Using tires for SHTF scenarios

[BrandoMan]

Has anyone heard of collecting tires and making shelters from them for SHTF or survival shelters? I have about 100 of them and the first thought was making a cool fort.

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[Kruel J]

I think I'd rather have concrete or something a bit more robust than some old hoops.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I remember the various "Tire Houses" we used in the Army for live fire exercises and grenade practice.
They seem to work for walls and such.
With that said....
Many tires were also shredded by such usage as well....
Also worth considering...tires burn.

I suppose when SHTF , you gotta use what you got.
Soooo.....while it would work for shelter...they wouldn't be my first choice.
Andy

 

[CamoDeafie]

Also, theyre perfect mosquito breeding sites due to the tires tendency to collect water.. thus making them more likely locations for malaria outbreaks.

I'd sooner build a mud hut than to build tire huts

 

[Stomper]

Has anyone heard of collecting tires and making shelters from them for SHTF or survival shelters? I have about 100 of them and the first thought was making a cool fort.

I'm using them skinny little antifa pukes as sandbags if SHTF.

 

[Cavedweller]

Just brainstorming here:

Maybe they could be used for constructing firing positions in strategic locations around a property. Filling them with soil would take care of the mosquito breeding problem and increase resistance to penetration by projectiles.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Filling them with soil would take care of the mosquito breeding problem and increase resistance to penetration by projectiles.

This was how the "Tire Houses" were done in the army.
If I remember right...most walls were two or three rows of tires filled with sand / dirt.
With that said...it has been a while since then.

In any event ...it was deemed safe for live fire and grenade practice .
The interior row did get ripped and shredded up from being shot and hit with grenade fragments.
Andy

 

[Stomper]

This was how the "Tire Houses" were done in the army.
If I remember right...most walls were two or three rows of tires filled with sand / dirt.
With that said...it has been a while since then.

In any event ...it was deemed safe for live fire and grenade practice .
The interior row did get ripped and shredded up from being shot and hit with grenade fragments.
Andy

Mmm all those steel belted cords hanging out…. makes a great exfoliant!

 

[Xaevian]

Just take a break after stacking every couple so you don't end up just two tired.

 

[Nosferatu]

We're treading on some new territory here.

 

[Provincial]

I recommend two tiers of two tires, repeated with offsets at 1/2 tire outside diameter. It does sound tiring, but is worth the effort.

 

[dangerranger60]

Start by filling those tires with sand and gravel and they become bullet proof. the filled hoops also don't collect water and bugs. and the thick walls hold there temp so once warm they stay warm without much extra heat. these work out like sod houses on the prairie. DR

 

[bradsteen]

Well, you got my wheels turning...

 

[nammac]

How quickly this thread turned to tired puns

 

[lucusloc]

They make better planters than walls. The only walls I would use them for are retaining walls. I have built with tires before and they are a PITA because you have to fill and compact each level before you can start the next. If you do not the tires will settle over time and start to lean in undesirable directions, and could just fall over if you built them high enough.

But as planters they are fine. One truck tire is pretty good for one tomato or similar. Fill the bottom sidewall with some pea gravel and fill the rest with soil and you have a built in water reservoir. If you have problems with burrowing critters you can put wire mesh down under the tire to keep things out. If you want more depth stack them up two or three tall to put the plant at a more comfortable working height. I have seen fruit trees grown in the large tractor tires, so if you can find someplace willing to give you some old ones of those you can have a pretty sweet garden setup, so long as you like that kind of aesthetic.

But I would skip them as a shelter, too much work to make them useful. At best you can use them to shore up a foxhole or trench, but as others have said you really want to or three levels thick, all packed with dirt to make them reliably bulletproof. And that is enough work that you kinda want it set up before SHTF, but then you look kinda silly with a bunch of tire trenches before you need them. . . Maybe if you make your trench system look like a nice branching container garden?

 

[TTSX]

Hasn't gone too many pages yet, which is great because I get tired of turning them

 

[lucusloc]

How quickly this thread turned to tired puns

You expected different?

 

[TTSX]

They make better planters than walls. The only walls I would use them for are retaining walls. I have built with tires before and they are a PITA because you have to fill and compact each level before you can start the next. If you do not the tires will settle over time and start to lean in undesirable directions, and could just fall over if you built them high enough.

But as planters they are fine. One truck tire is pretty good for one tomato or similar. Fill the bottom sidewall with some pea gravel and fill the rest with soil and you have a built in water reservoir. If you have problems with burrowing critters you can put wire mesh down under the tire to keep things out. If you want more depth stack them up two or three tall to put the plant at a more comfortable working height. I have seen fruit trees grown in the large tractor tires, so if you can find someplace willing to give you some old ones of those you can have a pretty sweet garden setup, so long as you like that kind of aesthetic.

But I would skip them as a shelter, too much work to make them useful. At best you can use them to shore up a foxhole or trench, but as others have said you really want to or three levels thick, all packed with dirt to make them reliably bulletproof. And that is enough work that you kinda want it set up before SHTF, but then you look kinda silly with a bunch of tire trenches before you need them. . . Maybe if you make your trench system look like a nice branching container garden?

Do you EVER make a short post that doesn't require chapter markers?

 

[lucusloc]

Do you EVER make a short post that doesn't require chapter markers?

yes?

 

[TTSX]

yes?

There we go