Preparing The Room

Ideally, you are reading this well ahead of a biological or chemical emergency and have time to plan and prepare your room. Preparations include steps you can take to make the room airtight and supplies you may want to store in the safe room.

Buy enough of the following to cover all the windows, air ducts, air conditioning vents, wall plugs and other entrances in your safe room area:

• Weather stripping (get enough for the door, too.)
• Sturdy polyethylene sheet material (with a thickness of no less than 100 microns, or 0.1 mm) wide enough to cover your windows
• Scissors or box cutter to cut the plastic to-fit
• Duct tape. Do not use cellophane, electrical or simple adhesive tape, since they will not hold
• Caulk and a caulk gun
• If you intend to put up a permanent or semi-permanent safe room for possible long-term protection, a portable HEPA air filtration system is called for, preferably one that can be cranked manually in the event of a power failure, with a capacity of pumping 6 cubic meters of fresh air per hour per individual.
• If there’s no bathroom adjacent to the safe room, a chemical toilet
• Install the weather stripping material on all windows, ensuring that they make an air-tight seal
• Install weather stripping on the door(s) to the safe room, even if it only leads to another room.
• You can also add weather stripping on your external doors elsewhere in the house -- it won’t hurt and will probably help.
• If you have an older house or older windows, caulk the windows to prevent any drafts or leakage
• If you have floorboards with cracks in them, lay down several layers of plastic sheeting on the floor and tape them securely in place Remember that a safe room is only as safe as it is airtight
• Always tape windows to protect against blast and shattering
• If your safe room faces an outside window, and you plan to take protection against an inside wall, make sure that some sort of barrier (an upturned table, door) is erected between you and the window
• Also caulk any other locations where air might penetrate your house, such as holes where cable and phone wires enter the room
• Have extra heavy plastic sheeting and twine or string on hand to cover feet and hands if you have to go out and the presence of chemicals is suspected