Preparing an Apartment?

Anyone have any thoughts that might not come across as common for preparing in an apartment?
Outside of Stocking food and water and such is there anything else one should be doing?

BOB, food, water, FAK, radio, flashlight(s) and batteries.
Have a place or 2 that you can go to and it would be great to have some things stored there.

Dave

One problem for me is space. I don't have a basement like in a regular house, and the attic is too hot or too cold. So, I have Rubbermaid containers stacked as best as I can. Since my daughter moved out, her old room has become storage area, so that helps, at least until she moves back!

Another issue is my truck. I have the far end unit in a row of townhouses, so it's parked about 50 yards away. That makes it tough to move things back and forth, and I also don't feel comfortable leaving valuable items in it, even though I have a big locking truck-bed tool box. Although bugging out is a last resort for me, it would be a chore getting a lot of gear ready to move.

Is it on the second floor or higher? That's good from a security aspect but you may want to keep an escape ladder in your bedroom. It also goes without saying to replace the short screws holding your door latch to the wall with 3"-4" screws to make it harder to kick in the door. A peephole is also a good thing to have even if there's a window next to the door. Sometimes it's nice to see who is outside your door without them seeing you.

Double check the smoke detectors and keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and bedrooms.

Keep a corded phone in your bedroom. If the power goes out a cordless phone won't work.

Invite your neighbors over for a beer. Learn which ones you can trust.

What sort of ceiling do you have? I lived in one place where the landlord had remodled an old building and installed a drop ceiling. One day while bored I lifted a panel, looked around and discovered that the apartment walls ended a few inches above the ceiling panels. A person could easily get into any apartment on their floor!

Do you have cable or satillite TV? You might want to pick up a cheap rabbit-ear anntena in case the you are limited to broadcast TV for some reason (bad storm blocks sat. signal, flooding shorts out neighborhood cable box, etc...)

What sort of parking do you have? Here in Houston (especially these last few days) high ground is better than shade to avoid any flooding problems.

What sort of neighborhood? Back in New York I ended up keeping a sheet of plywood in my apartment to cover the window whenever some punk would come by and smash it.

Tools especially a drill, hammer, pliers, pipe wrench, screwdrivers, cresent wrench, toilet augar (if you have roommates like some I've had!), measuring tape and a level.

Renters insurance (this usually isn't possible if you have non-family roommates).

-Blast

Do your rubbermaids have a way of being closed TIGHT(!), even if it is just a couple of cinch straps stitched together like a skeletonized water bottle carrier? If so, pack them with a handtruck in mind. I've said before, those are one of those things that no one should be without.

As for the truck, I imagine a coach gun and someone watching it would a decent deterent during loading, and foot-cavalry can cover fifty yards pretty quick- quicker if you have a good line of sight. But that's only for loading of gear, admitedly.

Blast, I read your post with great interest. I'm planning to move the family to a river-view highrise co-op in about a year. My dream come true. I've been thinking about the preparedness challanges in moving from a large home and yard. The two biggest chalenges seem to be human waste storage and disposal in an extened utility interruption and getting an extended bailout kit to ground level in an evacuation scenario. I'm thinking five gallon bucket toilet, extra buckets, bleach and large, wheeled duffle bags. The hand truck suggestion also deserves consideration . Ditto concernig the rabbi-ears antenna. I would welcome an extended discussion/thread on this subject.

Acropolis5,

Congratulations on a dream come true. That seems to happen rarely these days.

For short term (3-7 days) human waste issuses I recommend this portable toilet. It is much more stable (very important!), clean and comfortable than the 5-gal bucket types out there (speaking from experience). We put a few inches of multi-cat clumping kitty litter in the liner bag, it works very well.

The hand-truck is indespensible. You'd be suprised what you can accomplish with a handtruck, a peice of plywood and some straps. "Fold-flat" milk crates are also handy here (sorry, I don't have a link).

One of the biggest problems with apartment-dwelling is storage. A stack of Rubbermaid totes covered with some nice fabric makes a good entertainment center with tons of storage.

-Blast

after living in sub-par apartments (the landlords don't really care as long as they get paid) for over 10 years and moving about 20 times during that period i second the usefullness of a good hand truck, rubbermaid storage totes (especially the Action Packers), good packing straps, rope, and of course, a good supply of duct tape, clear packing tape, (and gaffers tape if you want). unfortunately you're always limited on the amount of preparations you can make in an apartment (you do want that security deposit back) aside from the usual water/food/gear storage, so i've always just been ready to move my stuff out with little notice if necessary. of course, if you've moved around as much as i have over the years, you're always ready to go <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> seriously though, just do what you can. i wouldn't necessarily tell everyone else in the building/complex you're prepared for emergencies though (or even that you have simple tools like a drill) you'll might end up with quite a few visitors should something happen. i learned the hard way. from now on anytime someone in my building asks, "do you have any tools? i need to put together some furniture or hang a painting," my response is, "tools? no, i don't have any tools." <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

All good comments so far fellas.
Blast your thing with the screws was spot on thats one of the first things I plan on doing along with at least a top slide latch on the front door and additional screw locks on any windows.
The apartments we're looking at have an outside storage area that is about 5 x 10 x 8 so I will be optomizing that as best as i can for storage (one side for wifes holiday decorations <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> one side for preps). Anyone think adding a padlock ontop of the regular lock would just bring extra trouble?
Most non essential tools will be at moms. Essential tools ride in the Cherokee. Along with other Preps.
And yes rubbermaid boxes ROCK! Shoot I use them in my attic right now (we're downsizing).
Anyway keep the idea's coming.

Any specifics as far as water storage ideas (I like the idea of milk crates). I use cleaned out apple juice jugs from wal-mart for water storage. Add water with some bleach and date it. I was thinking about storing them under the bed since they will be out of the way.
Any body else have anything to add?

I buy cases of water with six individual gallon jugs. They're relatively cheap, easy to rotate stock and the containers have additional uses when emptied. I also keep a gallon of bleach with an eye dropper and purification instructions duct taped to it.

One consideration would be to bullet-proof a wall or room.

Many renters in bad locals remove drywall from the floor to 4 feet up, nail on plywood, and fill with quickcrete between the studs.
Anyone diving for the floor, or asleep in bed, is protected.

Beats sleeping in the bathtub in the 'hood.

I guess it would be helpful to know all your exit options, for example in case of a fire. You should be able to exit with your eyes closed, literaly, if smoke is very thick.
As mentioned earlier, an escape ladder could come quite handy when you need to evacuate by your balconly.

following another great Doug Ritter tip, for last resort water storage (and of course primarily to help keep perishables cold during a power outage) i put as many 1.5L and smaller 16 oz. water bottles in the freezer as i could fit. (i opened them and poured out a tiny bit to account for freezing) it took 'em about 2 days to freeze solid but its nice to know i've not only got some ice blocks but drinking water as well if needed.

I used to stockpile six-packs of the Walmart gallon jugs of water, but I found over the course of a year about half of them leaked. Made a big mess. I still store some but now thay are in Rubbermaid containers and others are in a spare bathtub.

I prefer the big, blue aquatainers now. Gander Mountain sells a filter unit that attaches to the aquatainers spigot (on the inside) so even suspect water can be use, within reason.

-Blast

I don't shop at Walmart, so I'm not sure of the quality of their gallon jugs. I buy Poland Springs from BJs (like Costco). They're slightly more than no-name brand, but since I can't drink the tap water where I live unless it's mixed with Gatorade powder, and I drink a lot of water, it's worth it to me. I usuallu have 2 - 3 cases on hand at a time.

Blast, thanx for the porta-potty tip. I'll be buying one. I've already got most of my preps in the big tupperware boxes. Recently I've purchased 2, 4D batt. LED lanterns from Sportsman's Guide. They're great. 2+ wk.s of light on the low setting, readable light on high. High impact plastic cases that hold the batt.s seperately. Good supplement to my 2, V&O lanterns and Coleman stove, all kerosene fueled. I've got the tools, duct tape, handcrank radio, etc. including flat rubber stoppers, available in most hardware stores, to double seal water in bathtubs when storms threaten. Cartons of Aquablox water and liter bottles of Poland Spring water will round out water storage, along with a First Need Deluxe water purifier. By the way, you can freeze the liter bottles of Poland Spring unopened, without rupturing the bottle. Let's keep this post going, the brain-buzz is really startin to flow.

If your complex has a motorized controlled access gate between the street and the parking lot, you might want to take a peek at the mechanism to see what tools you might need to disassemble it in case of a power outage. We've had to disconnect the arm several times when no one could get out of the complex to go to work.

acropolis5,
i've been wanting to get some aquablox. can you freeze those also without them rupturing? if so, and you can afford it, those would seem like the best water/emergency ice solution.

LED. Yes you can freeze the Acqua-Blox, as well as the smaller foil water packets, without camage. I just double checked my cache before I typed this post.

Use caution when cooking indoors over a portable stove -- in fact, include a warining in the box not to use indoors -- cardon dioxide built-up.\\

For a house of apartment........ three inches from the opening side drill a 1/2 inch hole on the floor and then place a 1/2 inch round piece of metal in the same.
This will allowed you to open the door those three inches in safefty in order to find out who is there.
The only way to force it open would be by forcing off the whole frame......better with a metal door.

"If you are ready you are not"... Ponce

Re: the portable toilet. Clay cat litter weighs a ton when it's wet. Use a paper-based cat litter or plain old sawdust.

Sue

Arizona Iced Tea comes in very sturdy gallon jugs. Also, stay away from the plastic storage bins that have the lid in 2 parts which hinge. These are very convenient to use until you put one where it is subject to water dripping. (rain, leaky pipe, etc.) Then they fill up with water. The ones that have a separate one -piece lid are better in that regard.

I think you could get by with just three 14 gal bins; One for clothes/ tools, one for food and one for water. Should keep you happy for a few days.