In Project Zomboid, you are constantly escaping a terrible threat, zombies. Aside from the cold hunger and thirst you will have to battle to stay alive, zombies are a very obvious lingering threat. The more you can distance yourself from them, the longer you will stay alive.
Most players choose to set up bases around the map of Project Zomboid in order to stash gear and keep themselves safe. Once of the best ways you can stop zombies from getting into your safehouse is to board up windows and doors with barricades. This article will show you everything you need to know about barricading in Build 41.
Contents
You can click any of the links below to jump straight to the appropriate section of the page
What is Barricading?
Why should I Barricade?
How to Barricade Using Wooden Planks
Materials for Wooden Barricade
Method for Barricading with Wooden Planks
How to Barricade Using Metal Sheets
Materials for Metal Sheet Barricade
Method for Barricading using Metal Sheets
Unbarricade (Take down a Barricade from a Window/Doorway)
Summary
What is Barricading?
A Barricade is a way of reinforcing a door or window space in Project Zomboid. It is literally taking a material and building it into a window. Once you have put a Barricade on a window or door you will see an actual visual barricade shown on it.
The Wooden Barricade is simply some plain wooden planks that have been nailed across a window. This is the most simple and easiest Barricade that you can put over a space in the game. Read on below to find out how exactly you can turn those extra wooden planks into some extra protection for your base in Project Zomboid.
Using Metal Sheets as a Barricade is a lot more reinforced that using planks. Keep in mind that finding the materials to be able to barricade with Metal Sheets will be a lot more difficult. But as usual, effort = reward. Once you have Metal Sheets on your windows and doors you will have an almost impenetrable fortress on your hands.
Why You Should Barricade in Project Zomboid
The world of Project Zomboid is very dangerous. Especially since Build 41 and beyond. The developers are starting to work on zombie mechanics that will make them prioritize breaking down walls and doors if they can’t get to you. You will need to plan your bases smarter and make them more secure then ever before.
Barricading windows is a great way to keep unwanted eyes out of your base. One of the easiest ways zombies can set their sights on you is literally by setting their sights on you! Zombies, like player characters can see through windows and doorways where appropriate. If you are seen through a window zombies will gather, sometimes in great numbers to your base. Why would you not take away the chance altogether? Barricading, both with wooden planks and metal sheets, makes it so no one can see in or out of doorways and windows in Project Zomboid. Perfect for keeping prying eyes out of your base so you can go about your business.
Zombies can also use doors and windows as entry point. Along with sight, zombies have a few more senses at their disposal. They can also hear and smell you and your cooking if they get close enough. Windows are one of the easiest entryways for a zombie to get into a building. They will seek out the easiest way in and if they do manage to infiltrate your building without you noticing the results can be deadly! Especially when something like the Helicopter Event brings hordes of zombies knocking at your door.
Barricading is a great way to keep those pesky zombies from bolting through your doors and windows. Even if they may eventually destroy your construction, the extra minutes and hours you can get out of a barricade may just give you the time you need to plan your escape, or patch up that neck scratch. Barricading will keep you safe. With how easy it is to gain at least planks in Project Zomboid, why wouldn’t you spend a bit of time making your base more secure. Plus, it will help raise your carpentry skill while you do it! Win win.
How to Barricade Using Wooden Planks
You can use basic wooden planks to barricade your windows and doors in Project Zomboid. Wooden Barricades are the weakest Barricade option from the 2 in the game but don’t let that fool you. Barricading a window with wood is still a great option for your base. Don’t hold out waiting to find metal sheets, get started on barricading with Wooden Planks.
Materials for Wooden Barricade
You will need a few items to begin your wooden barricade on your windows. The items are reasonably easy to obtain if you know where to look. Everything should be able to be found at a hardware store if you have one near you. For more information on the map check out this post. It also has links to other smaller areas on the map. (My favorite area is West Point.)
You can build up to 3 planks onto each window in Project Zomboid.
The items you will need to create wooden plank barricades are:
- Nails
- A Hammer
- Wooden Planks (1 per barricade piece)
Optional items for cutting down a tree and crafting Planks:
- Axe (Any type)
- Saw (Any type)
Simple enough right? The optional items are included as a way to easily obtain planks for Barricading. If you are having trouble finding planks in general loot, you can always get an axe to cut down a tree and then a saw to create planks out of the log. You can check out this handy guide on how to get an axe.
Now that you have obtained all the materials to board up the windows it’s time to get to work!
Wooden Barricade Method
The first step in barricading up a window is to find your base! Get into your base and find the window you want to board up. Make sure you have all of the required items for barricading in your inventory. These items can either be in your direct inventory or located in a backpack or container. Right-click on the window or door what you want to barricade up. (Also make sure that you are on the correct side of the object as you can also accidentally barricade from the outside!)
Everything else should be automated from here on it. Either your character will get to work on the Barricade or they will first have to get the items form the appropriate container or bag first and then get started working on it. Once your character has finished their work you will notice a plank across the window/doorway. You can continue barricading the area by right-clicking once more and selecting barricade again from the menu.
You can barricade a window or doorway 3 times. Once you have 3 planks on the door you have reached the maximum amount of protection that you can have by using wooden planks. Enemies will now not be able to see you through the windows and will have a hard time getting into your base.
We will now move on to the more advanced means of barricading in Project Zomboid as of Build 41. Moving on to barricading using Metal Sheets.
How to Barricade Using Metal Sheets
You are not only limited to barricading your windows and doors with primitive wooden planks in Project Zomboid. You can also use Metal Sheets to board up those spaces to make your base even more secure that before. As you can expect, with added protection comes an extra challenge. Items needed to barricade the hatches with Metal are a lot harder to come by that just a Hammer and Nails.
Materials for Barricading with Metal
To barricade with Metal Sheets you will need the following items:
- Propane Torch (With able welding rod inside)
- Welding Rods (to put into the Propane Torch)
- Metal Sheet
Even though it may seem like it, you don’t actually need a welding mask to be able to weld in Project Zomboid. You don’t even need a generator to power the welder at this point in time in Build 41. Literally all you will need to find is a Metal Sheet and Propane Torch, providing the torch still has some fuel inside of it.
Keep reading to find out how you can put these items to use and begin barricading your base using Metal Sheets.
Method of Barricading Using Metal Sheets
Barricading your base using Metal Sheets and Propane Torch is done in a very similar way to barricading with Wooden Planks.
The first step is to locate the area that you want to barricade.
Once you’ve found the appropriate place make sure you have all of the required items either in your direct inventory or in a container on your character’s person. Once you’ve got the items right-click on your chosen doorway or window and select the ‘Barricade (Metal Sheet) option.
Once you have selected the Barricade option your character will immediately start to either get the required items out of their container or start the operation if they already have the items ready. You will see your character weld up the sheets to the windows or doors. Barricading a window or door will improve your characters Metalworking skill level.
The Metal Sheet is a lot stronger than the wooden barricade and will thus take longer for the enemy to penetrate. 1 metal sheet is required to board up an entire window or half of a doorway. Once you have barricaded a door or window you will not be able to move through them until you have taken the barricade down. Which brings us to the next part of the guide.
How to Unbarricade
Once you have put barricades onto the window or door that isn’t the end of the journey. You can once again use the throughways if you decide to take the barricades down. To be able to take the barricades down you will need the appropriate items for the type of barricade that is in place.
For wooden plank barricades you will need a claw hammer to take them back down.
For Metal Sheet barricades you will once again need to equip a propane torch with enough fuel to take down the barricade.
Once you have acquired the necessary item to unbarricade, move towards the window or door that you have boarded up. Now, right-click on the barricade and select the option that reads ‘unbarricade’. You character will begin to take down the barricade they once put up as protection. The item you used to barricade the area will be returned back to you, so if you want to switch it to a different window you can do so.
Now you know how to take a barricade down. Hooray!
Summary
We’ve gone over everything that you need to barricade in Project Zomboid. We’ve talked about how to barricade using wooden planks and metal sheets and everything that you’ll need to in order to barricade with them. I hope this guide has either convinced you to barricade your base or shown your how to do it if your were already planning on boarding up but couldn’t get through the Project Zomboid UI. If you need any more advice throw a comment down below!