What to do?

JonB · Post by **JonB** » 16 Jul 2009, 21:20

I've got a couple of grand as a present (NOT a common thing to happen to me). I can spend it on preps on the house.

I have
450mm insulation in loft.
Cavity insulation.
Double glazing (old, but it will be the last thing to be replaced)
20 year old gas combi.
Allotment
Car on WVO (smartveg)
homemade veg filtering system.
Foodstore / torches / water filters etc.

So could do with a bit of advice on what next.

The next stage plan is:
woodburner in living room
solar compatible combi
thermal store with solar HW to rok with boiler

I could do either Boiler or woodburner?
I assume the boiler would give me significant gas savings?
Has anyone got an opinion on Atmos boilers?

Woodburner must be smokefree - any suggestions
for room 12 x 11 ish? 50s house, so will need flue liner.

Thanks for advice.

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » 16 Jul 2009, 23:35

I'd buy some body armour. Maybe some small-denomination gold coins too. (That said, I've read that after the Argentinian economic collapse, traders wouldn't accept any more per oz for gold coins than they would for cheap jewellery.)

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 17 Jul 2009, 00:02

How about a British Standard safe, double-barrel shotgun and a stack of cartridges. That will cost you £400 tops.

You can then go out into the countryside and offer to harvest / control rabbits and pigeons for the landowners. Free meat, free range.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 17 Jul 2009, 00:57

A few wood gasifying stoves or rocket stoves would be handy for cooking. They can be home made. A permanent one in the garden made from brick would allow you to cook outside using very small amounts of wood, and not the wasteful barbecue approach.

You could build some rabbit and pigeon traps. Then you don't have to pick out the pellets. You do have to visit the traps every day though.

Look at http://www.willis-renewables.com/how-it-works.htm for more solar options.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 17 Jul 2009, 08:57

duplicate post

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 17 Jul 2009, 08:58

I would do the woodburner first. It will keep you warm all winter and allow you to cut your gas usage right down. Don't forget you will need a wood store and access to trees, pallets, scrap wood, assuming you don't want to buy all your logs. This type of preparation can be a good laugh and I get a lot of satisfaction from the preparation - I have just about a whole winter of free wood stored now.

You may need to build a lean too and get a trailer. I got a good (2nd hand) trailer for £200 and built my first lean-to for £150 and have just finished the second one for £100 (was able to re-use quite a bit of stored large size pallet wood).

Re your flu-liner - price around and get the cheapest one you can find - in my opinion they are over-emphasized as well as being over-rated and over-priced!

PS Contact me by pm if you would like simple plans for a lean-to and wood stackers. Dead easy to make.

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 17 Jul 2009, 11:23

Im a doomer so Id consider things like selling up and moving somewhere your more likely to survive a nuclear war .

apart from that Id get things like a good quality water filter .

food storage at least a years worth for each person you wish to keep alive , it not that expensive if you concentrate on dry goods like rice wheat dry beans honey salt .

Id look at storing actual water , Id get nbc equipment with military issue or better respirators and spare filters dosimeters Geiger counters iodine tablets .
Id join a shooting club and get into guns .
you can actually survive anywhere in the uk without heating, its not that comfortable but you get used to it , do some winter camping in a small tent or without a tent and you will learn what you actually need .

get a arctic sleeping bag ex military ones are fine, you can sleep fine on snow with two thermarests and a good sleeping bag, get some good outdoor clothing and lots of good boots look for goretex .

become multi skilled and as fit as you can be, this need not cost you lots of money but have skills at making and repairing things using hand tools or human powered tools like treadle lathes or sewing machines learn how to use a charcoal powered forge .

Id get a woodstove but if things get really tight I think getting wood may be a problem, you need very little wood to cook on but a lot to heat a house

careful_eugene · Post by **careful_eugene** » 17 Jul 2009, 11:50

You could have a cracking party, or a night with 5 prostitutes (ala Max Mosely) although I don't knowhow you'd convince your wife that this was a good use of the cash.
On reflection, probably the woodstove is the best idea.

JonB · Post by **JonB** » 17 Jul 2009, 20:33

So 2 votes for a woodburner,
and the rest is LATOC stuf!

I have bug out stuff, food, water filtration etc.
and getting more.
I am going clay pigeon shooting in a couple of weeks.

I want to spend this money on a bigger bit of
prep I wouldn't normally get chance to do yet.

I'll price up the burner and boiler.
May make the decision for me.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 17 Jul 2009, 21:31

You won't find many recipes for clay pigeons. They grate on your teeth a bit.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 17 Jul 2009, 22:18

careful_eugene wrote:You could have a cracking party, or a night with 5 prostitutes (ala Max Mosely) although I don't knowhow you'd convince your wife that this was a good use of the cash.
On reflection, probably the woodstove is the best idea.

Gah forget the prozzies. Woodstoves are really horny! Get a nice luxurious rug to go in front of it and make sure you've got good curtains in that room unless you're both the exhibitionizt types. I'll shut up now

!

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 17 Jul 2009, 23:30

Mmm !

You won't find many recipes for clay pigeons. They grate on your teeth a bit.

For a couple of grand you could get a couple of these.

Invaluable for keeping vermin down, hunting rabbits, wild boar and tracking injured game. They also double up as knee and bed warmers and dig the garden !

Cran · Post by **Cran** » 18 Jul 2009, 14:27

You could have a big party

sam_uk · Post by **sam_uk** » 03 Aug 2009, 14:20

If you can find a small parcel of land a couple of miles from your house you could stick a walnut tree or two onto it...

Post by **adam2** » 03 Aug 2009, 15:06

I would vote for the woodstove.

You might have enough change for a simple 12 volt battery and PV system for emergency lighting.
Even a very basic system is a great improvement over headtorches, lanterns and candles.

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