Permafrost: How to Renovate Walls and Rubble With the Building Tool

Broken camps in Permafrost can be rebuilt on the spot. Damaged wall panels and missing stairs show up as bright blue, see-through shapes where the finished piece belongs, and the Building Tool turns each one into a solid structure using resources from your inventory. The work is tracked by a BASE RENOVATION counter, and it feeds directly into quests such as House Camp Flipper.

Quick answer: While in a Renovation zone, equip the Building Tool (key B), target a blue outline, and click the left mouse button when the “Renovating” prompt appears. The required materials come from your inventory for each piece, and the counter increases by one.

What you need before renovating

Two things have to be ready: the Building Tool in your hand, and the exact resources for each piece sitting in your inventory. The Building Tool’s key (B) appears on the HUD hint list at the right edge of the screen next to the line “Building Tool”.

Each type of piece has its own cost:

Armored Wall segment: 10 Scrap + 1 Wire
Wooden Stairs flight: 6 Wood
Radio Station Bench in the Church: 3 Scrap + 4 Wood

Scrap comes from the Dismantle Bench, where 1 Metal Junk gives 2 Scrap.

How to spot a Renovation zone

A camp that can be repaired shows its missing parts as blue, see-through outlines. A wall panel hovers in a gap in the metal wall; a flight of stairs sits on an empty scaffold. These are the shapes you fill in.

When you step close, a banner at the top of the screen reads “ENTERING” with “Renovation zone” beneath it. At the same moment a new block appears at the bottom of the quest tracker on the left: a wrench icon, the heading BASE RENOVATION, and a counter with a bar such as “0/3” or “0/2”. The second number tells you how many pieces that zone holds. Walk back out and the banner flips to “LEAVING” / “Renovation zone”, and the tracker block disappears while you are away.

Blue see-through wall panel in a gap of a metal wall with the banner Entering Renovation zone, a Base Renovation counter in the tracker and the prompt Armored Wall, Press B to equip with the Building Tool — Stepping up to a blue wall outline: the "Entering / Renovation zone" banner, the Base Renovation counter in the tracker, and the prompt to equip the Building Tool. Shown at 59:44 in Royal Gaming’s video. Image: SpaceRocket Games

Renovate a wall with the Building Tool

With anything else in hand, aim at a blue outline. The prompt gives the piece’s name and a shortcut, for example “Armored Wall” and “Press B to equip with the Building Tool”. Press it, or press the Building Tool key yourself to swap to it.

With the Building Tool out, four extra hints appear on the right edge: open/close menu (right mouse button), build or mode action (left mouse button), rotate object, and Deconstruction. You do not open the build menu or pick a blueprint to renovate, so leave those alone.

Aim at the outline again to bring up its prompt: “Armored Wall” and “Press (left mouse button) Renovating”. For stairs, the text changes to “Wooden Stairs” and “Press (left mouse button) to repair”. Tap the button once; holding it is unnecessary.

Check the cost box at the bottom centre of the screen. It shows one icon per resource with what you hold against what the piece needs, for example “37/10” beside the Scrap icon and “4/1” beside the Wire icon.

Blue Armored Wall outline with the prompt Press left mouse button Renovating, a cost box at the bottom centre and struck-through Wire and Scrap lines — The Building Tool aimed at an Armored Wall outline: the "Renovating" prompt, the cost box at the bottom centre, and Wire and Scrap leaving the bag. Shown at 126:55 in Royal Gaming’s video. Image: SpaceRocket Games

Click. Your character swings the hammer, a short timer bar counts down (it starts at “2s” on a wall segment), and the lines “-1 Wire” and “-10 Scrap” appear beside the piece as the resources leave your inventory.

Hammering a wall, cost lines — Filling an Armored Wall outline, with the Scrap and Wire costs ticking down as the hammer swings. Shown at 75:22 in Royal Gaming’s video. Image: SpaceRocket Games

When the piece is complete, the blue outline is replaced by the solid structure and the BASE RENOVATION counter increases by one. Go to another outline in that zone and do the same until the counter is full.

Clearing blue Rubble

A zone can also hold a blue heap labelled “Rubble” lying in front of a wall gap. With the Building Tool in hand, aim at it and the prompt reads “Rubble” with “Press (left mouse button) to remove”.

Blue heap in front of a wall gap with the prompt Rubble, Press left mouse button to remove, Building Tool in hand — A blue Rubble heap in front of the wall gap, with "Press (left mouse button) to remove". Shown at 59:53 in Royal Gaming’s video. Image: SpaceRocket Games

A path-blocking grey “Pile of rubble” is not that object. Its prompt says “to break”, and you need a pickaxe to clear it rather than the Building Tool.

When you are short on resources

If you cannot afford a piece, the shape under your crosshair turns red instead of blue. The cost box shows what you hold against the need, for example “0/5”, and the words “MISSING RESOURCES” appear beneath it. Fetch what is missing and return to that same piece to finish it.

A wall piece shown in red instead of blue with the words Missing Resources under the cost box — A piece you cannot afford turns red, and "MISSING RESOURCES" shows under the cost box. Shown at 133:06 in Royal Gaming’s video. Image: SpaceRocket Games

How you know a zone is finished

The zone is finished once its counter reaches the total, for example 2/2 or 3/3. Its BASE RENOVATION block disappears from the tracker. Completing a zone alone produces no banner or reward box. If a quest includes that location, its objective line turns yellow and gains a tick as soon as the zone is done. Renovating is a trained skill too, so completing a piece can trigger a “LEVEL UP!” popup with “Renovating” beneath it.

A wall completed before its quest objective appears will still count toward it later, so you can rebuild the wall in advance.

Where you use renovation

For House Camp Flipper, renovate four sections of the House Camp wall; each section’s zone contains 2 or 3 pieces:

Near Gate D
Facing the Solar Facility
Near Gate B
Facing the Technocrats Colony

The same mechanic repairs the Wooden Stairs on the scaffold beside the Church (a zone of 2) and the Radio Station Bench inside the Church (a zone of 1).