How to Build a Super Top Secret Bunker under Your House. The Prelude...

Step 3 So In Conclusion...

The house did not fall so I would say with a real engineer telling me how to place the rebar I can dig down about 21 below the dining room floor, there is a 4 foot crawlspace, 5 to 6 feet of sand then about 20 feet of clay sitting on top of the water table.

Two stories would be possible but I am thinking it would be better to have one floor with 12 foot ceilings with everything gently sloping to the drain in the center and I could have an easy 1200 square feet of tornadoes proof shelter, enough for the entire street according to FEMA. It's not likely that I'll build the big bunker since I'm pretty close to being tapped out, need a few more surgeries, and it's not likely I'll ever get hired to do anything since without a short term memory I spend a lot of time walking around trying to remember what it is I am doing. They would need to hire someone to follow me around and keep reminding me what I was working on at the moment but it might make for an interesting Discovery Channel Show...

LOL If you're gonna Dream a Dream don't ever cut yourself short.

When I had the accident I had the house dried in but it was just sticks inside no wiring, plumbing etc. Fortunately I had the siding on already since that took a month but I hadn't bricked the bottom level yet and I managed to do that in about 2 years by putting a white board up in the Foyer and every morning when I arrived I'd write down what I was planning on working on and I finished the house and relearned how to walk and talk since somehow I fell through the medical cracks and was never actually sent to any therapy or rehab but maybe it worked out better this way.

If worse comes to worse I'll just turn this into a stairwell and make an 8 by 12 foot room under one part of the bottom garage floor which according to http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/to_saferoom.shtm
it is the safest place to build a shelter.

Comments

[sk8rforlife]

im not trying to be mean but why did you make a top secret bunker?

[Grimmy Grim]

Why wouldn't one make a secret bunker if it's possible?

[Senseless]

I tagged it top secret as a joke... I wouldn't plaster it on the the net if I really wanted it to be secret LOL but I did work on it for four months before my wife finally caught me.... Even the EMS knows it's here I live in a small town and I know the Paramedics and volonteer fire department guys pretty well and given them tours. The entire bottom floor above it it a safe place to duck and hide if a hurricane turns at the last minute everyone on my street knows I'd have the back door unlocked and to just let themselves in. This whole project is mostly for fun but then again building the house above was fun to. Peace and no offense taken oh and geez now that I have my glasses and can really see the your question... I live about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and my wife is an invalid and too ill for me to evacuate so I'm well prepared even just with the bottom level being under ground and the bunker itself was a test to see exactly how deep I can go without hitting the ground water so I can build a larger sinpler one that I can just enter through a door at the back of the bottom garage and get my wife inside quick in case we get a tornadoe. I tend to over build things and maybe I planned too much but I'd rather be prepared and never have to use it than get caught off guard.

[octollama]

It would be so cool to have a secret bunker under my house

[pigsnfish]

I've ALWAYS wanted a hidden, underground bunker. As for verbiage...you made me laugh and smile and believe that I could do this as well. It's a very detailed instructable, and I think that with your instructions, I could make a reinforced hole in the ground, too. Unfortunately, I get all the great ideas, but don't have skills with electric/mechanical tools. When I approach my husband with my grand ideas, he looks at me, his eyes glaze over and his jaw goes slack. I'm thinking I might just have to start secretly digging a hole (and I have the perfect spot) and when it's mostly dug out, I can employ his help. I think that it's wonderful that you'll be able to save yourself and your wife if you have to thanks to your bunker.

[Timmah]

Way too much verbiage, nice pics, cool idea. Next time just add verbiage to the photos.

[Senseless]

LOl yeah head injuries will do that to ya...

[nellieklink]

That is so cool. I am a single lady in my 50's and my grown kids are always trying to diss my big ideas, but hey, I do live in the country of OK, the land of no building codes (I think there may be something about not building in a flood pain) Actually a large part of their negative attitutde, 2 strong men in their 20's and 30's is they don't want to be roped into lending a muscled 'hand'. LOL I have already beenthinking of doing something like that halfway under my MH.

[Senseless]

Go for it! Be smart and safe though. If you build one outside you could even leave part above ground if the concrete wall are a foot thick and you run a grid of rebar every six inches. Concretes heavy though so You really need to reinforce your mold till it sets and if it is outside make you're life easy by putting it to where a concrete truck can just back up to it and empty its load with no effort and use treated wood to build the box for your room inside including treated plywood.

[GunRunnerX26]

That is one awesome project that you have there. It makes me want to build one myself, or at least when I build a new house take in consideration a "storm" shelter and have one built under the house.

[Senseless]

Yeah LOL but see I have a wife... When I designed the house above I figured how low to start cutting into the hill to have enough room to pour and block the bottom level without it caving in on me and I rented a backhoe for the weekend and planned ahead by building a seawall by the lake from concrete blocks I had sitting on my farm I scavenged from a commercial building being torn down. Make friends witht he foreman of a demolition you can get a lotta stuff lol I had around 9000 but anyways I should have gotten a loader instead but was going to use the back hoe to do exactly what you said which would have been simple and cheap. Monday morning I was out there still moving clay to get my final grade and was then gonna dig the pit but my wife looked out around 11 and said something about why didn't I return it and that costs money to rent send it back LOL so I sort of had to... It took me 2 weeks to get the final grade done by hand and a wheel barrow and I could have finished in 5 more hours of machine time.... Don't get me started about the dam I built in the middle of my tree farm with the rest of the blocks... For the record she's an excellent wife except for always thinking I should be doing things differently LOL hence Senseless which I had all over the net long before I wacked my head in the wreck.

[norkers]

Dude you rock! I have ALWAYS wanted an underground bunker under my house, you have inspired me.

[Nykus79]

Wow... When I saw this topic in the instructables. I think you're NUT! WACKO! But after awhile read whole step by step. Now I thinking you're awesome and would love to have my own bunker under this house. But I doublt my aunt would allow me do it. :) Beside from I learn little history about my homestead. This area used to be swamp. And this house is bad shaped. There's alot of creak around in the basement. Anyway, I have question... Those paint on the wall "Super Top Secret Bunker" How can it be still "super" top secret When you put up your info of location, where access at, how to entrance it. Even layout of your house.. O.o But I still think it's very awesome! :) Now all you need add bobblehead and lunchbox from fallout 3 :)

[MarkTBSc]

Impressive build mate! Don't worry about a tendency to ramble, it's all interesting and makes it into a fascinating story rather than a dry 'how-to'. All the best for future projects!

[Batmanifestdestiny]

Wow, man, you have lived all my dreams. I used to live in the countryside, where ANYTHING could happen, and you wouldn't get caught, so I looked up some websites on making underground rooms. the hole that I was digging was going great. until I hit sandstone, and only had farm tools to break it up(none of which were electric). So now I live in the town, but a friend of mine shares a passion for holes and stuff, and every once in a while, we get together and start digging, but both of us are ADHD and often times forget what we were doing, and end up staring at a cardboard cutout of Frodo, while listening to some weird band that my friend has on his mp3 player. XD

[Senseless]

Ever find any old bones?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7aO6dhbz_E

[Batmanifestdestiny]

No, though I DID find the hardest substance on earth, Oklahoma sandstone. I swear, that stuff can cut diamonds. In other news: your voice reminds me of one of my uncles, only your not a raving redneck bent on living with your parents till the day you die.

[Coffee bean]

This is really cool. I want made tire building a small workshop underground because right now I work on my deck.

[georgd]

You have done an amazing job! I have always dreamed of making a "secret" place. Your project may have contribed a lot to your recovery. You should consider sharing what happened to you. The story may inspire others to be safe. I am a cancer survivor, but I have to say I haven't handled it very well. You have inspired me. I wish you well

[Senseless]

Georgd if there is anything I can tell you it is to keep moving. I walked about 7 miles a day even when I was dragging my right foot, usually back and forth in the yard. When I could not keep a thought in my head I still walked and walked.

[SuperMatt]

Dude - I signed up for this site just to leave you a comment. Absolutely, positively, totally incredible what you have accomplished - especially considering what your accident did to you. Best of luck.

[Senseless]

Dang thanks! This is a great site by the way, so much information.

[fitzxlr8s]

wow. You are amazing. Sorry to hear about your accident, but seems to me that you're still pretty much all there in the head: thats a beautiful house you got there, and a nice little armaggedon hideaway. best of luck

[Senseless]

It's my attention span I miss the most LOL... When I look away I forget things so it takes me longer sometimes but I write myself lots of notes.