4 Easy Ways to Prepare Your Bedroom for a Zombie Attack
The only way to increase your survival rate during any zombie outbreak is to become better educated and aware. ZAC encourages everyone to continually run through mock scenarios. “What if a zombie outbreak occurred here?” Or, “what would we do if zombies were doing this?” During our research, we have found that people typically think of weapons and other offensive means of surviving an outbreak, but rarely think through an attack from a defensive light.
Would you be prepared if a zombie outbreak occurred in the middle of the night and you were asleep in your bedroom? What type of items would help you better survive such an attack? Aside from the “usual” answers consisting of guns and ammo, ZAC takes a deeper look into how to better prepare your bedroom to survive a zombie attack.
Photo credit: Joshua Buck
Extra Wood
Securing the area in which you plan to make your defensive stand in is a requirement and essential to safety. Having some sturdy wood available will only further your cause. If your supplies are stored outside, and the number of the undead is growing, you might find yourself in a tough predicament. Sure, you could always chop up the furniture and board up your windows and create a barricade, but that uses valuable time. Extra wood that can quickly put nailed up over windows and doors is key. Keep the extra wood behind your bedroom door, in the bedroom closet, or under your bed. Having a few hammers with nails stored with the wood is also highly recommended.
Emergency Lighting & Power
While not the most exotic solution, something is typically better than nothing at all. Black & Decker offers a product line of “portable power stations”. These are not meant for long-term powering of your bedroom, however, they can provide access to any functioning radio station, act as a temporary light source, and even charge cell phones. Keep this plugged in so it can stay at full power until you need it. Several of these come with a flashlight, which is also a handy tool.
Escape Route
Most good defense plans will include a contingency for going mobile. Much like any commercial building, you should have your “zombie escape route” planned. If you are unable to fend off the horde, you should have some idea about how to get out of your bedroom and where you are going to go next. If you are cornered in the bedroom, can you escape to the bathroom and out of the window? If your bedroom is upstairs, do you have reasonable access to the roof and a safe way down to ground level? Always have a plan.
The Importants
The “importants” are what is referred to as your wallet, car keys, purse, pocket knife, and other belongings that you typically carry with you on a daily basis. Do not leave these in the living room or kitchen. Take them into the bedroom or area where you sleep, so that in case you need to box yourself in to fight the undead who have invaded your house, you are prepared to go mobile. The main scenario which drives this reasoning is if you find yourself in the middle of an undead attack and have barricaded you and your family in the master bedroom. Your windows and bedroom door is boarded up and you are listening to the other cities being randomly attacked on your portable power station/radio. With the number of undead growing outside of your bedroom, you now need to go mobile. Realizing you have an escape route and can manage your way outside to your vehicle, you also realize that your routinely leave your car, house keys, and wallet on the end table in the living room. Now you are left to fend off the attack or take your entire family mobile, on foot. Having your “importants” where you rest your head can save you some trouble and hopefully, save your life.
Not included in the original list, but critical for survival just the same, is the Mobile Zombie Preparedness Kit which you should already have handy during any defense. No true defense is complete without it.
Stay safe. Stay aware. Stay alive.
Comments (18)
AnsonMage on 21 Nov 2007 at 11:34 am #
Thanks for the tips!
I also keep my Gun Safe in the bedroom closet, locked up mice and tight. I find it very helpful and keeps my mind at ease. Should zombies or (heaven forbid) mortal men enter the home, I have quick access to them there.
Please remember, if you use your survival radios, keep the volume down! Because of how the Human Ear works, zombies (even in advanced stages of decomposition) could still be attracted and drawn by sound. Sight passes as the eyes rot out but the bones in the inner ear will still function at basic levels. So keep that volume as low as you can. Coincidentally, this is also why you may want to look into supressors for your firearms as well.
shinola001 on 21 Nov 2007 at 12:47 pm #
Look – the fact remains that in certain cases a slow-moving animated dead zombie can still have their arm cut off and the arm keeps coming at you. Does the arm have ears? No. Anyways…that’s and aside.
I will pose that when the zombies can hear you if you used an a weapon that is unsuppressed, you should also consider that other survivors may hear you too and begin seeking you out to band together. Hiding in your attic is one thing, but that is a short-sighted methodology to not only surviving but defeating a zombie attack. No – the only way to defeat is to band together and you need to use all sorts of tools to let your human presence be known as well as seeking out other humans. Barricading yourself in your room is in hopes that some group will eventually defeat the zombies and you’ll be safe. A real American will be part of the group that hunts and defeats the zombies. Then…who cares if they hear you?
ZAC Admin on 21 Nov 2007 at 9:18 pm #
“Hiding in your attic is one thing, but that is a short-sighted methodology to not only surviving but defeating a zombie attack.”
I agree, and thank you for your input.
Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear in my need to prepare your bedroom for a zombie attack. I would venture a guess that the average person is not prepared nor do they have a plan. By equipping your bedroom or sleeping area with a few simple but needed tools, you can safely stay put while you formulate a plan. Sure, you run the risk of allowing a horde of undead to gather around your home, however, you still need a plan and a safe place to come up with said plan.
Sam on 22 Nov 2007 at 8:14 pm #
Boarding yourself up in your room? I know we’re theorizing an escape route is in place here. This assumes I have access to a fire escape, or I live on the first floor. I would recommend not boarding yourself in place - have we forgotten our poor basement dwellers in “Night of the Living Dead“?
It would be far easier to live on an upper floor and block easy entrances through the adjoining stairs, while maintaining an escape route through the roof or adjoining buildings/retractable fire escape.
Firearm suppressors don’t make firearms silent like in the movies - some are more like a door slamming, and for your own hearing protection.
Still, having a good large caliber handgun under your pillow always makes me sleep soundly.
ZAC Admin on 22 Nov 2007 at 9:16 pm #
Sam, glad you found your way over here and thanks for your comments.
“I would recommend not boarding yourself in place…”
One of our main goals is to promote awareness of the pending undead hordes that will one day walk this earth. As such, we want people to think and to be aware of their surroundings. Some of the material is targeted at those who have never considered a zombie outbreak, much less, how they would handle such an event were it to occur while they were at home asleep.
Boarding yourself up is never the first solution, however, it is better than locking the door and hoping any windows withstand the pressure of several zombies beating on them. For me personally, I would feel better if I knew the room was secure, even if for a minimal amount of time, so that I could better plan a way out or a more suitable defense strategy.
Nic (Toebo23) on 24 Nov 2007 at 11:04 pm #
Why would you let them in? Why dont board up the House? have extra boards hammer nails in a spare closet.?
Jordan on 30 Nov 2007 at 7:15 pm #
Where I live we have to deal with great forces trying to enter my house almost every year, Hurricanes, And they don’t just go for doors and windows wind rips at every whole into the house. But there is a simple and very cheap way of barricading against these forces using less wood than conventional boards and scraps across the windows and doors. Its never failed in fact I’ve seen roofs give way before the barricades did, and that’s a constant 50-60 mph wind, with gusts up to 80-90.
Step 1)
Acquire plywood, enough to cover entire window, Not the whole outside where it would over lap the window but so that when placed over window it fits into the 2” inset on the wall and flush against the glass. The same goes for the doors too. Your also going to need 1×2s, enough for two per window and door and plenty of concrete anchor bolts (the blue pointed kind called “tap-cons“)
Step 2)
Place boards into window inset as described above, place the 1×2s against the edge of the inset top and bottom or both sides Hell you could go all the way around if you wanted to be thorough. Drill the tap-cons through the 1×2s into the wall. For doors you may want to cut the plywood to fit around the door knobs or just take them off.
To secure doors for easy year round use add two extra hinges between the three existing ones and add a dead bolt near the top and bottom of the door. Beef up the frame two this usually fails before the door or locks have even come close to there limit. This could be done to an inside door as well for a fallback position, which should be a bathroom (for water and easy supply storage) that you retrofitted with access to your attic or crawlspace (all it really is, is a hole cut into the ceiling with a border added.
THE WACKER with a vengeance on 03 Dec 2007 at 1:47 pm #
The best way to zombie proof your room is to build a nuclear power plant in your basement. This way when you wait out the “storm” you watch rented movies and play plenty of video games. Keep a weapon nearby just in case you get cabin fever and need to get out and entertain yourself (oh, and about the nuclear power plant, I actually have one in my basement, Which explains why I’m so messed up).
Oh yeah, and if your neighbor has an annoying dog (for example a yappy, deranged, half mop, half monkey, mutt), steal him before the out break. While cooped up in your house tie a camera to its back and release him in your back yard. But wait thats not all strap a peice of raw cken to its tail. Whenever the zombie outbreak is over you can show all of your surviving freinds your hilarious video (if the dog gets eaten, at least you won’t miss it).
Then to top it all off, put a sign in your front yard. It should read: ZOMBIE TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT IN THE HEAD! this should scare most of them away.
thaddaeus on 04 Dec 2007 at 1:02 pm #
Thats right, because zombies can read. i run across them all the time in my english class. well getting besides that i would go with a windmill generator you don’t need to have a degree to work one of those. when it comes to a basement though some people in florida don’t have the luxury of having them, like in florida our water table is to high. so i sugest hiding in a water tower with a removeable ladder and razer wire protecting the base, also plant plenty of trees, bushes,and other crap to mask you coming in and out of the tower for your suppies.
conundrum on 10 Dec 2007 at 8:12 pm #
“The “importants” are what is referred to as your wallet, car keys, purse, pocket knife, and other belongings that you typically carry with you on a daily basis.”
I feel that is a very pre-zombie attack mindset. Mind, I think that it is good advice in general anyway, but a wallet is not a main concern. Nor, most likely, a purse. The pocket knife is also unless unless we are talking a Leatherman or similar multi-tool. Car keys make a hell of a lot of sense though.
Any attack that you cannot wait out for a couple of days in a secure spot is most likely going to render the contents of your wallet pretty moot (ditto with purse) and a pocket knife is not the kind of weapon you should be wielding. A cell phone (set on vibrate) is a more practical item to have on your importants. Looking around my room as is, if I had to make a move my primary concerns would be my keys, my baseball bat, my hunting knife, and my phone. Having time to grab anything else is great, but as far as priorities go, most of your list is not there.
birds from space on 14 Dec 2007 at 3:48 pm #
hmm.. that’s a toughie. If zombies attacked my house I’d grab my baseball bat, hunting knife, put on very comfortable clothing, as well as a couple of extra shirts and put them in my backpack (the shirts could be used for bandages or whatever later on), and i’d grab my dad’s shotgun or 9mm.
Defending my house would be tricky since our layout sucks for defense purposes. I guess I’d just have to make a run for it, or hopefully take our car. I could also climb on top of our roof and jump from house to house or onto my neighbors walled lot.
hehe it’s fun to think of these situations, gets the adrenaline pumping =)
CMDR Brett on 20 Dec 2007 at 5:14 am #
AnsonMage brought up suppressors for firearms, there are a few draw backs for those. the main problem with them is that you need a special license from the ATF just to own one in the U.S. Another draw back is that they only suppress about half the sound from a weapon. they don’t make them totally silent, don’t be fooled by the movies. Third they can add up to 8 inches of length to your weapon. and in a house that would get in the way.
Some guy on 20 Dec 2007 at 6:33 pm #
well the last thing i wouild do is go into my room and try to board it up i may live in a 2 storie house but well the zombies (if they know food is in there as in you do you think there going to take a break) well no they aren’t the only true advatege zombies have over use is never becoming tierd (and the will to get food) so normal ply wood isn’t going to hold for a year(because how long dose a human body take to decompase….a long time) so if you plan to stay in a room in your house it better have a kevlar door or such protection that nothing is going to get in like if you plan to use ply would don’t just use one layer use layer after layer after layer so they CAN’T get threw so if you don’t plan on doing that head for an attic that has a retractible stairway or a destroyable one (and the attic is a way on the roof)so ya think waiting it out let me tell you it takes a matter of years for a human body just for the brain to decompose (unpreserved) imnot saying its a bad place unless you know you have a fullproof escape plan if you go low on supplies
P.S.(Sorry for the nagitive comments on the subject anbout how its bad)
saeferth on 30 Dec 2007 at 7:20 am #
Why isnt some sort of grapple hook on the important list? its all well and good being barricaded on the second story of a house, but its no use if you have to jump out a window and sprain/break your ankle.
the grapple hook could be nothing more than four pieces of bent metal welded together with a length of climbing rope attached. this allows you access to and from higher places, and has teh added bonus of the undead still thinking your in the room while you make your escape.
ZAC Admin on 30 Dec 2007 at 9:49 am #
“Why isnt some sort of grapple hook on the important list?”
This could certainly be added for those who have 2nd and 3rd level bedrooms. Perhaps even those who are in extended stay hotels. However, having one without any place to deploy it might make it useless, right?
Jim Beam on 30 Dec 2007 at 7:58 pm #
What about having a nice big ax around to cut through the walls of your bedroom into either an adjacent safe room or attic or even the roof?
Southern_guy on 30 Jan 2008 at 4:08 pm #
Keep in mind that using a generator in your room, like this article suggested, will kill you with carbon monoxide.
somebody on 05 Mar 2008 at 11:30 pm #
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