Advice on an Underground Bunker

reply to post by Doc Velocity


My god, that was great. Funny stuff.




Can't believe I got so many replies in so little time, must be a hot subject.

I don't have much time right now to reply to everyone, but I thank you for all the helpful replies. Burying the metal storage unit has piqued my interest greatly and I am going to look into that, perhaps adding the stairway that Doc Velocity's web site added.

We do have some funds (a couple grand) but we are really just trying to do it as efficiently as possible with the least monetary contribution. I thing with that storage case, 2 grand would definitely be the cheapest and easiest option.

As far as the location, we are located on the Appalachian mountains, or to most people, big hills. However, we are not so much in a valley and nowhere near a flood zone. The location we have picked out was chosen because it is elevated above sea level, and has a hill nearby that leads to a fresh water source. Luckily that source is in a valley and doesn't put us at risk of flooding.

Ventilation has always been on my mind and will definitely be necessary. The purpose of this will be long term survival so it is essential. We have a large wooden, moveable storage shed that is going to serve as a "cap" to the underground bunker. We have already begun construction in the shed for a secret "hatch" that is going to lead to it.

As far as saving humanity, well, I will certainly be supporting any and all in my community with the bunker is sitx does arrive, so you don't have to worry about that either.



Thanks a billion everyone.

Originally posted by gwydionblack
So a couple of us in our area are getting together to create an underground bunker of sorts. We don't have much money to put towards it, but we do have an indefinite amount of manpower and mountain stone at our disposal, not to mention a backhoe that we have access to use.

I suppose what I am asking is, has anyone ventured to make their own underground bunker and if so, how did you go about it?

Any tips for a bunch of guys creating this from scratch?

Any information or tips would be greatly appreciated and helpful to the cause. I know the situation isn't that difficult if you get some experienced contractors involved but sadly that will not be an option for us.

Thanks ahead of time.

those in my little group all pooled our resources and had a company called radius engineering put together a kit form and then had them install it in the ground.... somewhat spendy but it will save all our behinds when the time to use it gets here... and it will get here..

Originally posted by ogbert
Get a shipping container and bury it. You can find them pretty cheap around some of the port cities. They are self contained, waterproof; and, will withstand the weight of the dirt you throw around it.

It WILL NOT support the weight of the dirt you throw ON TOP OF IT.

Shipping containers are stacked one on top of the other, but it is only the corners that are supported to hold the extra weight.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
Amazing thing is how so many are attempting to put themselves underground to avoid JUDGMENT what about your extended families OR DO THEY NOT MATTER FACE IT WITH THE REST OF US -you may get a nice transport experience

why others are left to be cooked in the earth and served on platters SMH

ARE YOU NOT BEHAVING SELFISH & EVIL TO THINK ONLY OF YOURSELVES AND NOT YOUR EXTENDED FAMILIES?????? OR EVEN YOU SPECIES

[edit on 1/27/10 by Ophiuchus 13]

OK, Many of us are doing this for one... And many of us have been ridiculed because of it. Here is the deal... YOU are not being selfish if you have tried to educate those around you and they decide that the XBOX and a 52 inch flat screen is a more important investment than FOOD & Shelter.

It isn't difficult to see disaster staring us in the face. ANY disaster that interupts Transportation or Electricity to a large part of the country and were in deep sh!t. Food isn't grown locally anymore. Most people have a whole 3 days worth of food in their homes. Chaos will rule and this can happen without it being JUDGMENT DAY.

If you were Jewish in Germany in the late 30's and told all your family that you were saving money to leave to the U.S. and they ignored you and said "nothing" could happen here, all the stories are just rumors, SHOULD you feel guilty if YOU left before they come to put you in a concentration camp? Should you have stayed and perished with everyone else? Or do you consider this "avoiding judgment"?

If you dig a basement for your family's safety in a tornado prone area and your neighbors decide that a shelter isn't needed because that Vegas vacation takes precedent, should you feel guilty if you are able to run to your shelter and survive as a tornado rips through the neighborhood and nobody else was fast enough to make it to your shelter?

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
reply to post by gwydionblack

 

My advice for you would be to visit my thread.

Bunker 101 : Building Your Bunker, Forget the Bug Out Bag, Make A Fortress

Realize that it is merely a theory because I take zero responsibility if you get hurt.

In other words, build one at your own risk, because if it fails, it is not my fault.

Yes, this was an excellent thread on the subject.

Also, If you have an issue with concrete. Look at the Large Sewer Pipes.

www.disastershelters.net...


Do Not attempt to bury a shipping container without massive reinforcement. These things are designed for stacking and all of the reinforcement is concentrated on pressure points. The pressure of tons of "earth" on the flimsy steel panels can cause the whole thing to implode.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
ARE YOU NOT BEHAVING SELFISH & EVIL TO THINK ONLY OF YOURSELVES AND NOT YOUR EXTENDED FAMILIES?????? OR EVEN YOU SPECIES

Well, are they thinking of themselves? Because if they are not, and expect someone else to do the hard work for them when TSHTF, maybe they are the ones who are selfish?

After all, it is very hard to set up something like this even for a small number of people. There has to be boundaries with who can be part of a project like this, because extended families have extended families, which have extended families. You build a bunker for 10 people, and 100 turn up, it's game over for everyone.

It's not a matter that once it's completed, you can save lots of people. But you can easily go down with them. The simple fact is, those who have prepared will stand a better chance than those who can't be bothered, or those who think it's impossible for something bad to happen because it's their government's job to look after them. And those who rely on the system to look after them will simply become dependant on someone else when the system fails them.

Many people who are building projects like this tried to teach others what was going on, and to teach them to look out for themselves, only to be ridiculed. We tried to teach them to fish, so we wouldn't have to give them fish.

There is nothing wrong with thinking about saving yourself.

[edit on 28/1/10 by NuclearPaul]

Originally posted by infolurker
Also, If you have an issue with concrete. Look at the Large Sewer Pipes.

Actually, I have seriously considered laying a network of 36" concrete drainage pipe around my property to create a heavy-duty tunnel about 3 feet underground, and sealing the joints with concrete.

One end of the tunnel would terminate somewhere in my basement, while the other end of the tunnel would terminate in my bunker. Each end of the tunnel would be hatched, and the basement end would be camouflaged with a false wall or something.

From outside, there would be no indication whatsoever of the bunker's existence, it would only be accessible through the tunnel network.

The bunker's ventilation system would run out away from the main bunker and emerge in a flowering garden, with the intake and exhaust ports disguised as concrete planters of some sort. Easy as hell.

A couple of things that I really wanted for my bunker was a periscope and an above-ground turret with gun ports. Not a rotating turret, but a traditional stationary turret.

Again, I think that disguising such a turret as a piece of garden landscaping would be the answer — perhaps a large, raised planter with ornate brick design to disguise the gun ports.

Of course, the turret would have to be sealable from inside to make it airtight.

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 1/28/2010 by Doc Velocity]

Originally posted by NuclearPaul
We tried to teach them to fish, so we wouldn't have to give them fish.

Give a man a fish, and he'll always hold his grubby hand out to you for fish — see the Welfare system for more on that.

Teach a man to fish, and you've just created another competitor for the fish.

The ultimate answer is: Don't tell the other guy about the existence of the fish.

— Doc Velocity

nope it's private. just a rectangle made of concrete the heat from 1 of the little diesels will warm the whole place and keep the batteries charged. Inside it looks just like any other house except there's no windows. Having a well and septic really saves a lot of problems. The only thing I don't have is an air filter system but I'm not too worried about bio stuff.

reply to post by Doc Velocity

Originally posted by mikellmikell
nope it's private.

Hey, I don't blame you — I wouldn't want photos circulating of my private bunker/shelter, either.

— Doc Velocity

I was a child in the 60's during the Cuban Missile crisis in Miami, we looked at underground shelters, which was unusual because the city is at sea-level. Wasn't necessary afterall.

In the event of a tornado I can see an underground shelter but for survival... nah. If it gets to a point when you have to hide in a hole it's not worth living.

Originally posted by JJay55
In the event of a tornado I can see an underground shelter but for survival... nah. If it gets to a point when you have to hide in a hole it's not worth living.

So, you'd seek shelter from a natural catastrophe, but you wouldn't seek shelter from a catastrophe created by Man?

So, you're letting Mankind dictate your quality of life? If Mankind says "Sorry, no more personal freedoms, we're coming to confiscate your property and possessions and imprison your family," you wouldn't seek shelter from that?

Would you fight back?

Because, when the SHTF and "they" come to subdue me, I'll fight until I'm dead, and I'll take a lot of "them" with me. No, "they" aren't so technologically advanced that "they" can walk all over me — I'll see many of "them" cowering in fear and begging for their lives before "they" ever take me out.

And you need a secure weapons cache and base of operations to make that happen. Hence the bunker.

Just sayin'...

— Doc Velocity

There are a couple of military bunkers from WW2 near me and they used a partially buried quonset hut flanked by tires filled with dirt, concrete and Steel doors.. Today they have trees growing on top of them and have held up pretty well. In fact my nephew purchased the property and uses it today as a workshop. So far so good as far as it's durability.

reply to post by Doc Velocity

Won't be like that.
Sure they will lock Christians in churches and burn the building, happens already throughout Africa. They run and get mowed down by machine guns or chopped up with machettes.
Our military outnumbers theirs. You'll need a bunker from your hungry neighbors who loot your stash. I already told mine I will shoot them.

here is a design that I came up with using wood. I live in a very dry area with very deep water table so wood is possible. Pay attention to the dirt loads they add up very fast at 10lbs / sf per inch of depth so 36 inches deep = 360lbs/ sq ft. A small 10x10 structure would carry a load of 36,000 lbs.
Be careful.

8x12x 7 height structure flat roof. 3ft load of dirt. Plastic wrapped. 1" gravel on top and sides prior to infill.
All wood except roof and floor is pressure treated douglas fir. Using derated 1450 psi for Moment calcs.
10" W x 12" deep concrete foundation. 2x6 sill and top plate.
2x6 wall studs on 12" centers.
2x10 x8 roof joist using joist hangers for connection.
2x6 x8 on 24" centers floor joist.
5/8 " plywood for roof, walls and floor.
3' door opening.

Calculated soil load at 10lbs/sqft per inch..soaked ..same for gravel.
= 360lbs/sqft. + 15lb/sqft framing load. 375.
roof load capacity 502 lbs/sqft.
assuming equal load on studs = 960 lbs.
All exposed wood covered in thick film plastic prior to infill.

This model was used to compare cost with cinder block walls. Too close in cost Not to go with the cinderblocks due to the better compressive strength and durability of blocks.

Good luck. and don't bury the containers w/o serious reinforcement.

There is nothing wrong with building a bunker, most of the Elite is doing it and some of them show it on the tv. Good luck with yours.


[edit on 30-1-2010 by Quantom]

Once again, I do appreciate all of the feedback and I'm sure this topic will help more than just myself. I got tired of others off site telling me "don't do it, it is too dangerous" that I figured the ATS crowd could help and you all delivered. Appreciated.

Now, it will take some discussing with my partner in this matter to figure out exactly what we are going to do. As for right now, the plans are to start coming to in the spring thaw.

Depending on how things go I might make a topic detailing the building process as it goes. I have no problems posting pictures as I go because I have no doubt that nobody is going to be able to find this place, not unless it is sheer luck and coincidence.



An option I had considered in the past and was wondering if anyone had an insight on it, was wooden walls reinforced with concrete. Basically I am thinking of lining the bottom of the hole in concrete, "building" the walls out of wood leaving about a 6"-12" gap on all sides, and then filling that gap with concrete/rebar. I see no reason why this structure wouldn't work with the correct support, however, I am having trouble thinking about how to go about the roof if I go this route. Any ideas?


Another thing I would like to ask people, and I'm relatively new to this subject so bear with me. Is three feet under enough to mask the bunker from thermal imaging monitors?

Also, what would be the best bet to secure electronics in the bunker from EMP interference?


I might be getting a little ahead of myself but if I am going to do it, I want to do it right.

Cheers all.

reply to post by gwydionblack


In my so called bunker, I also have about a thousand video games a lot of vitamin B enhanced candy. And oh yes, I have a very nice firing range, with seven types of guns and 750,000 rounds of ammo. Great way to relax. I have enough food and water (and toys) to last at least three years.

Hey man, the answer is right in front of you. You said you live in the Appalachian Mountains...look to the old timers and history, dude... ROOT CELLARS. I'm sure you can find realworld examples within 20 miles of where you are. They were made on the cheap using indigenous materials like rock, wood timbers, and mud... and they are probably from the early 20th century, or older.
How do I know, I have one...made from rock and dug out under my 150 yr old farm house. I have potatoes down there right now we dug up last July.
Find some of the old timers and they would be glad to show you. Also, a good source for root cellar plans and info is my favorite old standby..."Foxfire" books. If you are near the Va/NC line along the Blue rRdge Parkway...go to Brinnegar's Cabin...they have a root cellar and a spring house built into the ground. Man, those mountain folks are clever.
Hey, its underground, walls in the side of the mountain, stocked with food and supplies... Root Cellars.