"Bug in" with New Shutters: Five Ideas for Preppers to Consider

If you are preparing for a doomsday scenario, you need to prepare for the chance that you might end up "bugging in" or staying where you are. So that you can hold your ground, you may want to consider adding new shutters to your home. Preppers, here are five ways shutters may be able to help you:

1. You Can "Board Up" Your Home Without Boarding It up

If your windows break and you are in the midst of a doomsday scenario in which the stores aren't open, you can't just buy a piece of glass to repair your window. Unless you have glass on hand, you will have to board up your windows.

Plywood isn't necessarily safe, and it doesn't look good. If you have solid wood shutters, however, you can close them from the inside and latch them shut, creating virtually the same effect as boarding up your windows. However, unlike plywood, shutters look nice.

2. You Can Use Shutters as Screens

Just as windows may break and be virtually impossible to replace, your screens may also break. You can keep a roll of screen in your stockpile for repairing screens, but in the event that it runs out, you may need to use your shutters as screens.

3. You Can Use Shutters as Part of Your Home Security

Even if your windows are intact, your shutters can be an essential part of effective home security. On ground floors, security shutters can help to ensure intruders cannot get in.

These metal shutters roll down and lock, and if you are worried about the weather, you can buy security shutters that promise to withstand cyclonic winds and blowing debris as well as human intruders.

4. You Can Use Shutters for Privacy

In addition to keeping your home secure, your shutters can also keep it private. In the event of a doomsday scenario, you don't want anybody to see inside your windows and notice your stockpile. Shutters (like those available from Mr Rollershutter) can give you this layer of privacy, and unlike fabric window treatments, they can also provide security or be modified for surveillance.   

5. You Can Modify Wood Shutters for Surveillance or Shooting

Metal shutters, as indicated above, can be useful and secure, but in some cases, you may prefer the versatility offered by wood shutters. You can modify wood shutters by adding holes for surveillance purposes or for shooting guns through. If you need to make them more secure, you can bolster them with metal security bars on the windows.

Obviously, you cannot legally shoot out of your window unless there is no law and order and civilisation has collapsed. Even then, you should be careful when shooting.