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Sanitation

Without water for flushing toilets, odds are that people in neighboring apartments will dump raw sewage out their windows, causing a public-health nightmare on the ground floor. Since you will not want to alert others to your presence by opening your window, and no doubt the apartment building’s septic-system stack will be clogged in short order, you will need to make plans to store your waste in your apartment. I suggest five-gallon buckets and a large supply of powdered lime to cut down on the stench before each bucket is sealed. Since you won’t have water available for washing, you should also lay in a supply of baby wipes.

Space Heating

In midwinter you could freeze to death in your apartment without supplemental heat. A small heater or just a few candles can keep the air temperature above freezing. I strongly recommend installing a quality wood or coal stove. But even apartment dwellers can use a kerosene heater (such as one from Kero-Sun), with proper ventilation.

Ventilation

If you are going to use any source of open flame, you will need lots of additional ventilation. Asphyxiation from lack of oxygen or slow carbon-monoxide (CO) poisoning is the alternative. Unfortunately, increased ventilation required to mitigate these hazards can pose a security risk—as a conduit for the smell of food or fuel, as a source of light that can be seen from outside the apartment, and as an additional point of entry for robbers.

Security

The main point of entry for miscreants will probably be your front door. Odds are that you have a traditional solid-core wood door. It is best to replace wooden apartment doors with steel ones. Merely bracing a wood door will not suffice. Furthermore, if you have an exterior window with a fire escape or access to a shared balcony, then those are also points of entry for the bad guys. How could you effectively barricade a large expanse of windows?

If you live in a ground-floor apartment or an older apartment with exterior metal fire escapes, then I recommend that you move as soon as possible to a third-, fourth-, or fifth-floor apartment that is in a modern apartment building of concrete construction, preferably without balconies, with steel entry doors, and with interior fire-escape stairwells.

Self-defense

To fend off intruders, or for self-defense when you eventually emerge from your apartment, you will need to be well armed. Preferably you should also be teamed with at least two other armed and trained adults. Look into local legalities for large-volume pepper-spray dispensers. These are marketed primarily as bear repellent, with brand names like Guard Alaska, Bear Guard, and 17% Streetwise. If they are indeed legal in your jurisdiction, then buy several of the big one-pound dispensers, first making sure that they are at least a 12 percent oleoresincapsicum (OC) formulation.

If you can get a firearms permit, then I recommend that you get a Remington, Winchester, or Mossberg 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a SureFire flashlight fore-end. The best load for defense in an urban environment where over-penetration (into neighboring apartments) is an issue is #4 buckshot (not to be confused with the much smaller #4 bird shot). But if getting a firearms permit proves too daunting, there is a nice exemption in in even New York City’s firearms laws for muzzle loaders and pre-1894 manufactured antique guns that are chambered for cartridges that are no longer commercially made. It is not difficult to find a Winchester Model 1876 or a Model 1886 rifle in a serial-number range that distinguishes it as pre-1894 production. You will be limited to chamberings like .40-65 and .45-90. You can have a supply of ammunition custom loaded. Be sure to select rifles with excellent bores and in nice mechanical condition.

For an antique handgun, I would recommend a Smith and Wesson double-action top-break revolver chambered in .44 S&W Russian, with semi-custom extra-mild loads.

Firearms training from a quality school is crucial.