Bruce,
I thought I would post the architects drawing of the outside of DiFabio Manor.
This is the internet so I am not going to post a picture of the outside of my home, I do not want to tempt anyone....
Some of you will probably have dinner with us one of these days.
I looked very hard for security and solid building info and I found that Joel Skousen was a great resource and his book "the secure home" was invaluable.
Without giving to much away here are some of the highlights:
DiFabio Manor is our “country home” we spend a great deal of time at our “city home” as well just outside of Phila. The manor features 5,260 sq ft. of living space with 6 bedrooms.
With a three car attached and four car detached garage/shop building and a separate two bedroom pool house.
The exterior walls are made of 12" reinforced poured concrete as is the foundation.
I used structural steel framing with two layers of external insulation and dryvit as the exterior finish.
The windows are Anderson and Jarret laminate and do posses some “alternative capabilities” beyond thermal insulation.
The entire estate is surrounded by an 8ft PVC fence with a set of seismic tremor sensors that run the length of the fencing.
All blind spots along the fence line were removed and the outer perimeter is monitored by a system of Burle CCTV Auto dome cameras with 55mm lenses, they respond to motion, heat and switch to infrared during periods of dusk/lowlight.
The master control center features a cellular backup system and from there one can view the entire property and illuminate the three acres surrounding the house as well as power on the pool, release the Filas, open the gates and separate sections of the home and attached buildings including the pool house can be flooded with OC gas provided by Def Tec, or you can secure the entire property with one button.
The fence line and grounds are blanketed in low voltage and infra red spot lights.
I used a Ccure card access system for the gate reader, the wrought iron gates are opened with a Stanley gate system and the outer building entry points are secured with shielded cipher locks.
The driveway monitor was provided by DWA.
The house entry doors were provided by Secure Seal and can withstand multiple 90,000lbs impacts or three direct hits in the lock mechanism from a .50BMG (in testing it actually takes 45 minutes with a three man ram to knock the door loose).
The vault room doors were provided by AMSEC.
The interior walls were lined with Millibar panels to protect from storms/tornadoes or explosions and the indoor movie theater room and indoor shooting range were sound proofed with Sonex panels.
Data communication is provided an onsite T-1 and redundant Direct TV system, the entire house is connected with Fiber and the T-1 is connected with Sonnet cabling.
All of the building materials and carpets were treated with Flame Seal fire retardants.
Redundant power is provided by an onsite generator system. Water is provided by an onsite well.
Backup heating is provided by an onsite LPgas system.
Although construction is not yet 100% completed we are very, very happy so far and it really is amazing that so much technology can be installed and hidden from view.
(The cameras look like tree branches and all of the sensors are completely hidden, all of the internal cameras were installed covertly as well).
I'm waiting on the heppa filters for the range and hope to be able to use it soon.
Good luck, plan before you build and seriously think it through is my advice.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David DiFabio on 2001-07-18 22:40 ]</font>