The Vault — Research
Recovery research
What it takes to rebuild after collapse. Public entries are open here; the full database backs the books.
7 entries
Making water safe without power
The order of operations for drinkable water when the tap stops: source, settle, filter, disinfect — and the failure modes at each step.
Holding heat through the first winter
Shrinking the heated envelope, insulating with what you have, and why ventilation is not optional even when you are freezing.
Seed saving and rotation after year one
Which crops let you keep your own seed, which betray you in a generation, and how to rotate beds without a soil-test lab.
What actually works when the pharmacy is gone
Separating the wound-care basics that genuinely save lives from the folk remedies that quietly cost them.
Wood gas generators from scrap
Running an engine on wood when the fuel stops coming — the real efficiency, the real danger, and when it is not worth it.
Radio and mesh when the towers go dark
Re-establishing communication past line-of-sight: licensed radio, off-grid mesh, and the tradeoffs between reach and secrecy.
Rebuilding trust in small communities
The collapse problem that has nothing to do with gear: how small groups decide who is in, who is out, and how that goes wrong.