Mobile Homes

In the last couple of hours I have been searching the net for pages about home-made mobile homes and caravans and quite frankly I am amazed at the stuff I found. The mobile home option is one that would warrant serious looking into as a post pole shft solution. Either as a permanent home or as removable top on a pickup or similar vehicle. A welded square steel-tube construction with sheet-metal riveted to the outside, glass-wool as insulation and plywood as an inner material appears not only to be feasible but a very good choice indeed. In addition, if you already have a pickup a removable top can be made on shoe-string budget with a lot of the materials gotten free/cheaply from a scrap yard and as leftovers from a local sheet-metal shop, the only "real money" part of doing this would be a good mig/mag welder and those can usually be rented cheap if you don’t already have a friend that owns one. Even if this isn’t a primary option for post pole shft survival it is so quick/easy/cheap that it makes a backup solution that is just too good to not pursue.

As additional protection attachment points for metal plates (sheet) can be welded around the vehicle so that one can attach plates around the vehicle going down to the ground and shovel dirt over the edges, making for good protection against the "fire-walls" that might occur. Maybe some extra attachment points to allow the windows of the vehicle to be covered up. One could also make a trailer to tow behind a vehicle and it could be made to handle terrain as well.

Offered by Thomas.

That sounds like a great suggestion, San. I've been having similar thoughts of a four wheel drive plus trailer. I was thinking that digging a trench to partially bury the car and perhaps completely cover the trailer, might be a great compromise given the time remaining to prepare. The total mass, combined with the weight of the soil would keep it pretty stationary. Why not a mobile home or caravan, indeed. The only issue I see is soil liquefaction in the "Big Shake". I would hate to find myself sinking below the surface to die slowly, with my family, from asphyxiation. So, I was thinking of pre-digging the trench and pouring a concrete slab with some solid footings. Maybe incorporating some eyelets to secure the vehicle to. Not too deep below ground level, say 5 feet or so. Hopefully this would float a little better than the car on it's own.

I guess if you had the chance, one might lay a complete floor plan for a post-pole shft dwelling. A bigger, continuous slab of concrete may even improve your buoyancy if liquefaction does occur. In fact, thinking about it, if one had the means it may be a good idea to secure all your possessions, tools and resources to this concrete floor plan and bury the lot. All ready to dig back up again and begin building your much needed shelter when the dust settles. An earth bermed house. You can fit a lot of stuff on a house slab, maybe even pre-constructed roof trusses and wall frames or other construction materials. A caravan or mobile home would prove a great temporary shelter until you could construct your primary one, I agree. But would a concrete slab keep one from sinking below ground?

Offered by Gino.