fairly easy to break into to avoid the extra damage thieves do if its hard to break into.
Like you said, if they want to, they will get in. Being remote I figure thieves have all the time in the world to break into mine.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 18:21
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My key is in the door, seriously.
But, they will get their picture taken.
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 19:01
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I had a client with a million dollar+ vacation home that didn’t have a lock on the door. Turns out he used to have a lock and some dirt bag kicked it in just to discover he didn’t have anything work stealing. The custom wood door was several thousand to replace so he figured he would rather have a thief walk in and realize there was nothing to easily steal and sell.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 8 Mar 2021 21:02
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I can tell you that even a 9mm can be stopped bu 2 layers of 3/8 plywood. Now for the rest, 1/8in steel bars across all the studs 6' and down. Build the house up on piers and dont have any window sills lower than 5 or 6' off the ground and forget about having a window with a porch on the outside. Locks, doors and hinges are a whole other subject.
Theifs can nearly break into anything with a cordless circular saw and a cordless grinder. Another deterrent could be the fact that anything they take needs to be walked out to the street. Lock up/hide any wheeled carts.
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mj1angier
Member
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# Posted: 9 Mar 2021 08:22
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Well, I guess if you got the $ and access, IFC with steel shutters would fit the bill. Our house is ICF- 8" thick main floor and 10" basement. It will stop most rifle rounds ( not sure about .50 cal, lol) but it still has normal windows, so that would need steel shutters, maybe like hurricane shutters.
But like most on here, our cabin is just normal 2x4 walls, windows, doors... We have a shipping container that we use as a shed, but even then we don't leave anything we would cry over losing in it for long.
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 9 Mar 2021 11:12
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Bears are my biggest concern regarding break ins.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 9 Mar 2021 20:48
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Locks keep the honest people out. Unless you want to live in a bunker...
Ditto on the bears, they've been a problem in our area. One tried to get into our cabin one morning last summer, my wife chased it out. I was still sleeping until the commotion awoke me.
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Dogone
Member
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# Posted: 9 Mar 2021 23:46
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I have seen a tactically built house. Totally clear flat ground with white gravel for fifty yards around. No windows on ground floor wider than six inches. Exterior entrance into porch. Cameras outside and in porch. Porch designed as a “mantrapâ€. Hardened walls . Concealed gun ports on upper floor with overlapping fields of fire.
Would take a brave or stupid person to assault that house.
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Eddy G
Member
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2021 07:18
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Thanks, this was an interesting read...I enjoyed it.
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Gnerd
Member
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2021 10:43
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Quoting: Brettny I can tell you that even a 9mm can be stopped bu 2 layers of 3/8 plywood. Now for the rest, 1/8in steel bars across all the studs 6' and down.
But 3/16" steel plate won't come close to stopping a .308. Steel bars through holes in the studs is an interesting idea... someone thinks he can cut through the wood with a sawzall, and surprise!
You know, well-constructed wood doors or window shutters can be surprisingly strong. When they were filming the battle of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings, the construction crew built a wooden door and then a bunch of big dudes wearing orc-armor came up carrying a huge log and tried to smash the door down. They couldn't do it! The construction crew had to build a new door and deliberately make it weaker.
For my part, I'm not trying to build Mini Fort Knox. All I really want is a few basic strengthening upgrades, supplemented by things like hidden trail cams, hidden storage compartments, etc. Strangely, research has shown that even a goofy, cartoony picture of a pair of eyes has some deterrent effect.
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