# Hiding Places in your Home



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

During SHTF, it’s not implausible that some party, (municipal or federal government agents, burglars, or neighborhood mobs) may search your home without your consent. 

At a past job, part of my responsibility was to conduct thorough building searches for contraband items. In general, I’d categorize successful hiding places into 2 main categories: places where “no one” would think to look for hidden items, and places that are very difficult or time-consuming to access. Of course, it’s best if you can combine the two of these. It may take time to get what you need, but that’s better than the possibility of having it taken from you.

I invite you to contribute where you think the most secure hiding places on your premises are, so we can help each other with ideas on this.

Here are some of the best hiding places I’ve either discovered or thought of:
•	Inside ceiling light fixture bases
•	Inside walls, behind Velcro-detachable baseboards
•	In wall receptacle sockets
•	In the empty spaces under kitchen or bathroom cabinet bases
•	A series of plastic bags hanging down a chimney, suspended from the top by a short metal rod
•	Inside a furnace or deep inside supply & return forced air furnace ducts
•	Suspended inside gutter downspouts
•	Under a lawn or growing garden
•	Behind blocks in a retaining wall
•	Under removable floorboards
•	Taped to the inside walls above closet doors
•	Under a bin for composting human feces
•	Buried under sand at the bottom of a furnace/water-heater chimney
•	Inside sealed-off areas below stairways
•	Behind removable bathroom cabinets
•	Inside the wiring/mechanical spaces of unused appliances
•	Behind PVC cleanout plugs
•	Behind manually immovable appliances
•	Inside re-sealed mattress box springs
•	Inside window sash channels
•	Inside an electrical panel box


----------



## Stockton (Jun 21, 2017)

Read the title, then I read the first item, and thought - dude I don't fit in there.


----------



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

Stockton said:


> Read the title, then I read the first item, and thought - dude I don't fit in there.


I get it. A lot of preppers think that way.


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

All good suggestions @TGus. A good reading of where the French underground hid stuff from the Nazi's is enlightening also. There is also the strategy of hiding contraband in public places and not in your own domain.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

How am I going to get an M1 Garand and a 250 round can of ammo in a light fixture???

The bulk of those hides are for drugs, not prepper items, unless you are talking about cash.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Don't want it found do not have it in your home or buried in the yard. Anyone searching my home had better be LE with proper paper work even with out they would likely be invited in. But anyone else is not going to make it.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Camel923 said:


> All good suggestions @TGus. A good reading of where the French underground hid stuff from the Nazi's is enlightening also. There is also the strategy of hiding contraband in public places and not in your own domain.


The FFI did a good job hiding guns, ammo, radios, explosives and wanted people +OSS during the occupation.

Much was hidden in the countryside, away from prying eyes and collaborators.

The sad part was that most of them were Communist, and were the only organized group when the country was overrun.


----------



## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

If you can pop off the baseboards of your kitchen cabinets you'll find a small space between the floor and the bottom piece of wood for the cabinet. It's basically the "stand" your cabinet sits on. Not a lot of room but enough for a handgun and some ammo, paperwork, knives, etc.


----------



## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

Got any extra spaces, like a broom closet or a small linen closet? Remove the door and trim, then panel the hallway or wall. Big enough to accommodate a gun safe! Be sure to have a "chump" bait safe out in plain view so's they can waste their time trying to open or remove it.


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Sasquatch said:


> If you can pop off the baseboards of your kitchen cabinets you'll find a small space between the floor and the bottom piece of wood for the cabinet. It's basically the "stand" your cabinet sits on. Not a lot of room but enough for a handgun and some ammo, paperwork, knives, etc.


It's called the _Toekick_.

An easy way to disguise the access to the space is to install thin, long heat registers. Cut openings in the toekick based on the registers and use a couple screws to hold them in place. If you're lucky enough to have access to the cabinets before they're installed you can readily adapt the space for most rifles.

I've got a few ideas for hiding places on my youtube channel. Not all of them,...... but a few.


----------



## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Back Pack Hack said:


> It's called the _Toekick_.
> 
> An easy way to disguise the access to the space is to install thin, long heat registers. Cut openings in the toekick based on the registers and use a couple screws to hold them in place. If you're lucky enough to have access to the cabinets before they're installed you can readily adapt the space for most rifles.
> 
> I've got a few ideas for hiding places on my youtube channel. Not all of them,...... but a few.


Ima guessin' that is different than the much used toe board I have at the foot of my bed, huh?


----------



## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Back Pack Hack said:


> It's called the _Toekick_.
> 
> An easy way to disguise the access to the space is to install thin, long heat registers. Cut openings in the toekick based on the registers and use a couple screws to hold them in place. If you're lucky enough to have access to the cabinets before they're installed you can readily adapt the space for most rifles.
> 
> I've got a few ideas for hiding places on my youtube channel. Not all of them,...... but a few.


Link? :tango_face_smile:


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Annie said:


> Link? :tango_face_smile:


----------



## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Camel923 said:


>


Saturday morning flashbacks!!!! Lol!!


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Camel923 said:


>


Wrong link, we don't want the O'thigger link!


----------



## MountainGirl (Oct 29, 2017)

Annie said:


> Link? :tango_face_smile:


I bet it's the one in his sig 



> Feel free to visit my YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/backpackhack


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

While on his death bed, my grandmothers second husband told her where he had hidden some money.

After the funeral a few days later she had me remove the baseboard section in the bedroom closet.

Between the studs were two upright pieces of one inch pine, each against stud nothing else showing.

I removed the two unattached pieces that were about six inches long, 

down fell another piece that had been bridging both of the others, 

along with the longer piece came a cube of aluminum foil holding $112,000.

Nanna was so happy she gave me two grand for finding it.


----------



## Hemi45 (May 5, 2014)

Some good hides on your list. Another one I read somewhere, maybe even here, is in your septic tank. Drop down a water tight metal box and fish it out with a big magnet in the future when you need it.


----------



## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

A few of my favorites.


----------



## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

If you have a second story, . . . there is drywall / paneling on the bottom, . . . and plywood / carpet on the top of openings 15 inches wide and the length of the room. That is the floor separating the two floors.

Creative accessing these areas opens up a lot of space for storage, . . . that just about everyone will walk by. Ceiling "beams" is one way, . . . floorboards upstairs is another, . . . as well as "registers" in the floor that are not connected to the heating system.

There is also a "pipe chase" in most 2 story houses, . . . get into it and it is a ton of space as well. Camoflage the opening where you go in is all you need to do. It usually is 4 or 5 times what you would have even in a large gun safe.

A hollow core door can hold 5 or 6 rifles, . . . lots of ammo, . . . and still be a door. Put a mirror on the back, . . . it's your "safe".

The "non hinge" side of every door way has trim on it, . . . remove the trim, . . . cut out 75% of the stud there, . . . you have another gun safe that will generally be 8 ft tall, 3 1/2 inches wide, . . . and 15 or so inches deep, . . . at each inside doorway in the house. Replace the trim with the door stop, . . . arrange the finish nails along the edge to hold the trim in place.

Just be creative, . . . all interior walls are hollow, . . . 

May God bless,
Dwight


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

dwight55 said:


> ............. . . all interior walls are hollow, . . . .


Just be careful. Hollow walls also contain electrical lines, plumbing lines (both water, drain and venting) as well as ductwork (supply and return). Effin' some of that stuff up gets expensive to fix correctly.


----------



## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

TGus said:


> During SHTF, it's not implausible that some party, (municipal or federal government agents, burglars, or neighborhood mobs) may search your home without your consent.
> 
> At a past job, part of my responsibility was to conduct thorough building searches for contraband items. In general, I'd categorize successful hiding places into 2 main categories: places where "no one" would think to look for hidden items, and places that are very difficult or time-consuming to access. Of course, it's best if you can combine the two of these. It may take time to get what you need, but that's better than the possibility of having it taken from you.
> 
> ...


Out here, we hide our pistols in plain view - on our hips. If you show without the proper paperwork to search out place, that might be a problem.


----------



## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

Smitty901 said:


> Don't want it found do not have it in your home or buried in the yard. Anyone searching my home had better be LE with proper paper work even with out they would likely be invited in. But anyone else is not going to make it.


Agreed


----------



## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Well they were good hiding places...
But since "Gus"sied up outted them in a thread they aren't good hiding places anymore are they!


----------



## Coastie dad (Jan 2, 2016)

Thanks to this list, my weekly haul has increased 128% this week.

Thanks, Tgus University!


----------



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

It is also possible to hide items at neighbors/friends homes if close and it makes sense.


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

SOCOM42 said:


> How am I going to get an M1 Garand and a 250 round can of ammo in a light fixture???
> 
> The bulk of those hides are for drugs, not prepper items, unless you are talking about cash.


Invest in big ass light fixtures. Ballroom chandeliers.


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

RedLion said:


> It is also possible to hide items at neighbors/friends homes if close and it makes sense.


That runs the risk of being squealed on or if found your friend/neighbor suffers the consequences. Just saying.


----------



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

Sasquatch said:


> If you can pop off the baseboards of your kitchen cabinets you'll find a small space between the floor and the bottom piece of wood for the cabinet. It's basically the "stand" your cabinet sits on. Not a lot of room but enough for a handgun and some ammo, paperwork, knives, etc.


Just make sure you re-attach the baseboards with strong Velcro; I used to give them a tug, and if they came off, I'd look behind them.

Speaking of Velcro:

I recommend keeping a large roll of Velcro as part of your preps.

I have an old Victorian 4 story house. Three of those floors have high baseboards with trim on them. If you have high baseboards, (or buy high baseboards for this purpose), you can remove them, then cut out the wall behind them, glue spacers on the studs, put Velcro on the spacers and the baseboards, and you have a lot of room to fit stuff behind your walls. If there's the bottom of a stairway behind the baseboard, you can punch through to that large inaccessible space. I do this in my house, and because the studs are the old-time true 2x4s, I can potentially have 500' of 4" wide space to store stuff behind my walls! I could fit a lot of food in there. -And who would ever think to look for it there, except you guys?


----------



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I was thinking of hiding stuff in my Illegals. lain:


----------



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

SOCOM42 said:


> How am I going to get an M1 Garand and a 250 round can of ammo in a light fixture???
> 
> The bulk of those hides are for drugs, not prepper items, unless you are talking about cash.


If you have a forced hot air furnace, you may have sheet metal bridging the joists in your basement ceiling as air return vents. Mine were originally nailed in but my wife took them down and I replaced them using screws through the nail holes. There's a lot of space up there to fit big heavy stuff. If you don't have that kind of heating, and you installed some sheeting, I don't think anyone would look twice at it when searching, especially since they would have to unscrew the sheeting to look above it.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

TGus said:


> If you have a forced hot air furnace, you may have sheet metal bridging the joists in your basement ceiling as air return vents. Mine were originally nailed in but my wife took them down and I replaced them using screws through the nail holes. There's a lot of space up there to fit big heavy stuff. If you don't have that kind of heating, and you installed some sheeting, I don't think anyone would look twice at it when searching, especially since they would have to unscrew the sheeting to look above it.


OK, that one is easy, but won't work with forced hot water, what now do I do with the other 199+ guns???

I owned a single family Victorian 14 room in Worcester, it was heated with steam heat, was built in 1898.


----------



## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Perhaps the best to hide in one's own home is behind a loaded 12 gauge shotgun?


----------



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

SOCOM42 said:


> OK, that one is easy, but won't work with forced hot water, what now do I do with the other 199+ guns???
> 
> I owned a single family Victorian 14 room in Worcester, it was heated with steam heat, was built in 1898.


"If you don't have that kind of heating, and you installed some sheeting, I don't think anyone would look twice at it when searching, especially since they would have to unscrew the sheeting to look above it."

I hope you're exaggerating about the number of guns.

I don't know what your basement looks like, but it's probably a lot like mine, built in 1901. Can you use metal panels to bridge lengthwise across several joists, so it looks like part of the heating system to someone who doesn't know any better? If your boiler is old, I'd suggest you use galvanized steel, like they used in the old days (and it's stronger). One of your central panels could act as an access panel.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

TGus said:


> I hope you're exaggerating about the number of guns..


No, I am not exaggerating on the number of guns, and many are FA.

I collect guns like you collect other people's literary work.

Unless you don't even read other than your own threads, you would know I am in the gun business,

I have mentioned it in different threads over and over.

I have solved the gun storage problem,

I have a concrete bunker that holds all but the ready guns and not counting those off site.

It is fitted with a steel door you are not getting into even with a breaching charge.

Now, I think you missed something, I said I owned a Victorian in Worcester, making it past tense.

In that house the cellar ceiling was all lath and plaster, Steam and condensate return lines

ran on outside of the plastered cellar ceiling.

There were plenty of spaces to hide stuff including a secret room 6 X 10 feet.

You got in to it by lifting a panel in the dumb waiter shaft after locking the unit in place,

or by a hidden entrance in a linen closet on another floor.

I moved out of that shithole city and into the country a long time ago.

Got sick of looking at the bloodstained driveway where I capped two perps.


----------



## Coastie dad (Jan 2, 2016)

I'd bet he thinks a lot of us are exaggerating about a lot we say, because his academic Bostonian mind can't comprehend it.


----------



## Ragnarök (Aug 4, 2014)

TGus said:


> During SHTF, it's not implausible that some party, (municipal or federal government agents, burglars, or neighborhood mobs) may search your home without your consent.
> 
> At a past job, part of my responsibility was to conduct thorough building searches for contraband items. In general, I'd categorize successful hiding places into 2 main categories: places where "no one" would think to look for hidden items, and places that are very difficult or time-consuming to access. Of course, it's best if you can combine the two of these. It may take time to get what you need, but that's better than the possibility of having it taken from you.
> 
> ...


You can sew gold, small gram units, into your older clothes. You can sew gems into them as well.

Get some old looking boots and hollow out the bottom and reattach with valuables in them.

I have sewn gems into clothes and you cannot tell the difference. Just make sure you choose something that will not get thrown away.

There are false pop cans you can buy and put in your fridge. Get a dozen coke cans from the store and put the false one in the middle in the fridge. Not very many thrives would think you have cash in a coke can in your fridge.

I like a lot of fixed positions in homes, but I feel like an experienced burglar will know to break furniture or inspect it. Also look for hollow sections in baseboards.

A way you can increase the likelihood a gun will be spotted is disassemble it and put it in a tool box with the barrel and trigger assembly in another hiding spot.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Coastie dad said:


> I'd bet he thinks a lot of us are exaggerating about a lot we say, because his academic Bostonian mind can't comprehend it.


I wouldn't worry too much about survival there, I know Boston and the burbs fairly well.

Those people living there are exactly like the ones in NYC, they operate off of the same hive/insect mentality.

Prepping for even 72 hours is non existent, let alone a year.

I went out with a woman who lived in Brighton,

the only things in her fridge were a carton of milk, box of wine, two TV dinners in the freezer, some instant coffee

and tea, plus about 6 Ramen microwave cups..

I asked why she had so little food,

answer was she could go to the store or dellie coming home from work or eat out.

The bulk will be dead in 30 days or less, the COD will be,

murder, starvation, exposure, dehydration, suicide and drugs.

The common's underground garage will work as a massive ossuary for the inept.

The rest can be incinerated on the common's lawn using the SS method of alternate stacking.

Of course there will be a lot that will be eaten by the temporary survivors.

Another idea, dump them out in the lobster beds, sort of a reverse lobster fest.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

TGus does not understand , most of use are not teenagers. Many of us worked our ass off most of our lives. We were not a big part of the give me, you owe me crowd. Good number of us served in US military, Served and deployed around this world. Lived in real shit holes for a fair amount of time.
I easily started shooting over 50 years ago. A new weapon here and their, a used one now and then. Dad dyeing , Grandfathers and their weapon past down to me. Sons and daughter the grew up shooting and hunting. Wife that served in the Marines and grew up shoot. Yea we own over 200 weapons. Average out to a couple a year. It may not be fire arms but I hope he finds a real passion for some thing in his life. It gives you some to think about other than everyday BS. Some I wait years to purchase because the cash was need else where. So the years of waiting is never forgotten. Worked had for what we have dam sure nothing going to sell them. He may figure it out someday. First he needs to shake the liberal BS poured in his head over his life time. I hope he does it will set him free.


----------



## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Smitty901 said:


> TGus does not understand , most of use are not teenagers. Many of us worked our ass off most of our lives. We were not a big part of the give me, you owe me crowd. Good number of us served in US military, Served and deployed around this world. Lived in real shit holes for a fair amount of time.
> I easily started shooting over 50 years ago. A new weapon here and their, a used one now and then. Dad dyeing , Grandfathers and their weapon past down to me. Sons and daughter the grew up shooting and hunting. Wife that served in the Marines and grew up shoot. Yea we own over 200 weapons. Average out to a couple a year. It may not be fire arms but I hope he finds a real passion for some thing in his life. It gives you some to think about other than everyday BS. Some I wait years to purchase because the cash was need else where. So the years of waiting is never forgotten. Worked had for what we have dam sure nothing going to sell them. He may figure it out someday. First he needs to shake the liberal BS poured in his head over his life time. I hope he does it will set him free.


^^^ Post of the day right there boys and girls! ^^^


----------



## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

Just finished up reading last two pages this morn, drinking my coffee, and just smiling (damned coffee dribbling out of the corner of mouth from almost laughing). Being a career gunnersmate in the navy, I did an ammo inventory of everything that throws lead under high pressure propellants, and I was surprised on how much I have reloaded and stacked up. Now I only have a few items in my collection, not in the hundreds but under 20. If I tried to stash my ammo a few hundred here, couple hundred there. My walls would not need insulation!!!!! I got ammo in closets, my gun safe, bandoleers of stripper clipped ammo hanging near my bed. Oh god where to start and stop. To me you can't protect your food by hiding, keep it where it belongs, in you designated stores, pantry, what ever. Best way to protect it is keeping a firearm at the close by and ready. That goes for anything and everything. ah hell, I'm just rambling here.... need more caffine. But anyway if ya want to hide something it should be easy access, but still hidden in plain sight. There is no limit here but too your imagination. I have a few stash spots in the home, but there is no food or ammo hiding in them.

Hiding a firearm in confined space can cause issues with long term hide. Moisture, dust, insects, rodents, ect. If and when you go to get it, when and if you really needed to use it then and now, it could be rusted, clogged/jammed with dust, roach feces all over it, in it ect. There are plenty of products available for putting weapons in for caches/hidding, but something will always, I repeat always get to it!!!!! Just my 2 cents worth of dead brain syndrome while awaking brain cells with caffine......


----------



## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I am with @Moonshinedave, I am hiding behind a sawed off or the AR. Feel free to search all you want, if you dare. :devil:


----------



## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

Smitty901 said:


> He may figure it out someday. First he needs to shake the liberal BS poured in his head over his life time. I hope he does it will set him free.


You sure are right about this part, Smitty901. Liberalism has changed entirely since my teenage years in the 60's. Ever since I realized that the new Liberalism was a dead end 20 years ago, I've had to question a lot of fundamental assumptions that were built-in to me in my formative years; (It's like a fish not noticing the water around him.). It's difficult, because most people don't challenge their basic assumptions; they just tend to think they're right. It's hard to fight that from inside yourself.


----------



## Dunedain (Mar 24, 2018)

Some pretty decent suggestions here, but like others have said, they are mostly for smaller, compact items. I need, and have needed to hide some bigger items, and have used the "shape", and style of my home to my advantage.

My current home is a "cape" style, so on the second floor the rooms have some "dead space" behind the walls, as behind them are the eaves under the pitch of my roof. This area makes great space to hide stuff. Most people with this style home have sliding low cut closet doors to access this area. Instead i made the walls permanent, by framing them out, sheetrocking them, but i also put a book case, or two, where i can pop out the back part of the bookcase, and gain access to the "dead space" behind it.

Also, all of my closets on the second floor, that are on the exterior front and back of my home, have this same space behind it, so i removed the back walls, and can access the whole length of the eves behind them too. Just have to think of creative ways to close them off again, but still be able to get in and out.


----------



## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Prepared One said:


> I am with @Moonshinedave, I am hiding behind a sawed off or the AR. Feel free to search all you want, if you dare. :devil:


PO, sawed offs are illegal here, even if you cut the tube to 18-1/2", the operative words "sawed off".

The DA's here set case law by getting a guilty finding in one case 50 years ago with those words in the law.

The barrel did not go under 18 as defined by USC but was unfinished.

IF the guy had filed off the saw marks he would have walked on that part of the charges.

The guy was a turd, used it to do a store robbery wounded the clerk with bird shot.

I have only a small amount of items hidden but off site, key stuff is in the bunker under lock and key.

@yooper_sjd is correct, special prep is needed to hide weapons in confined unheated spaces,

inside a wall with no venting will rust them real fast with temp swings causing sweating or condensate.

Ever since the 9/11 attack, I have cut down hundreds of shotguns to 18 or 20 inch for customers.

Many of those guns probably never came out of the closets for prior decades.

Many had Poly Chokes from the early 50's.

A lot of doubles too, here is a picture of mine, typical of the ones I have done, it is at 18-1/4" with a night sight.


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

the most important aspect of hiding anything - give the "seekers" what they are looking for - make sure you have bogus prep supplies that are kept specifically for the purpose - instead of disposing or giving away old food - it has good purpose down the road as a ploy ....


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Illini Warrior said:


> the most important aspect of hiding anything - give the "seekers" what they are looking for - make sure you have bogus prep supplies that are kept specifically for the purpose - instead of disposing or giving away old food - it has good purpose down the road as a ploy ....


Yep. Decoy and deception. Give 'em a token and they'll take it and leave.

To 'seal the deal', make it sound like they're taking everything. "If you take all my food, what am I supposed to eat?" or "If you take my pistol, how do I defend myself?"


----------

