How to hide stuff
The must-read SurvivalBlog has posted suggestions from readers on the best way to hide “precious metals” in the home. My favorite (emphasis in original):
In a basement, with exposed floor joists, several options are available:
1) around the rim joist above the concrete foundation, the rim joist usually is on the outboard edge of the concrete foundation, with floor joists sitting on top of the concrete foundation. This in old houses might leave an 18″ gap between the rim joist and the inner face of the basement wall (stone foundations). In newer homes, it might be a foot or so. Free space, easy to conceal with a false front, or a thin insulation board.
2) between the floor joists, especially where a drop ceiling has been installed, pull off a few panels of the drop ceiling, install [all or part of a sheet of oriented strand board] (OSB), screwed to the bottom of the floor joists (assuming that you have an inch or two between the bottom of the joists and the top of the drop ceiling), and you have a hidden shelf.
Substantial amounts of stuff can be hidden this way. And I mean, substantial.
Seems like a good idea. I mean, if you have substantial amounts of “precious metals” to hide.
Topics: Uncategorized
Posted by Tigerhawk at 4:04 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2007
6 Responses to “How to hide stuff”
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August 26th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Or substantial amounts of precious not-metal.
Yeah, yeah… that was the joke.
August 26th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
A searcher will find that kind of stash in a basement very quickly.
If the joint is an old mid-late 1800’s balloon framed place, there will be voids going up into the balloon joist bays from the basement though. If you reached up through the joists and shoved stuff up into the balloon framing bay, it would take a searcher with a light and mirror to find it. You won’t find that on modern places with top/bottom plates and ply subfloors though.
You want a place that people are naturally hesitant to go poking around in or requires major disassembly of the structure — like the electrical system. Most people are afraid of electricity and won’t feel comfortable disassembling the panel to see what’s duct taped underneath the back pan that holds all the breakers and bus bars in. Use human psychology to your advantage.
Another near foolproof long term stash is to take a wall apart and add a horizontal framing piece between the studs and mount an electrical box on it so it looks like it belongs there. Metal framing is hollow on one side and will hold a substantial amount of stuff. A 2×4 wood cross member can be similarly hollowed with a router and still retain plenty of strength to support the electrical box.
3/4″ T&G hardwood floor doesn’t need to sit directly on the subfloor. It can be furred up 1/4″ and supported by furring strips every 12-18″. How much can you stash within those air gaps between the furring strips? A LOT.
When you “build it in” you defeat all the casual searchers and quite a few of the not so casual ones.
A small shed with a roll roofing roof can defeat all but the most persistent searcher. Just overlap the courses by 1/2 a width leaving about an 18″ space where a vast quantity of flat goods can be hidden. Once the joints are tarred down, they’d literally have to rip the whole roof off the shed to find the stash.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Friend of mine told me that his father living in Hungary in the 1940s, stashed his savings, in the form of gold coins, in the cesspit of the outhouse. The Nazis hauled him off to a concentration camp, and looted the house. When the war ended he came home and dug out the cesspit.
He bought a lumber mill with the savings and did well until the commies came and confiscated the lumber mill.
There is a moral in there someplace. I keep my money in banks and brokerages and make sure that it is wisely invested.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Does a silver quarter count as ’substantial’?
August 27th, 2007 at 1:47 am
My problem is, I hide stuff so well I can’t find it when I need it.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:25 am
You mean hiding stuff in my underwear drawer isn’t sufficient?