Doomsday prepper castle in Nevada desert

[MillCreek]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/25/photos-inside-doomsday-prepper-castle-in-the-nevada-desert.html

http://www.hardluckcastle.com/history.html

I am underwhelmed by the kitchen and defensibility is compromised by those tall windows.

[Jocassee]

I like it.

[Fly320s]

The exterior design is good enough.  The interior design is terrible, both in style and usefulness.  The location sucks.

[makattak]

I love the two massive pipe organs. One for when I feel like Captain Nemo, and the other for the Phantom personality.

[makattak]

They don't mention. Is it hardened against EMP? That's a deal-breaker for me.

[Ben]

They don't mention. Is it hardened against EMP? That's a deal-breaker for me.

Dude, just go to Costco and buy a 1000 roll pack of aluminum foil. Problem solved.

[BobR]

Dude, just go to Costco and buy a 1000 roll pack of aluminum foil. Problem solved.

I wonder if you can see the UFOs from Area 51 from the upper decks. If not that would be a deal breaker for me.

bob

[MechAg94]

Water is trucked in from a nearby spring and stored in a 4,000 gallon underground storage tank providing gravity-fed water.

I would be more concerned about this weakness. 

[cordex]

I would be more concerned about this weakness. 

Survival is hard enough outside a desert.  One thing I like about the areas I go primitive camping is that the concern is just how to purify the water, not whether I'll be able to find it.

[Fly320s]

I would be more concerned about this weakness. 

And then food.  Kinda hard to grow a garden or hunt for food in the desert.

[Ben]

I would be more concerned about this weakness. 

Yeah, it's kinda hard to call it a doomsday hideout if it doesn't have water. I'm curious if they tried to drill or not. You might have to go down 1000', but even in the desert, it's likely you'll hit water. The energy needed to bring it up is of course, another matter.

A desert climate isn't necessarily a no-go zone for food production, but you'd likely need to truck in some good soils and have ways to constantly keep it conditioned, like animal waste. Which goes back to having enough water.

I watched one of those "off grid homes" shows a while back and they built a fancy villa on a small Caye in Belize. The garden was some kind of vertical hydroponics wall, which looked pretty nifty.

[230RN]

If I were attacking it, I think I'd be repelled by the sheer ugliness.

I laid out a preliminary circular house plan once and discovered that all rooms  tended toward being triangular.  And placment of appurtenances such as windows and tables and suchlike got awkward. Natural cross-ventilation is awkward because you usually have to have two rooms open to each other to cross-ventilate.  (Don't worry, I'm not hurting your mother.")

I'm sure our resident architect can comment on all this.  Like where do you get curved drywall, like, f'r instance.

I wonder where the water table is, since trucked in water and "sustainable rain catchment"  water supply seems kind of dicey.  I know they do that in Venice, Italy for potable water, but that ain't exactly the Nevada desert.  Seems that's a problem for a lot of  us.

"I am underwhelmed by the kitchen and defensibility is compromised by those tall windows," Millcreek said.  And defensibility is also compromised by that roundness.

I can think of better things to do with my 900 large.

Terry

[Andiron]

The architect watched Return of the Jedi and was inspired by Jabba's palace.

[Hawkmoon]

I'm sure our resident architect can comment on all this.  Like where do you get curved drywall, like, f'r instance.

Quarter-inch drywall can be bent, as long as the radius isn't too tight. You wet the paper surfaces, bend the sheetrock around the forms (studs), and when it dries it holds the shape. Curved walls are built up by laminating two or three layers of thin drywall.

[WLJ]

Quarter-inch drywall can be bent, as long as the radius isn't too tight. You wet the paper surfaces, bend the sheetrock around the forms (studs), and when it dries it holds the shape. Curved walls are built up by laminating two or three layers of thin drywall.

A drywaller show me that one time. Pretty cool

[dm1333]

The architect watched Return of the Jedi and was inspired by Jabba's palace.

I'm good with that as long as there are girls in gold bikinis.

[HankB]

Used a lot of cinderblocks . . . which aren't particularly bullet resistant. Hmmm . . . .

And as for putting it out of the way . . . I'm reminded of a story about a rich guy who went through WWI, and resolved never to live in the path of another war. So he did a lot of research, and in the 20's and 30's found the ideal spot. He moved there and built his "get away from the next war" retreat there.

An island nobody had ever heard of.

Iwo Jima.

 

[MechAg94]

It occurs to me that this place is built on top of a mine so there could be a whole lot more stuff underground that isn't advertised. 

[T.O.M.]

Man I just checked it out on Google Maps (search Hard Luck Castle)... it is truly in the middle of nowhere, around 25 miles north of Death Valley National Park.  That means trucking in a lot of...everything.  Gardening/livestock is gonna be hard in the summer when it's over 100 degrees every day.  Resupply?  Forget it in TEOTWAWNI situation, as there's no one around to trade or barter with.  No towns or anything around.

As to defense...first, no one is likely to stumble upon the place.  So defensive needs are low.  But, it's not a very defensible location.  High ground to the west and north would give good fire angles on the building.  Can't tell from any photos I've seen if there are windows facing north and west, or if you would have to or be able to defend from the rooftop against sniper fire from the north and/or west.  Now, against a group of determined attackers, it looks like there are a lot of blind spots on the perimeter of the building.  You would need a good number of people to effectively defend it.

It's kind of a neat building.  Put it in a forest, or near a lake (maybe with a spring underneath for water), and with that mine, and redesign the window lay out, and it might just be a good modern castle.

[Ben]

I just followed Chris to the Google Earths and had a looksee.

Tonopah is about 60 miles and 1.5 hours away, so that's not too terribly bad to get to a Walmart or whatever. Lots of people live in small towns a good hour from big box stores, etc. Certainly SHTF, yeah, you'd better have everything you need because it doesn't look like there are any neighbors in non-mechanical transport distance.

Also real 4WD is mandatory. I've been on some of the unpaved roads in that region and had shale go right through a tire. Rain will make those roads sporty.

I don't think it will get too terribly hot there. The Googles says ~6000' elevation. Certainly some 100 degree days, but probably more in the low 90s for JUL-AUG. I've camped at Thorndike in Death Valley NPS at 7000' in early May and had partially frozen water bottles.

[230RN]

Man I just checked it out on Google Maps (search Hard Luck Castle)... it is truly in the middle of nowhere, around 25 miles north of Death Valley National Park.  That means trucking in a lot of...everything.  Gardening/livestock is gonna be hard in the summer when it's over 100 degrees every day.  Resupply?  Forget it in TEOTWAWNI situation, as there's no one around to trade or barter with.  No towns or anything around.

As to defense...first, no one is likely to stumble upon the place.  So defensive needs are low.  But, it's not a very defensible location.  High ground to the west and north would give good fire angles on the building.  Can't tell from any photos I've seen if there are windows facing north and west, or if you would have to or be able to defend from the rooftop against sniper fire from the north and/or west.  Now, against a group of determined attackers, it looks like there are a lot of blind spots on the perimeter of the building.  You would need a good number of people to effectively defend it.

Hence my comment about it being round.  Fire coverage sucks between windows.  And anything that fortified would guarantee investigation by brigands for its contents once it was spotted.

It's kind of a neat building.  Put it in a forest, or near a lake (maybe with a spring underneath for water), and with that mine, and redesign the window lay out, and it might just be a good modern castle.

Sub "unusual" for neat.  Almost any house on stable ground near water is neat.  But this one,.. there are only three words to describe it: "uh," "guh," and "lee."

Terry

[Regolith]

I just followed Chris to the Google Earths and had a looksee.

Tonopah is about 60 miles and 1.5 hours away, so that's not too terribly bad to get to a Walmart or whatever. Lots of people live in small towns a good hour from big box stores, etc. Certainly SHTF, yeah, you'd better have everything you need because it doesn't look like there are any neighbors in non-mechanical transport distance.

When did Tonopah get a Walmart? 

Last time I was there the only thing they had was a McDonald's.... 


The nearest Big Box Anything would probably be down in Pahrump, about 126 miles away. 

[230RN]

^ "The nearest Big Box Anything would probably be down in Pahrump, about 126 miles away. "

Heh.  What's the estimated range of Amazon delivery drones?

[MillCreek]

^ "The nearest Big Box Anything would probably be down in Pahrump, about 126 miles away. "

Heh.  What's the estimated range of Amazon delivery drones?

That's a good point: when you are way out in the boonies, buy everything you can off Amazon and take advantage of the free shipping.

[BobR]

The nearest Big Box Anything would probably be down in Pahrump, about 126 miles away.

If everything works out according to plan when you come visiting Pahrump to shop you could do a lay over at my place.

bob