Would it be better to be in a room, on the side of the house, with a gun safe and water barrels up against the outside wall (on the inside of the house)? Or would it be better to be in a center room of the house, without the gun safe and water barrels as shielding? Neither room has any windows, but the room in the center has one door, and there's no other doors between that room and the living room and kitchen, which have windows. The room up against the side of the house is connected only to a bathroom (you have to go through the bathroom to get to it) and the bathroom has two smaller, but heavy block glass windows. It would likely have the most radiation shielding, that large closet connected to the bathroom, because on one side it's got a gun safe, ammunition, and water barrels, and on the other sides the shielding would be the rest of the house. It's also the most secure and most easily sealed off (both the bathroom that you have to go through AND the large closet can be sealed w/ duct tape and plastic sheet)
What do you guys think is best?

Thanks,
Dan

EDIT: If this is incoherent, I'll draw a picture

bump

The best room to use as a fallout shelter is the one that is farthest from the source of the radiation. Remember the key principles of radiation avoidance:
1.Time
2.Distance
3.Shielding.
Put as mush of all three of these between you and the radiation as possible. I'm assuming you're talking about fallout from some nuclear event. A room on the ground floor should do nicely, as long as it is sealed from the rest of the house. Anything you can put between you and the walls is beneficial. I don't know that I would use barrels of water if you plan on drinking it though. Don't forget that fallout could enter anywhere there's a draft. A safe bet for protection is sand bags. They're cheap and easy to find. Stack them against the exterior walls. I'm no radiation expert but I hope this helps.

As in the criteria expressed in the above post, it depends on the "Fall out" from what? ...And the Proximety from the cause of the Fall Out...

In nearly any case, get a shovel, some morter, rebar, conctete, habitat survival systems, etc, and build a shelter under the room with the water, and gunsafe! ...Or simply move to a much safer,(non-target area), location.

IMHO

Michael

The one that's buried underground with proper shielding and an air purification system with blast shutters and 6 months supplies for 4 persons inside.

All of the "makeshift shelter in your home" B.S. is only going to create a bunch of folks who are dying slowly of radiation poisoning.

Build a proper shelter on your property, OR, find a proper shelter that you can get to and into.

I'll leave the exact "where" to you as you know your area.
But I will suggest basements of buildings, garages, hospitals, and old fallout shelters.

In a pinch (IE you gotta get somewhere cause your not really prepared) some of the deeper abandon mines in our area could suffice , or at least be better than nothing.
Such mines are scattered everywhere in this state.although you still need to worry about food and water , and because you need ventilation they won't be perfect.
Certain vitamin and mineral suppliments can be used to avoid contamination to an extent,such as calcium ( competes with cesium for room in the body) and pottasium (can't remember off the top of my head,but works on another typical radio toxin).
Your basement can work , but you need to make extensive modifications you won't have time to do on the fly.