The Lipan Apaches used tipis and wickiups for shelter; both types of shelter were constructed by the women of the tribe. A wickiup, or "squaw cooler," was made by setting four or more strong forked posts in the ground at the corners of a rectangle, laying stout poles from fork to fork, with other poles crossing these every foot or so. The entire structure was then covered with fresh-cut leafy boughs. To hold the brush down in a wind, more poles were laid across the tops of the boughs.

A true tipi was not a symmetrical cone; it was a tilted cone, steeper at the back. The smoke hole exteded down the more gently sloping side, or front of the tent, and there were two flaps flanking smoke hole. These flaps were supported by outside poles which could be moved in order to regulate the draft, ventilate the tipi, and carry off the smoke. When the Lipans moved from place to place, they took their poles and tipi skins with them, loading the equipment on their dogs.