If you have to stay in an urban area being invisible might help. Came across this idea at y2kchaos.com early in my prep.

You've seen abandoned houses with their windows and doors boarded by what looks to have been some outfit that specializes in such. Coverings are painted but tattered and worn from multiple use and always seem to have that little rectangular hole near the top.

Using an oil soaked torch that smokes very badly you would (carefully) give the areas above your windows the appearance of a house that had burned out and be unattractive to looters or other uninviteds.

Real estate friend turned me to a local company that boards homes and I bought enough very tacky looking coverings for my house.

I plan to bug-out if things get really tough but hope this helps me to have a house to come back to. If you have to stay and tough it out being invisible for a few weeks might be handy.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), July 15, 1999

Answers

That's a really good idea ! In Uk you sometimes see all metal coverings esp.on doors & lower windows.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), July 17, 1999.

You might look a bit conspicuous doing this ahead of time-- someone will certainly notice. Someone might remember that, later.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), July 17, 1999.

Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

I gotta think the insurance company wouldn't really go for this. If your house either burned down weeks later, or got vandalized despite your clever attempt to spare it, I'm betting they could find a way to make this work against you.

For those who plan to bug out for the duration... I just remembered something that I learned when I had to sell my home in one state after my husband moved to another. I couldn't go live with him because my house would thereby become "uninhabited" and our insurance would have been void. I can't remember what my alternatives were, but it seems as if I could have continued coverage at something like double the rate.

-- BurnDancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), July 21, 1999.