If you need your panic room to withstand more substantial threats, such as tornadoes, floods, or God forbid, nuclear or biological disasters, then you will need to obviously research more extensively and spend a lot more money constructing your panic room. You can do this during the construction process of your home, with the assistance of a security professional, or you can buy a prefabricated room, such as a tornado shelter, that you have installed under the existing garage floor, for example.
The possibilities really are limited only to your own imagination and how much you want to spend.
Supplies
Again, what you put into your panic room to help you ride out the threat all depends on what kind of threat most concerns you. You might only need enough time to wait for the police to arrive, such that some water, a weapon, ammunition, and a telephone line (or cell phone) would be enough to keep you safe.
Or, if you are planning on riding out a long-term event, such as a societal upheaval or full-fledged Red Dawn-style hostile invasion, then you will obviously need many more varied and abundant supplies. In this case, think food, water, an air exchange system (with filtration capabilities), power source, comfort items, ballistic protection, communications systems, sensors and cameras to tell you what is happening outside of the room, and even external security measures like command-activated pepper spray dispensers.
The supplies you will want will all depend upon how long you will be in there, and the level of threat you want to repel. As for me, I would also need some decent wines and bourbons, just saying.
Level of hardening and nature of the threat
As mentioned above, your level of security within the panic room depends on how “hard” you want to make it. You can stick with simple plywood reinforcements, or you can go all out with kevlar-lined bullet, blast, and fire-resistant materials. If cost is no concern, then you can probably find whatever you need out there with a little internet research.
Communications
In today’s cell phone-dominated world, you might not think communicating with the outside world would be a problem. However, imagine if the cell system is down, or you cannot get a signal within your panic room. What then?
You will need some kind of a way to communicate with the world outside your room. This might entail a simple intercom system to communicate with someone right outside of the room, or it might entail a more elaborate system of radio communications, for long-range communication.
Bottom line, you don’t want to be locked away in there with no way to find out what is happening outside.
Duration of stay
This should again be a major consideration in your planning as you think about your own panic room. If you want 30 minutes of protection until authorities can arrive, you should plan your room accordingly. On the other end of the spectrum, if you are planning to ride out a dirty bomb detonation, then you need to plan for up to a month or more inside the room. These two options obviously present very different requirements for construction of your room.
Capacity
Another consideration is how many people you plan to stuff inside your panic room. If you are a family of six, then you likely need a space larger than a converted closet. If it is just you and the wife or husband, then you can get away with a smaller space. Do not forget to factor this in as you plan your panic room design.
Ease of access — for the good guys
Finally, ease of access to your panic room should be a major consideration. You do not want to have to cross back through the most likely entry point for the invaders to make it to your panic room. If you are upstairs, they are on the main level, and your room is in the basement, then that is not going to be very helpful.
You need to be able to get in there quickly, through an easily accessible entryway, and one that can be locked up quickly. Consider how long it will take you to do this in your planning, and maybe even drill it once construction of the room is finished.
In sum…
That really is it for your initial planning for your very own panic room. Obviously, much more will need to go into it once you begin, but these points should help get you started. If you find yourself thinking that it would be beneficial to keeping you alive to have a panic room, then maybe it is time to start doing some more research and putting some money away toward a security room adequate for the needs of you and your family.
(image courtesy of Creative Home Engineering).
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