Underground Shelter
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There are some really good threads on this forum with pictures of members underground shelters.
Search the screan name Temu he has one thats pretty neat. There are others, ill try to find them.
Search the screan name Temu he has one thats pretty neat. There are others, ill try to find them.
Recently there was a storage container on E-bay that was set up for burying with 18" of dirt on top. It had a beefed up frame. It was way over priced. It should have been set up with 12V lighting in my opinion. I don't think the water/sewer was self-contained either.
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this is my plan. Im going to bury a full 50' conex box.
I have seriously considered the conex container. I already have a couple of them for storage. I have thought of burying one and welding 24" stands to the top of it and setting the other one atop the stands above ground with the 24" in between them filled with something.
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Don't forget that conex containers can only take downward pressure at the four corners. The weight of top fill will collapse the corrugated roof....reinforcement is needed.
That corrugated material looks exactly like the stuff they use when pouring floors in high rises, though. Should be relatively easy to pour a rebar reinforced slab to take the weight.
Check out
....i think he went a little overboard.
That corrugated material looks exactly like the stuff they use when pouring floors in high rises, though. Should be relatively easy to pour a rebar reinforced slab to take the weight.
Check out
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I was thinking something like this, but using ICF blocks to build the walls. If I want to built multiple like the second pic, I can build them in individual hexagon modules one at a time as I can afford.
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I would think about using and earth bag structure it could save you a lot of cost. the main plus in my book is you can take it out later. from the little I understand about the construction and versatility of the bags you should be able to build it in under a week as long as it is built in a circle. This way the structure remains stronger then if it was built with straight walls.
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/emergency/emergencyshelter.htm
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/emergency/emergencyshelter.htm
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Just a few days ago my wife and I were talking about what we were planning to build in the next few years and so forth when she turned to me and said -
"We need a bunker."
Can you imagine your wife saying that? We both laughed, but we also both agree that it would be nice to have some sort of shelter that we know we can rely upon no matter what.
I mean I'd hate to wind up a refugee simply because of a forest fire.
So, not next year ( to many irons in the fire ) but maybe the year after that my wife and I can start working on a "bunker" of sorts.
What I'm thinking of is something along the lines of Mike Oelers designs.
http://www.undergroundhousing.com/index.html
From the web site -
If you haven't read his "the 50 dollar and up underground house book" you are really missing out.
It's full of good ideas and is also an entertaining read.
His U-house designs manage a balance of light and cross ventilation like no other earth sheltered designs I have seen.
They are not totally buried deep in the earth and completely hidden because they are intended as low cost homes and therefore have ordinary windows and doors and the like.
I know that this may not be quite what everyone is looking for in an underground shelter but I think they might do for my needs and his ideas could be adapted.
His basic idea is to take the standard "dug into a hill" shelter -
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Which needs to be strong enough to resist the creep of the hill and almost always has drainage troubles, and never has good light or ventilation, and turn it around to face into the hillside -
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So if you was walking up the hillside you might see the depression for the "uphill patio".
With a standard "dug into a hill" type shelter you'd see the whole front of the shelter.
The kind of shelter totally buried deep in a hole simply isn't practacal where I live. I'd have to blast a heck of allot of granite to make a hole that big, and then the thing would simply fill with water....:xeye:
I'd rather not try to fight the flow of water, and I don't want a shelter that needs pumps running to keep it dry!
Now I'm thinking small, under 200 sq.ft. probably. Kinda like just a cabin, only below grade on a hillside.
I'm thinking maybe use drystacked concrete block instead of the PSP system Mike came up with.
Anyone here ever read this book? What do you think?
"We need a bunker."
Can you imagine your wife saying that? We both laughed, but we also both agree that it would be nice to have some sort of shelter that we know we can rely upon no matter what.
I mean I'd hate to wind up a refugee simply because of a forest fire.
So, not next year ( to many irons in the fire ) but maybe the year after that my wife and I can start working on a "bunker" of sorts.
What I'm thinking of is something along the lines of Mike Oelers designs.
http://www.undergroundhousing.com/index.html
From the web site -
If you haven't read his "the 50 dollar and up underground house book" you are really missing out.
It's full of good ideas and is also an entertaining read.
His U-house designs manage a balance of light and cross ventilation like no other earth sheltered designs I have seen.
They are not totally buried deep in the earth and completely hidden because they are intended as low cost homes and therefore have ordinary windows and doors and the like.
I know that this may not be quite what everyone is looking for in an underground shelter but I think they might do for my needs and his ideas could be adapted.
His basic idea is to take the standard "dug into a hill" shelter -
Which needs to be strong enough to resist the creep of the hill and almost always has drainage troubles, and never has good light or ventilation, and turn it around to face into the hillside -
So if you was walking up the hillside you might see the depression for the "uphill patio".
With a standard "dug into a hill" type shelter you'd see the whole front of the shelter.
The kind of shelter totally buried deep in a hole simply isn't practacal where I live. I'd have to blast a heck of allot of granite to make a hole that big, and then the thing would simply fill with water....:xeye:
I'd rather not try to fight the flow of water, and I don't want a shelter that needs pumps running to keep it dry!
Now I'm thinking small, under 200 sq.ft. probably. Kinda like just a cabin, only below grade on a hillside.
I'm thinking maybe use drystacked concrete block instead of the PSP system Mike came up with.
Anyone here ever read this book? What do you think?
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