# Do you have hidden rooms/caches/panic room for the case of being robbed



## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...

We just found a not obvious hidden chamber in our house and were wondering if this could be a great place for us/food/belongings in case of WTSHTF

Does anyone here do have such thing as well, or is it illusional to keep something hidden in the house


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I had a hidden space in a house I used to own.
It was about 3 feet X 8 feet and there was a wall panel that was hinged to give access.
When closed, it looked like a normal wall.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I would advise based on current news reports, against wiring a shotgun to the door of any panic room.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Haha...nice advice...but i dont own firearms...and being an engineer, i would prob never do that...
There are way better ways to prevent access or escape after entry...and def more subtle ones...


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

A bucket of red paint over the door, a leg snare that hangs the intruder from the ceiling, emptying out his loose change,
a door that only opens from the inside and has no knob to pull once it closes...wait.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Maybe, maybe not.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

I would be more in the aisle of Isoflurane sprayer...but right now i am just looking for ideas options for this hidden spot


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

GTX63 said:


> A bucket of red paint over the door, a leg snare that hangs the intruder from the ceiling, emptying out his loose change,
> a door that only opens from the inside and has no knob to pull once it closes...wait.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

GTX63 said:


> I would advise based on current news reports, against wiring a shotgun to the door of any panic room.


Could this by frog be an actual case of the gun, the actual gun, going off by itself and killing someone?
The firearm phobes may actually have their hands up and running with this one....
Hello 9th circuit!


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Well, this thread took a twist! 

Nope, don't have a "safe room" or even a hidden cubby. Would be nice though. Really concerned about tornadoes here.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I have a small hiding place next to my bed, one in my desk drawer, and one behind the stove


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Mine has six wee compartments that spin.


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## birdman1 (Oct 3, 2011)

i worked for a flyby night paveing company in chicago in the late 70s ;the company owner had a big old home with a safe room i guess 10 x10 where he kept his money and he could hide . he said it came with the house . but i don't ,living off the beatin path here is good i hope


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

I have some around for certain valuables, but never thought about one big enough for people. If the situation arose, I always figured the dogs and I would hold off whomsoever as long as possible and everyone else would take to the woods, hopefully we'd meet up later at a prearranged place. 
Considering where we are now though, in a double wide with a decent crawl space underneath, a trap door and an optional exit from there would be my best choice.
I never like being confined if I can avoid it.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I'm thinking I'll pass.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Nope. and I'm sticking to it. I have known of folks having a safe room, concrete construction with steel doors. Intended for tornado safety but used as safe especially when they went on trips. When out of town, tv, electroninc, jewelry, and other valuables were locked in. I looked in one of them, would rather not be inside, too claustrophobic.


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## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

I don't want to be anywhere that doesn't have two ways out.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

House I grew up in every main room had outside door except for the last one added on, Momma wouldn't let daddy put one in as he had planned to do.


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## JeepHammer (May 12, 2015)

I always had issue with the term 'Panic' Room.
Panic implies lack of planning.

'Safe' is a different story...

Someplace to squirrel away expensive items, security recorders, whatever never hurts anything.
When I think 'Safe Room', I think for family, safe from tornados, etc.

I have a walk in safe, jewelry, firearms, insurance documents, banking information, etc. 
I guess you could squat in the floor, but that's not what it's for.


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## mml373 (May 2, 2017)

Meinecke said:


> Hello...
> 
> We just found a not obvious hidden chamber in our house and were wondering if this could be a great place for us/food/belongings in case of WTSHTF
> 
> Does anyone here do have such thing as well, or is it illusional to keep something hidden in the house


Expert marksman cert, a pistol and rifle I can handle, and no fear of using them. Much better than a hidden room, in my opinion. Have to be fearless when it comes to defending home and family, especially when "the law" is more than a few minutes away.


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## Shine (Feb 19, 2011)

I had one but lost it when the invisible helicopter ran into the space alien zapper. I found that building the underwater living space with the super large plate transparent dutronium window was much more appealing. It's really better than the Screen Saver Aquariums.


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

No, no secret rooms in our place. We keep the important papers in the gun safe.


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## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

hiddensprings said:


> No, no secret rooms in our place. We keep the important papers in the gun safe.


That's what I do.


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

no really said:


> I don't want to be anywhere that doesn't have two ways out.



Like this guy?lol

https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/on-the-lighter-side.566522/#post-7953566


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## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

farmrbrown said:


> Like this guy?lol
> 
> https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/on-the-lighter-side.566522/#post-7953566


OMG!! Yeah, I'd make a hole for sure.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

I don't but I would love to have a "secret room".


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Now a secret room...
We have some friends that looked at a house for sale not far from us a few years ago.
It was an older story and a half; living room, kitchen and bath and the master bedroom on the main floor and a screened in porch in back. The 2nd floor had two bedrooms.
The main bedroom had two smaller walk in closets. One of the closets had a door behind the clothes. It led up a stair way to a "family room" with a couch, tv, mini bar. Even though the room was probably 15'x15' and had two windows, you could not easily discern it from the other bedrooms on the 2nd level. The realtor told our friends that the wife had it done for her "getaway" room when her soon to be ex husband's drinking buddies or parents came to visit. With clothes on the closet rod, no one would ever know of the room and it was insulated against sound.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

House I grew up in was built in the 20s. 3 bedroom home with very shallow closets. behind each closet was a finger hole latch once opened had shelves. Guess grandpa was selling bootlegging booze.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I lost everything in a house fire when I was twenty five. I don't keep anything of real value in my house. Maybe a few days worth of food and a few changes of clothes. My pantry is a insulated twenty foot shipping container, has a years worth of dry goods, a chest freezer full of meat, and is separate from the house. My guns and tools, are in another insulated shipping container, also separate from the house. Both containers are heated in the winter with a small electric heater. It keeps them at 45 to 50 degrees when the outside temp is minus ten degrees. Lots of insulation is the key, and keep the doors closed.


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

Forcast said:


> House I grew up in was built in the 20s. 3 bedroom home with very shallow closets. behind each closet was a finger hole latch once opened had shelves. Guess grandpa was selling bootlegging booze.



No!


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

If I had a hidden room, I wouldn't tell anyone. I live in a typical ranch house with no surprises anywhere.


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## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

*Do you have hidden rooms/caches/panic room for the case of being robbed
*
We have hidden houses.........easy if you live in a large eight million acre wilderness.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Haha, thx for that response...
Like the idea...but your area is a little bit fresh at times for my taste...
Love the idea to have my long summer nights back (Nothern Germany compared to NJ) but the winters up there without the warming Gulf stream? As a winter "disliker"...ahh nope...


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

We call them root cellars, not bunkers. If you call them bunkers you may get an unexpected visit from DHS.


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## JeepHammer (May 12, 2015)

Mike in Ohio said:


> We call them root cellars, not bunkers. If you call them bunkers you may get an unexpected visit from DHS.


I did a poured concrete home that's earth sheltered. Great energy efficiency and ground regulated temp...

My wife said she needed to cancel her subscription to Home & Garden and order Home & Bunker magazine!


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

Safe Room NO. but many stashes can be made easily.

1) a dummy Double Wall Plug outlet with no power in it but a stash for cash, and valuables.
2) bottoms of base kitchen cupboards can have a false top so you can store stuff. typically 5" of space between bottom of cupboard & floor.
3) Built in furnishing & shelving systems can have false bottoms or backs.
4) Pantry Cupboards: Got a stash of coffee cans ? The one at the back can have stuff in it... what thief looks at the food storage ? or would steal a can of coffee (especially Decaf LOL) 
5) Old Staircases often had little stashes under the treads (I have found many things there in very old houses).

A "Stash" many often miss.... Bed Box Springs are more or less nothing but an empty box covered in cloth & foams but inside is just empty space... (when my mom passed, we discovered she had a stash in her box spring, 5K stashed in there)

If your so fearful of the area you live in that makes you ponder a "Panic Room" for you & your families safety, you should seriously consider moving to a better place.


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## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

I can't imagine why anyone would want to rob us as we don't have anything most people would call valuable that could be sold to get money.Accept for an old lap top and two flip cell phones we don't have any electronics; not even an electric stove or fridge. As for food ; if anyone comes for our food they are welcome to it if they know how to prepare and cook it! Most people look in our cupboards and don't see anything ready to eat. I have spices, oil and flour and oats but you have to know what to do with them to turn them into food. My canned goods bottled they could have if they want but probably wouldn't like canned broccoli and tomatoes. No one would recognize dehydrated food either so I am not too concerned about being robbed. What is in the freezer is same as what is canned. We eat plain food which most people don't like.

Instead of stock piling food other than what is necessary from one growing season to another, I think stock piling knowledge is better. Such things as knowing what plants are edible where you live , how to kill, butcher an animal without a gun and only a knife, having a lightweight container for gathering water and another for boiling, having fishing line and hooks and knowing how to fish are all things that can help keep people alive in an emergency situation. 

We don't have a safe room but if anyone starts breaking in the two front doors of the trailer we will be exiting through the walk out window called an e-gress window in the bedroom or through the hole in the floor that leads to the basement and outside door. Sometimes running away is better than fighting or risking getting killed.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Well..its more about the preparedness factor...
WTSHTF, their will be a time of looting, and after that i want to be able to get back into my home...
And still have something...
So besides the cache in the backyard in case i cannot get into house anymore, i also want to make house as unpleasant as possible when i leave for my temp quarters, so noone will consider it as a base or new home...loot it and leave again...
After coming back getting it back up...and that where theses hidden rooms, panic rooms, stashes come into play...


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

We have a 10' x 17' pantry in our basement that has a regular door-sized opening- we haven't hung the door yet, but we are planning to build a section of narrow shelving along the wall outside of the pantry. The shelf will be just wide enough to hold quart canning jars. I want to store a lot of my empty jars on the shelves, but if times get tough I will move some canned goods from the pantry out to the shelves. There will be a section of shelves across the doorway that will be hinged so that when shut they will camouflage the pantry door. I will also move a canning kettle and some basic canning supplies out to other shelves near the pantry, in the hope that anyone looking to steal our stuff will think that we only have a few canned items and a bunch of empty jars.

Next to the pantry we have another 10' x 17' room that was intended to be a tornado shelter/safe room. Fortunately we have never needed to use it for that purpose and it has become hubby's gun/reloading room. We built a secret ingress/egress to that room which is located underneath the (hinged) step unit from ground level into the greenhouse that is above the shelter space. I guess it's not so secret anymore, lol. But we really just wanted it in case the rest of the house got toppled over on top of the basement by a tornado and the main stairs were blocked or destroyed. 

Our basement is mostly unfinished now, but if things look like they are heading south we would put drywall up over the studs, using the space behind the drywall to store- not sure what, but something that we don't want anyone to find easily. I like the idea of having some secret caches around the place- just in case.


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## samm (Dec 6, 2008)

GTX63 said:


> I'm thinking I'll pass.


I cant breath looking at the tight spot lol


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## dmm1976 (Oct 29, 2013)

I dont have one but its crossed my mind. We have a sunken room ans i always thought those 2 long steps would make good stash spots.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Our house is hidden. Finding it, one would be seeking a 'safe room' miles away.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Texican, Dude, I'm glad to see you! I have missed you big time!!!


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