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Types of Survival Shelters
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Shelter Types
There are many types of shelters, and that likely can be named differently depending upon where in the world you live or based on different cultures.
Every human society since the time of cavemen has understood and acknowledged that some form of shelter was needed for consistent survival.
Even the house you live in today could be considered "a survival shelter", as without your house or apartment would greatly decrease your chances of long-term survival.
For the sake of this pre3sent context, we'll look at those small, easily constructed types of shelters that a person could build or acquire in an emergency.
Some of these shelters can be bought, others can be crafted, and some are naturally occurring and each will have benefits and flaws that you must take into account during any survival situation you find yourself in.
Shelter Types Based on Need
We're going to look at types of shelters for survival a little differently than most articles would, and look at the basic function instead of design.
Since we learned that sheltering can be more dependent upon a specific situation, the need for things like being dry might outweigh the need for the ability to build a fire.
It will depend on locations, timing, and other factors, and as such you will need to combine different concepts together when deciding on the type of survival shelter that is right for your needs.
Home is where the heart is, but shelter is where you stay alive, keep safe, and
remain protected from the environment or danger.
remain protected from the environment or danger.
Survival Shelters That Keep You Dry
If you are just trying to stay dry, then anything that keeps the elements out can be considered a shelter.
This of course depends on if it is raining, or you are trapped in a flood. Rain conditions can often be avoided with an awning, a tarp, or even some decent cardboard if you are in a city survival situation.
These will work well in the woods if you have access to materials. Even a torn tent, can still be used if it is tied between some trees to provide a direct cover.
Basic wooden shelters, such as an A-frame where logs are used to form a frame, and leaves, moss, or debris is used to cover the frame can work well but may include leaks due to the porous nature of the covering being used.
The main aspect of the A-Frame is to help direct water away from the peak as water tries to follow the path of least resistance. This means that anything you can do to decrease that resistance, such as flattening the branches and leaves before placing them in your shelter will help.
Make sure that all branches are orientated toward the ground or in a downward manner to allow for water to smoothly flow away from the interior of your shelter.
If are using a bugout bag, because you prepared or were even out hunting, always consider having at least two types of shelters, such as a small tent, emergency blanket, or even a rain poncho in your bag.
These can all be used quite quickly to create a basic tent/A-Frame structure that will provide you the basic ability to stay "relatively dry" depending on how and where you set up your shelter.
Using rope or twine is best, but these can often be substituted with other things such as old VHS ribbon, which is quite durable as a viable material.
Building a basic A-Frame is relatively straight-forward, as you mainly need the shape of an A, and the ability to hold the parts together in some manner. This can be the rope you have, vises in the wilderness, or even forcing the sticks into soft ground to hold them in place.
The more secure you can make the structure, the better chances it will hold up to the surrounding elements, such as heavy rain, high winds, or small critters.
If you are in an area with wild animals, know that a shelter for keeping dry is not the same as "keeping safe" and you should always consider this to be a temporary structure at best.
Home is where the heart is, but shelter is where you stay alive, keep safe, and
remain protected from the environment or danger.
remain protected from the environment or danger.
Shelter Types That Keep You Warm
The best things to keep in mind when it comes to a shelter that can keep you warm are; the sides, trapping heat, and airflow.
While a basic tent can keep you semi-warm, without a heat source the benefit is limited. In addition to this, most average tents are not geared to have a build heat source, such as a campfire.
This means that you will need to have some form of heat, and this means a shelter that has some form of wall-like component, the ability to retain heat, and the ability to vent the dangerous smoke.
This means that the A-Frame, if build large enough can be useful to a smaller degree, such as in warmer weather survival where bitter cold won't is expected. In cases where great warmth is needed you are going to need to upgrade the A-frame to a large scale.
When you look at the basic cabin or even small house design, you will recognize that the standard A-frame is commonly used for the peak of the roof.
Because you will need to upsize the A-frame and provide more materials, this can present problems if those materials are not accessible.
This means that you have to also consider making or building any shelter that you can use access to natural or manmade items such as against a wall, or using large trees, or even snow as a makeshift wall.
Even snow acts as an insulator if it is thick enough.
A Traditional Tipi uses cowhide leather to make the outer shell.
The shape of the Tipi allows for the occupants to create a fire in the center of the structure allowing for warmth to be focused inside and allowing for smoke to exit directly from the top.
This also allows for them to control how much heat/air exchange is needed. These structures are quite effective for light, and quick travel as well.
During colder months these can be covered with thicker fur-lined hides to provide additional insulation.
They do not however provide enough protection to avoid dangerous animals such as large bears from attacking.
Home is where the heart is, but shelter is where you stay alive, keep safe, and
remain protected from the environment or danger.
remain protected from the environment or danger.
Shelter Types That Keep You Safe
As the size of your survival structure increases the overall complexity of the building process.
This is often because the safer and more secure you want to be, the large the structure is, the bigger the logs you might need to use, or the more time it will take for you to build that structure.
The Pioneer Cabin is a basic wood log cabin that was quite popular during the early settlement days of the United States.
All you need to build a decent sizes small log cabin is a decent axe and access to some reasonably sized trees.
This will however take several days or longer depending on your fitness levels, skills, and tools.
Also, be much more careful in the process of building up your shelter as well. It is quite unfortunate but many times homesteaders and off-grid enthusiasts become hurt attempting to build bigger buildings.
All it takes is one decent fall to make your survival situation a potential death sentence.
If you do not have access to logs, then consider any materials that you can find a method of securing together to form a small box-like shelter. Use Dirt floors that you can possible dig an small hole in for any fire that you have to build for warmth.
A Traditional Tipi uses cowhide leather to make the outer shell.
The shape of the Tipi allows for the occupants to create a fire in the center of the structure allowing for warmth to be focused inside and allowing for smoke to exit directly from the top.
This also allows for them to control how much heat/air exchange is needed. These structures are quite effective for light, and quick travel as well.
During colder months these can be covered with thicker fur-lined hides to provide additional insulation.
They do not however provide enough protection to avoid dangerous animals such as large bears from attacking.