Set up a shelter room for 48 hours: supplies, layout, air and a toilet

Print this checklist Prints the checklist without the menus.

Checked against official guidance (NHS, St John Ambulance, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the UK Chief Medical Officers) on 2 November 2026. Not a substitute for a first-aid course.

Do this now

1. Choose the room: middle of the home, fewest outside walls and windows, lowest floor. A cellar if you have one.
2. Find your off switches: trickle vents, extractor fans, any ventilation system. Write down where they are.
3. Put a box in the room with a radio, two torches, spare batteries, a power bank, a first-aid kit and a list of your medicines.
4. Store water: 3 litres per person per day. For two days, 12 litres for two adults.
5. Add food that needs no cooking and a manual tin opener.
6. Make a toilet kit: bucket, strong bin bags, ties, toilet roll, soap.
7. Tell everyone at home which room it is.

First, what official advice exists

UKHSA's advice for a radiation emergency is go in, stay in, tune in. It says you may need to stay indoors for one to two days, possibly longer, and that the best shelter ideally has heating, drinking water, food and toilets. It doesn't give a room set-up or a supplies list for this.

No official UK source asks households to build a shelter. The 1980 Protect and Survive "fallout room" isn't part of today's UKHSA advice. So this guide sets up the room you already have, using:

• UKHSA and Be Ready for the UK rules
• FEMA's nuclear detonation planning guidance (2022) for what makes a room protective
• Sweden's and Finland's shelter advice for what to bring
• the UK Chief Medical Officers' water and toilet advice

We use the historical US book Nuclear War Survival Skills only for points that are practical and safe, and we label them.

1. Pick the room

• Middle of the building. UKHSA says stay as far as you can from outside walls, doors and windows.
• Down if you can. FEMA's guide says basements and the centres of large buildings give the best protection. Ready.gov says the same.
• More walls is better. Brick, stone, concrete and earth block radiation well. Wood and plasterboard block little on their own, but FEMA says many layers add up, so a central room with several walls between you and the outside is better.
• In a house: a cellar, then an understairs space, an inner hallway or a windowless bathroom on the ground floor.
• In a flat: a windowless inner room or the central corridor, away from the top floor and the roof. Our safest room guide goes through each house type.
• Big enough to lie down. Two days is a long time sitting up. Measure it.

2. Air: close up, but don't seal yourselves in

• Close outside doors, windows and vents, including trickle vents, and turn off fans and air conditioning (UKHSA). Ready.gov adds forced-air heating.
• Finland says seal gaps with tape or cling film, and learn now where your ventilation switch is, because some buildings need the managing agent to turn it off.
• But keep some air. FEMA's guidance says buildings don't need to be airtight to protect against fallout, and says to keep enough ventilation for the air indoors to stay healthy. A small room with several people in it gets hot and stuffy fast. Nuclear War Survival Skills (1987) warns that crowded shelters without enough air became too hot to stay in. If the air feels stale and you've had no instruction to stay sealed, open the inner door to the rest of the house.
• No flames, no fuel. Never use a camping stove, gas heater, barbecue or candle-lantern in a closed room: they give off carbon monoxide. Finland bans heat-producing devices such as gas cookers and storm lanterns in its shelters.

3. Water: how much for 48 hours

• Add more for babies, pets and medical devices (Be Ready).
• The British Red Cross says drinking, cooking and washing together come to about 10 litres per person per day. For a shelter room, keep washing small: drinking comes first.
• For comparison, the Drinking Water Inspectorate's planning guideline for water companies supplying emergency water is at least 10 litres per person per day for the first 24 hours. That's for water companies, not a household rule.
• Tap water already in the system is safe unless you're told otherwise, UKHSA says. For drinking, use tap water and sealed bottled water. Don't drink rain, pond or water-butt water collected outside during a radiation emergency: Ready.gov says don't eat or drink anything that was uncovered outside until you're told it's safe. If you get a warning before you go in, fill clean containers with lids.
• Sweden says store water somewhere dark and cool, and check it once or twice a year.

4. Food, medicines, light and news

• Food that needs no cooking or fridge: tins with ring pulls, crackers, nut butter, dried fruit, cereal bars. Be Ready says choose foods you normally eat.
• Medicines: two days' supply in the room, plus a written list with doses. Be Ready says order repeat prescriptions up to 5 working days before you run out.
• Light: a torch each and a battery lantern. No candles.
• News: a battery or wind-up FM radio, with your local station frequencies written down (Be Ready).
• Power: a charged power bank for phones.

5. A toilet when you can't flush

• If the water's off but sewers work, you can flush by pouring a bucket of water into the bowl. Use water you wouldn't drink (Be Ready says water-butt rainwater is fine for flushing) and keep your drinking water for drinking.
• If you're told the sewers aren't working, the UK Chief Medical Officers say don't flush at all. Collect waste in plastic bags, seal them, and put them in household waste, ideally an outside bin once it's safe to go out.
• Set-up: line a bucket or the toilet bowl with a strong bin bag, tie it off after use, and keep it sealed. Nuclear War Survival Skills suggested keeping the toilet bucket covered and at the end of the room where air leaves.
• Hand washing: the Chief Medical Officers suggest one large bowl of water with soap or household disinfectant that the whole household shares, and a separate bowl for anyone with diarrhoea.

Our toilet guide has the full bag method.

6. Clean-up corner

If anyone has been outside, they take off outer clothes at the door of the room, not inside it. UKHSA says removing outer clothes can remove around 90% of contamination. Keep a bin bag, a spare set of clothes for each person, soap and a towel there. No hair conditioner (UKHSA).

7. Sleep and comfort

• A sleeping bag or blankets for each person. Finland's shelter list adds a mat, earplugs and a sleep mask.
• Something to do: books, cards, games for children.
• Sweden says be prepared to stay in a shelter for a few days and bring something to eat, warm clothes and toiletries.

Layout: one way to arrange it

There's no official layout for a home shelter room. This is a practical arrangement based on the sources above:

• Sleeping space in the most central part of the room, furthest from any outside wall.
• Water, tins and boxes along the walls nearest the outside. Nuclear War Survival Skills (1987) suggested placing filled water containers to add shielding. It's a historical tip, not current UK advice, but it costs nothing if the water's there anyway.
• Toilet bucket at the far end, by the door, with a lid or bag tied over it.
• Clean-up corner just outside the door.
• Radio, torch and medicines in one box within reach of the sleeping space.

Printable checklist: shelter room for 48 hours

The room

• Room chosen: middle of the home, lowest floor, fewest windows
• Everyone at home knows which room
• Trickle vents and extractor fans: we know how to close and switch off
• Space for everyone to lie down

Water and food (for each person, for 2 days)

• 6 litres of drinking water (more for babies, pets, medical devices)
• 2 days of food that needs no cooking
• Manual tin opener, cups, spoons, kitchen roll

Health

• 2 days of every medicine, plus a written list with doses
• First-aid kit
• Glasses, hearing aid batteries, chargers for any medical equipment

Light, news, power

• Battery or wind-up FM radio, station frequencies written down
• Torch each, a battery lantern, spare batteries
• Charged power bank
• Paper list of phone numbers

Toilet and hygiene

• Bucket, strong bin bags, ties, toilet roll
• Soap, a washing-up bowl, wet wipes
• Plain shampoo (no conditioner)

Clean-up corner (outside the room door)

• Bin bags for outer clothes
• A spare set of clothes for each person
• Towel

Comfort

• Sleeping bag or blankets each
• Books, cards, something for children
• Pet food, water and a litter tray or bags

Never in the room

• No camping stove, gas heater, barbecue, generator or candles

What official advice doesn't cover

• How long beyond two days. UKHSA says possibly longer if a release goes on. Officials will say when to leave. If you can, keep a 3-day stock, as Be Ready asks.
• Room ratings for UK house types. No UK body publishes them. FEMA's figures are US building studies.
• Building a shelter. Not asked of households in any official UK source. If you're thinking about digging one, read can bunkers survive nukes first.

No room can promise safety. A prepared inner room means that if you're told to stay in, you can.

Related guides

• Radiation emergency in the UK: what official advice says (go in, stay in, tune in)
• An emergency plan for flats: what's different, and what to ask
• Two weeks of emergency supplies: a sensible extended plan
• The 72-hour emergency kit for UK households

Free tools

• Stay-in room shopping list (2 adults)
• Emergency supplies calculator

We're an independent UK site, not the government. We check guides against official sources and link to them. In an emergency call 999.

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