Top Five Building Projects for the Zombie Apocolapse

The most useful people to have in your post-apocalyptic party will be an engineer, a handyman and a doctor. The engineer and the handyman can hook you up with generators, running vehicles and some hardcore weaponry like a flamethrower. The doctor will patch you up in case you hurt yourselves building these things.

Many of these projects are inspired from the reality TV show The Colony. They take a group of strangers, insert them into a post apocalyptic environment and watch them rebuild society. They have to deal with marauders, beggars and the constant scarcity of resources, using their knowledge of engineering to survive. I watched the first season and picked out the builds that would have highest priority for me.

Water Filtration

The most important resource in any survival situation is water. Since you won't be wanting to face the zombie masses outside, you will need a large reserve of water and a method of filtration. In a 55 gallon drum, punch small holes in the bottom and fill with layers of sand and charcoal. When water goes through the layers will filter out dangerous bacteria, lead and other impurities. Store filtered water in a cistern. Boil before using for drinking or cooking. 

Zombie Wall

Just throw something together with barbed wire, long wooden stakes and graffiti ridden walls that say creepy shit like, "ALIVE INSIDE" or "TURN BACK". I am a fan of Morgan's wall in AMC's Walking Dead. His scattered debris catches zombies and he can snipe them from the roof. His simple design keeps riff-raff from shuffling in.

Solar Energy

Generators require gasoline, but solar power is completely renewable and self-sufficient. Once you get this set up, you won't have to worry about going on suicidal recon missions for gasoline (a serious problem I discussed at length in my last post).

Daisy chain twenty 12 volt car batteries in parallel to create a battery bank. Use an inverter to create alternating current. Before they lose their charge, use batteries to run power tools to install solar panels on the roof. Line up solar panels on a stand outside that can rotate on motorized swivel to follow the sun during the day. You can watch them do it on The Colony in Season 1 Episode 5.

Flame Thrower

Create a flame thrower fueled by a propane tank. Use a solenoid valve to open rapidly when charged with an electric current. Charge the solenoid valve with a car battery. It will release rapid bursts of propane, creating clouds of fire. John Cohn builds this in The Colony in Season 1 Episode 4.

If hordes overwhelm your walls, weed them out with good old fashioned fire. Zombies hate fire. Well known fact. Just watch Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. You'll see.

Armored Vehicle

Everybody needs an escape plan. Equip a bus or a flat bed truck with a plow, razor wire, gun holes or spiked hubcaps. Let your imagination run wild. Store tools inside the vehicle so that when you escape, you can fix anything if it breaks down.

My favorite armored truck is from Vampire Hunter D. Ha! You thought I was going to say Dawn of the Dead (2004), but that piece of crap barely got them where they were going and using the chainsaw through the windows caused an accident and made a huge mess. They were slipping in blood.

The mercenaries of Vampire Hunter D have a sweet tank complete with living space, arsenal and sick bay. The windows are cross shaped slits in steel panels reinforced by wrought iron cage beneath. Whether one were keeping out zombies, vampires or even people, this would do the trick.

Unfortunately, only futuristic bounty hunters have the funds to invest into such a sweet ride. We'll probably have to fix up whatever we can find. Check out the Chop Shop app to see some other baller zombie trucks or design your own. The best lesson I took from that show The Colony was that if the world were overrun by the undead, we would have to keep busy with endless shop projects. We'd better start accumulating knowledge now.