"An alternative to destroying the staircase (providing you have the time, about 4 to 6 hours), is to convert a six foot section of stairway, into a drawbridge of sorts.

First you totally remove the upper six foot section of treads, leaving the risers in place. Then the upper six foot section of stairs can be duplicated out of 2x6 lumber and hinged at the landing. Of course, due to the weight of the stair section you'll have to raise and lower via a manual winch.

This set up has two advantages, one being that when the stairway is needed, it will function much like the original stairway, so you won't have to balance on ladders or other less stable means of access. The second benifit is when the stairway is the home postion (raised) it forms a solid wall of stout lumber.

Looking at the set up with the stairway raised, any zed's (attackers) will be confronted by a six foot long hole, at the highest section of the stairway (long drop) and a solid wall blocking access to the second floor.

Thats pretty much it, I'm sure ya'll can tweek this idea a bit."

"brandon_a_boyer: I find it amazing that you can use sarcasm but the rest of us can't. either way I feel that you can fortify a very large building quickly and simply by taking the stairs between the first and second floors out, and removing any obvious fire hazards from the first floor.

DataPhreak: That's the point. When you are destroying a stairwell, you are fortifying a positon. That means you plan to stay there for a minute. And the reason we are discussing this is so that we don't start a fire. Hence why the ZSG says not to set the stairs on fire. (Maybe you should look into a little of that un-sober. I think it comes in a cream that you can apply directly to the forehead now.) "

"Part 1:
Uh- NO. I don’t even believe in “spontaneous combustion” except by oily rags, and even then it’s because they weren’t properly stored (but that’s another subject).
Ok, simple time: Go get a few cereal boxes and stack them on their faces (like the floors of a building). You might have to tuck the flaps in to maintain accessibility. No go to the sore and buy a bag of Army Men, Cowboys, Indians, etc. Pick one bag (presumably one color) to be your normies; Put them in the second, third, etc floors, and the rest on your first floor.
Now envision your OWN first floor; ¿What all down there could you start a fire with? My apartment (a flood basement in Downtown Sacramento) has:
1. A gas spaceheater;
2. A gas stove;
3. A gas waterheater;
4. Three tv’s (which by definition means electricity);
5. Wood (both in the walls and lying about);
6. Plastics;
7. Water (carries electricity).
And that’s just the normal stuff. Plus, once you cede territory (whether tactically or strategically) it’s a whole HELL of a lot harder to take it back. So now they hold YOUR turf. With the skin jobs in your building, you can’t use fire to thin them out (well DUH), you can’t shoot them with shotguns because it will destroy your building (now it falls on you, or at least there’s a hell of a mess to repair), and there’s gonna be too many to kill them all."

"Everybody chillax...No need to kill each other over a staircase.

Okay, staying upstairs in your house is a bad idea for most if not all houses; leaving flammable items on the first floor for the Skinnies to fuck around with is even more stupid."