# Can I Turn My House into a Fortress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279 "2008-02-12T14:42:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/21 "2008-02-13T00:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] Suppose I owned a house out in the woods. Suppose further that I was a paranoid lunatic, and a fanatical loner. Ignoring, for the moment, such niceties as building codes and all that, is there anything in federal or state law (in any of the 50 states), prohibiting me from surrounding my house with a 12-foot high concrete fence, topped with razor wire, with motion-activated kleig (sp?) lights every few feet? [/QUOTE] If you were in an area zoned industrial many of these things would hardly even cause so much as a blink to a building inspector. Heavy fencing and security are fairly common. Just claim to be working with heavy materials and the fences are in part to "prevent and falling materials from spilling out into the roadway. Sure the Bricklayers might be curious about the 2" thick layer of kevlar between layers of concrete block but they get paid the same either way. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/22 "2008-02-13T00:50:03Z")
What’s the point of a fortress? Your neighbors aren’t likely to be able to get through a simple wall, and the Government can take you out from the air. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/23 "2008-02-13T03:08:35Z")
[QUOTE=SuperNelson] It’s pretty common to see ten or twelve foot walls topped by broken glass or metal spikes in New Orleans’ French Quarter, so I don’t know why razor wire would be any worse. And motion activated lights are common as well. The klieg lights might be considered a nuisance, though. [/QUOTE] That’s also very common in certain parts of South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/24 "2008-02-13T07:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] What’s the point of a fortress? **Your neighbors aren’t likely to be able to get through a simple wall** , and the Government can take you out from the air. [/QUOTE] Well he never did say that he wanted to keep people out , maybe he wanted to keep people in. Declan ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/25 "2008-02-13T08:34:09Z")
[QUOTE=Declan] Well he never did say that he wanted to keep people out , maybe he wanted to keep people in. [/QUOTE] [Quagmire from Family Guy as a bunch of Asian women in lingerie flee from his broken garage door] “Don’t worry about them, they’re tagged! They’re tagged! Just go!” [/Quagmire] ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/26 "2008-02-13T09:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=rainy] Sorry - the opportunity to use that quote only comes along so often. -rainy [/QUOTE] Tremors? The only problem with these fortresses that are built for privacy is that they need to be built before Googlemaps have high definition images of the area. Ask MI6 in Belfast about that one. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/27 "2008-02-13T14:05:47Z")
[QUOTE=SuperNelson] It’s pretty common to see ten or twelve foot walls topped by broken glass or metal spikes in New Orleans’ French Quarter, so I don’t know why razor wire would be any worse. And motion activated lights are common as well. The klieg lights might be considered a nuisance, though. [/QUOTE] That’s what I was going to say. Between the bold criminals and retarded Mardi Gras revellers, that think New Orleans has fallen into anarchy for their own pleasure, tall walls embedded with glass at the top are a near necessity. However, many of those homes are architural treasures and razor wire is right out from an aethetic standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/28 "2008-02-13T14:30:12Z")
I’d like to build a house that looks ordinary, but that the cops couldn’t break into just because they had some stupid no-knock warrant. Now if I had some real money, and land with a nice steep outcropping, I’d build my version of [Conwy Castle](http://www.conwy.com/). Y’all stop by any time. (I knew somebody in the SCA who built a pretty nice castle near Nashville, TN, mostly using cinder blocks. More for looks than defense, though.) ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279/29 "2008-02-14T02:19:12Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Tremors? [/QUOTE] Roger that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-my-house-into-a-fortress/437279.md?page=1)