There have been books, movies and TV shows all about people who get stranded on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere and what they do to survive. Besides finding food, one of the first things you need to do is build some sort of shelter. Without it, you’d be at the mercy of the elements and less likely to survive. What you use for materials depends on what’s available. Here are ten options you could consider using if you needed to make a home on a deserted island.

  1. Trees – Since it’s usually what most people’s homes are made of anyway, my first thought would be to use trees. Most islands would have some kind of trees growing there. It all depends on how you can manage to cut them down and hold them together. Early settlers made log homes, but you have to have the tools and the know-how to do it. Young saplings or branches may be easier to work with than large trees.
  2. Fronds – If you don’t have the tools to deal with whole trees, you could build a shelter with palm fronds. These should be in abundance on a tropical island. You just need to figure out how to lash them together.
  3. Bamboo – If there’s bamboo growing on your deserted island that may be the ideal material to use for a sturdy hut. It’s light and grows very fast so it would be a renewable resource for home repairs, furnishings and many other uses.
  4. Rocks – You might be able to build a more sturdy shelter if you use rocks. By carefully selecting the right sizes and shapes, rocks can be fit together to form durable walls for your home. It may be time consuming, but what else do you have to do? Rocks would be the best material to stand up to the harsh elements.
  5. Sod – If your particular island has a layer of heavy topsoil, you could build your home out of sod. Western pioneers lived out on the prairies where trees were in short supply. They cut chunks of sod to build a shelter called a “soddy”.
  6. Bricks – You’re not likely to find a bunch of bricks lying around on a deserted island, but you can make them if you have the right materials. Ancient civilizations made bricks from mud and dried them in the sun. Other materials used to make bricks are clay, manure and straw for binder.
  7. Mud – If you don’t have a way of making individual bricks, you could try forming your house out of heavy mud or clay. Many indigenous tribes from around the globe have lived in mud huts.
  8. Grass – In the story of the 3 little pigs, the first little pig made his house out of straw. Although it would be pretty flimsy, grass may be all you have to work with. I’m sure you’ve heard of people living in grass huts, so it must be possible.
  9. Debris – You may want to scavenge the beaches of your deserted island for any debris that has washed up on shore. There may be many items you can use to build a shelter or things you can use as tools.
  10. Cave – Another possibility would be to find a cave on the island. This would be the least labor intensive and best protection from the elements. However, you want to make sure the cave isn’t already being inhabited by other creatures first.

It’s most likely that you would use more than one material to make your deserted island home. You could use rocks or logs for the walls and grass or fronds for the roof. You could also use mud to fill in between the cracks in the rocks or logs. The idea is to make the best use of the materials you have on hand. By using your imagination and ingenuity, you should be able to construct some kind of shelter. Hopefully it will last long enough for you to be rescued.

Filed under: utilities

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