Site the settlement 5-20 km from pre-collapse buildings, vehicles and warehouses so their glass, metal, wire, pipe and tools are within reach, but do not build on a salvage site itself. Old structures carry chemical contamination and collapse risks, and they attract other scavengers.
Balancing a settlement’s access to salvageable infrastructure against the contamination and structural hazards that come with living beside it.
Salvage Is a Temporary Advantage, so It Weighs Less Than Water
The carrier lists what proximity to pre-collapse infrastructure gives: abandoned buildings (glass, metal hardware, wire, roofing, pipe), vehicles (springs, axles, sheet metal, glass, wire, batteries) and hardware stores or warehouses (tools, fasteners, adhesives, rope). In the carrier’s scoring table, salvage access has a weight of 2x, the lowest, and is labelled a temporary advantage: what is there will be used up, and the settlement must eventually make its own.
Why 5-20 km
At an assumed walking pace of 5 km/h (replace with your party’s pace):
- 5 km takes 1 hour each way: a morning trip.
- 20 km takes 4 hours each way: a full day out and back, 8 hours of walking before any loading, and slower when loaded.
Closer than 5 km and the salvage area becomes the problem: other scavengers pass through, hazards are on your doorstep and the pull to build on it grows. Farther than 20 km and the trips are expeditions that need food, shelter and an escort.
What You Need
- A map of what exists — sketch the buildings, depots and roads. See Sketch Mapping.
- Entry rules — decide who may go in, in what pairs, with what tools.
- The safety pages — Structural Safety Assessment, Asbestos, Lead Paint & Other Hazards and Building Material Recovery.
Method: Assess, Rank, Schedule
Step 1: List the sites and what each likely holds Rank them by usefulness, distance and risk.
Step 2: Assess structure before entry Walk round the whole building first. Do not enter walls that lean, show cracked foundations or have been burnt.
Step 3: Schedule trips Plan the run for daylight, a known return time and a signal if overdue.
Step 4: Keep the settlement off the site Build away from, and upwind and upslope of, contamination sources such as fuel stores, factories and dumps.
Common Mistakes
- Living in the ruins — contamination and collapse become daily risks.
- Going alone — one injury becomes a death.
- Taking everything at once — leave a reserve for later needs.
Safety
Old buildings hide asbestos, lead and unstable structures
Suspect asbestos in pre-1980 buildings and lead paint in pre-1978 ones: leave both undisturbed and never cut, sand, scrape or burn them. Do not enter leaning or fire-damaged structures, and never drink from or cook with containers of unknown chemicals.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Building Material Recovery — taking materials out safely
- Combine with: Settlement Layout for 150 People — laying out the settlement