Build element reference

From lightest to heaviest: Flimsy (a plain window — no real barrier), Light (a bare wall frame, a wood fence or two planks — slows but won't hold), Medium (wood and plastered walls, wood doors, a four-plank barricade or metal bars — your default), Heavy (log walls, metal doors and gates, a metal-sheet barricade), Heaviest (metal and brick walls). The planner color-codes elements by tier so you can scan a layout for weak spots.

The threat check floods in from the edges of the sheet and marks weak pieces that face the outside: red for flimsy (a plain window), orange for light (two planks, a wood fence, a bare wall frame), yellow for a wooden door, a fully planked window or metal bars. Pieces behind other walls aren't flagged, so they can stay cheaper.

They follow the Build 42 recipes on the Project Zomboid wiki, checked in September 2026. They count materials only — tools, welding rods and torch fuel aren't listed — and mod recipes aren't reflected.

Read the Best Base Layout guide for the four-rule framework. In short: place in a corner of the map you can defend, double-up exterior walls on threat sides, keep generators out of the building you live in, and funnel zombies through a single chokepoint.