What Kind of Preparations

JonB · Post by **JonB** » 30 Dec 2008, 21:12

Put in uPVC outer door on front.
Converted car to run on veg oil.
Sorted out system for filtering waste veg oil
Cleaned up huge mess in garage and repaired waste oil filtering system.
Got and started on allotment. Got some crops in and put in fruit bushes for next year.
Sorted out better storage for prep / emergency stuff
More lagging on all HW/CH pipes from boiler in garage to house.
Water saving head on shower (Xmas pressie)
Heavier curtains in some rooms.
Spent a lot of time not putting in solar and realising how much I hate combi boilers.

Next year will be uPVC back door first.

Doesn't seem like much now I put it down.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 30 Dec 2008, 21:24

Is uPVC the best option? I thought it had a limited life, so may not be a long term solution. All those nasty chemicals don't do us or the planet much good either. Surely timber doors are better, and are repairable if necessary in future.

JonB · Post by **JonB** » 30 Dec 2008, 21:35

JohnB wrote:Is uPVC the best option? I thought it had a limited life, so may not be a long term solution. All those nasty chemicals don't do us or the planet much good either. Surely timber doors are better, and are repairable if necessary in future.

Door is double glazed , acts as a bit of a sun trap.
Had softwood before. They are rubbish, don't last.
Hardwood are better, will last, but you need to varnish (nasty chemicals) regularly. And need to be from sustainable sources.
I know of uPVC 30 years old.
The new stuff is even better, and should outlast me.
Which is best for the environment long term is arguable.

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 30 Dec 2008, 22:23

None, other than splitting up my cash. Previously all sat in one bank. Plus converting what little was left in £ into € back in March.

As I'm currently renting a small flat where any sort of modification is verboten, the rooftop solar hot water heater (an absolute no-brainer here in Spain) and a few other gadgets will have to wait.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 31 Dec 2008, 06:59

I haven't done much this year ( I did quite a lot in the two previous years ) but I have ordered my Dunsley Yorkshire stove. Unfortunately I'm unlikely to receive it until July as they have a huge backorder book.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 31 Dec 2008, 09:52

Start a Timebanking group.

Here's an example from Lewisham

goslow · Post by **goslow** » 31 Dec 2008, 11:47

got myself a wind-up watch (solar watches don't last long...). we got involved in a plan for a private allotment but it did not work out. still using biodiesel. experimented with a type of strawbale urinal. that's about it! might move house sometime to a smaller place to reduce our mortgage debt and outgoings, that's not really due to PO concerns but of course will help if things go really pear-shaped.

MisterE · Post by **MisterE** » 31 Dec 2008, 11:54

biffvernon wrote:Start a Timebanking group.

Here's an example from Lewisham

I've always been interested in this, as a bunch of us do this for each other but it would be great to have a system that could bring people in. Do you get any grief off the tax man for doing it? Thanks Biff

omnicans · Post by **omnicans** » 06 Jan 2009, 19:28

UPVC front door = upstairs windows
New loft insulation
Wood burning stove installed in front room
Wood store built,
new fence
Food stocks - only stuff i would usually eat but buying in bulk
Tools - axe, saw etc
Shoes, sleeping bags, warm clothes etc
keeping fit - cycling, running gnerally being active
Logging - got my eye on lots of wood in differnt places, slowly getting it

Became a car owner(!) for the first time - not sure if this counts!!, but i need it for logging haha

All this done by working more - been doing freelance training stuff on my holidat days then investing in preparations..

2009
Bike trailer
Wood burner in kitchen - maybe some type of cooker
more stocks of useful stuff/food etc
more wood!

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 06 Jan 2009, 23:20

I am becoming a bit of a woodaholic!

Post by **adam2** » 07 Jan 2009, 12:15

Many of my preps have already been done in previous years, this year has been mainly minor additions/improvements and rotating stocks.

purchased 2 more oil lamps, and large supply replacement wicks
more parrafin
more candles
more food
more blankets
bought bulk supply of cat food
re-wired a friends house, for free, on the inderstanding that I can stay with them if TSHTF in London, and I cant get to mothers in the west country.

Saving up for a diesel generator at mothers home which is regretably all electric, planning roofing repairs at mothers.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 07 Jan 2009, 13:54

snow hope wrote:I am becoming a bit of a woodaholic!

I have 5 pallets (and my eye on a 6th) to saw up by hand! Warms you twice, and all that.

Pippa · Post by **Pippa** » 09 Jan 2009, 10:27

I have spent one whole year learning about just how horrible people can be to one another.

I am now alot wiser. Mental preparation may well turn out to be the most useful "tool" of all.

Expect the unexpected, unpredictable and unknown, that way you won't be surprised or dissapointed.

You can gain out of some of the worst situations - wouldn't put myself in any voluntarily though so no thanks to a trip to Gaza right now.

We have one life packed full of chances and opportunities. No one has a crystal ball (that works!!!).

kurt barlow · Post by **kurt barlow** » 10 Jan 2009, 18:28

Hello - first post.

For the last two years I have been preparing my house for the post peak / depression era.

4 bedroom detached 1980's house

January 2007

Upgraded loft insulation from 50 to 250mm
Cavity wall insulation
Condensing boiler
CFl's throughout

September 2007

20 vacuum tube solar water heating

January 2008

added another 200mm of loft insulation
Replaced most trees in the garden with fruit bearing varieties

Summer 2008

Added another 20 vacuum tubes
Invested in a kelly kettle and wood gas stove
Grew a variety of veg in flower beds and containers
Purchased some spare vacuum tubes and built a parabloic concentrator. Filling the tubes with water each day provided most of my cooking water over the summer.

Autumn 2008

took on 65m2 allotment plot (hoping to take other half soon)
Got into food foraging - mainly apples, sloes, and blackberries
Put in stock about 2 tonnes of firewood.
Purchased 4x110ah ex telecom exchange batteries

Plans for 2009

Will be installing 5kw wood stove at the end of the month.
Purchased a 1000 litre IBC to ensure supply of water for garden
New double glazed back door
Looking to purchase about 200w of PV for my battery emergency back up
Taking up fishing again - local rivers full of pike and zander (if Im lucky)

to date energy usage around 9000kwh for gas and about 3500 kwh for electric. I hope the wood stove will knock about 5000kwh off the above.

Other possibilities:

Pondering whether to purchase about 50 litres of methanol for indoor cooking.
Also a stock of parafin for oil lamps.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 10 Jan 2009, 18:35

kurt barlow wrote:Purchased some spare vacuum tubes and built a parabloic concentrator. Filling the tubes with water each day provided most of my cooking water over the summer.

Tell us more. Preferably with pictures