Hardware for emergencies

Thekaren - December 11, 2021

I went to pick up some of those nifty little hang-on-a-bar to organize your hardware bins, and was told that the contents (a bunch of humongous nuts and bolts) were included.  Not one to turn down a free meal, as it were, I hauled the mess home, put it in a large plastic bag and let it all sit for months to kill any spiders/eggs.

The house from whence I was gifted this treasure was some distance from any hardware store of any size, so I can understand why someone would want to keep common hardware around, and for this guy, musta been nuts and bolts.  If I ever need to bolt 2 2x4s together, I have the hardware…

Which gets me to my point:  other than the obvious screws and nails (and bolts as big as your thumb), what other hardware would be useful to have on hand? 

15  

Bailing wire

Cable ties

Duct Tape

Thinners

Super glue

Silicone sealant

Nails ( assorted)

Rawl plugs all sizes

Self Tapping Screws

Shuttering timber ( ply boards)

Paracord

Nylon Cord

Silicon, Moly, Copperslip , greases.

Staple gun and staples

Tarps

Rubble Bags

2×1 PSE Timber

Met Posts ( for fencing)

Bungy straps

Fuses and Bulbs ( domestic)

Zip lock bags

Mason jars & seals

 

To add onto Bill’s list-

• Hot glue (lots of uses)
• Variety pack of O rings
• Some spare wire and things for soldering if you know how to do so.
• Replacement blades, bits, batteries, and such for power tools
• Strong epoxy
• Cargo net
• Tarps

 

I’ll add having the tools to do heavy lifting by yourself could save a life. I keep all sorts of pulleys, blocks, block & tackle, chain hoists, come along, lifting straps, etc.  Also important to have large quantities of quality rope in all different sizes.

I like to have plenty of hand tools for working with trees, etc. I have lots of chain saws, to include battery powered, but I think every prepper should be able to cut trees & limbs by hand. A great felling axe is nice. Bow saws can cut really quickly so I keep several and maybe a dozen replacement blades. But any assortment of saws, hatches & axes are great to have handy.

Having lots of hand garden tools, to include all sorts of shovels, hoes & rakes makes sense to me.

 

I like to have infographic sheets to remind me what I’ve got / need etc, similar to this

 

 

I’m not that organized but would love to have that backhoe.  I will say the front bucket on my tractor comes in real handy for heavy lifting.  

 

Neat tractor, The silhouette I posted was an example, NOT what I have got 🙂  if I had any money I think i would splurge out on a Bobcat 🙂

 

I’ve got a lot of that, now to get it organized. 

 

baling wire and duct tape (or similar)

 

Solar panels and battery for charging, solid steps that can carry over 100kg, Scaffolding, trolly jack, metal pipe (good for extending handles for leverage)

 

I could be wrong but there seems to be a chicken/egg relationship between DIY types and those who consider and plan for exigent circumstance.

The ever handy parachute bag full of screws in various lengths —and a cordless driver— would be #1 for me. (though you said “aside” from screws)

Probably next up is a selection pf plumbing parts corresponding to whatever flavors you have instilled.  And some extra pipe in the rafters somewhere.

At about the same level is a milk crate or two of electrical miscellaneous, breakers, wire nuts, switches, outlets, some new, some lightly used. And somewhere there are a pile of roll ends of various gauge copper wire.

I’m an awful hoarder of all manner of small hardware and lumber. A couple dozen crates of god only knows what, at least a couple dozen of those little plastic divided containers: springs to washers, bolts to brackets.

One of everything and not enough of anything!

 

I have a garage and basement full of most of the stuff on this list but it can be misleading some people.

My advice to my kids:

Sit down with a cup of coffee and your family or friends and ask yourself ‘what has gone wrong, what could go wrong, what would be horrible if it went wrong in August at 100F and in February at 5F?’

Then list the solution or ‘how would I fix that?.

Put a check mark next to those you could fix, a question mark next to those you might be able to fix with research or help and an X next to those you could not imagine fixing.

Then start buying tools and hardware.

 

That’s good to notate which ones you need additional research or help to fix. Get the proper experience, training, documentation, or help now while you can. Download offline to your computer if possible or print out, you never know when a website might take down that YouTube video or your internet would be out.

 

A large tarp and means to hold it down. We’ve recently had a terrific storm go over the country and a lot of people have suffered roof damage and having a tarp to keep you home watertight until contractors can get to you is at the top of our list.

Our tools and hardware list is pretty basic, mainly because I don’t have tools that we don’t know how to use for jobs we don’t know how to fix. So with that in mind, a decent home repair manual would be a good idea to go with the tools.  

 

I can’t tell you how many times I have needed a large tarp. I need to go buy some more, but I like to have multiple extras on hand.