shelter building Tips 101
Why shelter first?
The first thing to do in any survival situation is get out of the elements. Mother nature will not care if you’re hurt, lost and scared. It is imperative that you first build a shelter and get out of the weather when in this unfortunate situation. Weather is hard to predict, especially if you’re in the mountains. It can go from sunny to rainy quickly. When the sun goes down, having a shelter will keep you warm and give you a sense of comfort.
Where to build my shelter?
When it comes to building shelters there are a lot of things that you have to think of before just building one. You want a small, dry and durable shelter. Never build a shelter in low ground where there can be standing water or next to flowing water. Always build uphill from your water source. Make sure you build in a location that if free of heavy wind gusts, so never in an open area. Make sure you build small. The point of your shelter is to keep you warm and dry. This is now your home.
What material to use?
When it comes to building a good shelter, you need durable materials. Inspect the wood you use by checking for soft spots and leaning on it or banging it against a tree. The amount of wood you use is determined by the shelter you build. So, keep it small. You will be using lots of leaves and natural vegetation in this building prosses, so make sure you are in an area that has that.
What type of shelter to build?
There are many types of shelters you can build. In a survival situation you will not need a big shelter. Keep it simple. For this example, we are using an A-frame shelter. The A-frame shelter is, in my experience, the most simple, durable and resource friendly shelter to build. To build one, you have one main support beam followed by multiple side support beams. You can make an A-frame shelter standing or leaning. It has the name A-frame because the frame will look like the letter -A- when you are done. The image to the right > shows a standing A-frame shelter and leaning A-frame shelter. The leaning A-frame is the simplest and is what I teach the most. On the right side of the image, you see the one main support beam leaning on the stump and the multiple side support beams leaning on the main support beam. When needing to be quick, all the side support beams will actually be bunched up next to each other leaving no gaps. Then, you will continue to pile leaves on top of the shelter for water proofing and insulation. When done, weigh the leaves down with branches to help keep them in place then continue to put more leaves on top. Moss, if available is also great for this. Once you have your shelter built and covered, pack leaves inside of your shelter to keep your body off of the ground. It is important to do this because the earth will naturally suck the heat out of your body without a layer of protection.
