http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sod_house

The sod house or “soddy”[1] was a corollary to the log cabin during frontier settlement of Canada and the United States. The prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone; however, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant.[2] Prairie grass had a much thicker, tougher root structure than modern landscaping grass.

Construction of a sod house involved cutting patches of sod in rectangles, often 2’×1’×6” (600×300×150 mm) long, and piling them into walls. Builders employed a variety of roofing methods. Sod houses accommodate normal doors and windows. The resulting structure was a well-insulated but damp dwelling that was very inexpensive. Sod houses required frequent maintenance and were vulnerable to rain damage. Stucco or wood panels often protected the outer walls. Canvas or plaster often lined the interior walls.

Sod houses can stop bullets and can be made for next to nothing …they may no last forever but can be made quickly and last for many years if done well…

sod houses require only hand tools to construct and would make a great bug out location temporary structure as most of Gauteng is covered with grass lands ..

my ideal bug out location would include a house of brick, sod or sandbags , in the form of a court yard house .. these are usually constructed with windows facing inwards and a central pond for fish and drinking water … with all roof run-off going into the pond in the middle … all windows face inwards and fruit tree’s are grown in the court yard providing shade and food.

the outer walls are at least 3 meters high and very thick – only very small windows set high on the wall would face outwards

– 2 sets of gates- with inner and outer gates. and a dry mote to stop vehicle rams, complete the setup .

below grounds storage and underground safe rooms – or bunkers provide a last line of defense .

obviously, inline with my other posts, a number of  lines of fences and trip flares .