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View Full Version : Underground Bunker made by myself


steyr
December 22nd, 2003, 12:40 PM
I'm thinking about making underground bunker in my garden. I'm going to dig a hole - 2 x 2 x 2 meters, cover it by bricks inside, make ceiling and cover it lightly by dirt. I want to make my own lab there. Did anybody made something like this? I want to trade experiences.

Bert
December 22nd, 2003, 12:53 PM
Good light, good ventilation and ease in running like hell if something goes wrong are all very good things in a lab for energetic materials use. It's also nice to have a large "blow out panel" that will quickly relieve overpressure if anything goes wrong so fast you don't have time to run. A "bunker" underground is unlikely to posess any of these features unless you've got a lot of money and mechanized earth moving equipment. You'd be better off with a sheet of plywood overhead and a windscreen of cardboard, a lean-to open on 2 sides in the garden would be easy, cheap and you could take it down between uses...

steyr
December 22nd, 2003, 02:30 PM
I know that Bert, but if you use strong wooden boards, it won't fall. I'll use some concrete to cover boards at the top, and dirt for camouflage. Then I'll plant grass (not THC :) ) at the top, and that's it.
I don't want to make HE's there. Only small explosives, and improvised weapons. I can use it as cache, and hiding place. Imagine, small underground room, rough walls, rough ceiling, rough metal lockers inside, desk and chair. AARGH ;] So nice!

zeocrash
December 22nd, 2003, 03:44 PM
i believe this might help, ctrl_c attempted to convert an underground water tank into a bunker.
http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1066&highlight=bunker
although he did not build the bunker himself, the thread also discusses the practicallities of using an underground structure as a lab

steyr
December 22nd, 2003, 05:35 PM
I've readen it, and my problem is to build, not to convert. Anyway thanks

tomu
December 22nd, 2003, 06:10 PM
I had to build one during my time in the armed forces. It's a lot of shoveling to be sure. We were nine soldiers and digged a hole about 1,5 m in diameter and about 3 - 4 meters deep, then we digged sideways and made a kind of cave. The walls and the ceiling were reinforced with wooden posts and wooden boards. It was kind of small you couldn't stand upright in it.

If you want to build a larger underground bunker you have to move a lot of earth, lot's of hard work especially when your alone.

There is some info on building an underground cellar on the web, I don't have a link but do a google search.

Ammonal
December 23rd, 2003, 01:31 AM
Steyr, a bunker could certainly be a very handy thing to have in your possesion BUT are you planning on digging a 2 meter cube hole by hand? I have tryed digging a bunker by hand before and it took me about 4 hours straight to dig a hole that was 1 meter deep and about 2 meters square. It involves a lot of hard work and couldnt you get a bobcat (small excavator machine, with different attachments like backhoe, trencher, drills, etc) and say that you are putting in a septic or underground water tank. This may not be a good excuse if you are in a town with neighbours on each side. The other thing is that when you dig soil out it is most likely compacted so when you dig it up you end up with a lot of dirt, where will you dispose of it?

irish
December 23rd, 2003, 03:21 AM
Digging is not THAT hard, it's all in the shovelling ;) (over ten years of small scale hand mining talking here :D ) if you have hard ground use a crowbar first. Just remember it's easyer to dig a bigger hole than one you can't move freely in, ie if you can swing your shovel freely in your hole it's less work than digging out a hole half the size.

wrench352
December 23rd, 2003, 05:25 AM
Try and rent a bobcat,its a tiny lil tractor.It will do your job in 2 hours or less.I believe you can rent attachments like a backhoe,and posthole auger as well.

steyr
December 23rd, 2003, 07:24 AM
Shoveling isn't that hard, when you have friends, who can help :D I'll do it by hand. BTW maybe someone has drawings of underground bunker?

Flake2m
December 23rd, 2003, 08:40 AM
A 2x2x2 space isn't really that much when you see how big it really is. Labs are less cluttered and less prone to accidents when you have more room to work with. I suggest you go for a 2Hx3Wx4L size area If you want to make a bunker. Digging the hole is the easy part. You then need to set up the foundations and walls, then figure out ventilation systems, electricity and plumbing.

steyr
December 23rd, 2003, 09:06 AM
Ventilation will be at the roof, it will be a pipe with "roof" (rain), and filter inside (bugs). Electricity may be from my house near bunker. Plumbing is hardest part, but it's not necessary, because I want to make bunker-lab, not panic room. Later I'll think about generator for electricity.

YayItGoBoom!
December 25th, 2003, 12:17 AM
As mentioned in the other topic, having your lab underground in a confined space would be suicide. I've thought about this and have come up with a pretty cool idea. Have your underground hangout place, reinforce the roof, and cover it all except for a 2 ft dia access hole. Then build a shed/ small building over it. The building could have your lab equipment, and be built so that you could get the hell out of there and fast, while having the entrance to the hidey hole hidden. You could use the hole for whatever, storage of unstable/dangerous chems, a quick place to hide (might save your ass but then again be suicide if you're caught), or a combination of both.

Jacks Complete
January 4th, 2004, 10:11 AM
Has anyone done the calculations for throughput of clean air, water requirements for a day, etc.?

I second the carbon monoxide detector, do you own a canary?

Skean Dhu
January 4th, 2004, 12:55 PM
i dug a bunker once, it was pretty much what your describing except it was maybe 2x2x1.3 after ground breaking i did all of the digging w/ an army shovel(you know, the fold up type). yea it took a while but i'd work on it for a couple hours at a time.
Digging is really relaxing for you mind. cause its so tedious it lets you wonder through your thoughts and sort out your problems, plan ahead, daydream. but then a house got built in the lot near my pit and the landscapers dumped dirt in it when teh bulldozed the grade in . and since then people have moved in and their dog barks at everything so i was unable to complete it .

Make sure your spot has good drainage. and pick a week that you aren't supposed to get any rain cause that will halt the process real quick. not no mention make digging much harder on you(assuming you don't rent a bobcat/backhoe)

wrythawk
February 7th, 2004, 10:31 AM
mmm making a bunker I have made some reinforced foxholes,I used them as a safe place to sit while I was testing some pyro devices.
but if you want a bunker(i have a real wo2 bunker 20 meters from my back yard) youre gonna need to shovel a lot and need to set wooden concrete casings and then dump them full of concrete(put iron netting in them for more strength)than you will have a real bunker.

Sparky
February 7th, 2004, 01:05 PM
If you're going to rent a digging machine then you would also have to know how to use it, or learn. I'm guessing the rental places won't want to rent it to you if the don't think you know how to use it.

As to why you're digging it perhaps a good reason, if asked, is a pond for fish or small pool.

Which brings me to my next point. A swimming pool could be a good start (at least) for an underground place. Getting one put in is expensive of course but after one is put in, the concrete (or perhap there are different linings?) basically just stays there. If one wants to get rid of the pool, it just get's filled in. This is one of the main financial drawbacks to getting a pool since you can never really get rid of it and this can lower the land value. In other words there could be an off chance that someone's house here has a pool lining already there in their backyard. Just thought I'd mention it.

blacktalon
March 3rd, 2004, 06:59 PM
I dug a sort of cellar once. The thing ended up being 4H X 4W X 8L. I just made a large box with a door tunnel out of 1' treated marine plywood, reinforced the roof and walls well and painted it with several coats of waterproof paint and then some tar like stuff that dried hard. Then I dug a big ass hole and lowered the box into it. Myself and a friend were able to complete the task in three weekends. The biggest pain of the whole project was all the rocks. Around here you go down about 2' in clay and then you hit a nice layer of medium sized rocks. If not for them it would have went much faster.

s9ar7acu3
March 9th, 2004, 03:27 AM
This is an explosives forum, why not use explosives to create your hole. That is assuming your are in a rural area.

A cylinder packed with AN pherhaps, I am not familiar with proper blasting procedure for ground excavation.

atlas#11
March 9th, 2004, 01:21 PM
backhoes are a sinch to use, I learned when I was 11 if I remember correctly. All we have is a small trencher with the backfill blade and bucket attached to the front, beats the hell out of a shovel. Backhoes are expensive to rent, the last time we rented one it had a 24" bucket and I don't remember the exact cost but it cost us over 400$ for the week(got our moneys worth though, took out phone lines for the entire neighbor hood :p )!

Your right though s9ar7acu3, explosives would be the way to go if you live in a rocky area like me. A deep rock 5 gal watter bottel full of anfo should give you a good start. Digging up here without some major equipment is next to impossible but Just a little concealed space to hide your less than leagal apparel would be nice. I used to have an old sistern about the same size as the one steyr had but my dad caved it in and burried it. Oh well, If I had the initiative I could just go buy a couple 50lb bags of fertilizer and a couple cans of desile and make some holes in the ground.

mr.pyro
March 10th, 2004, 02:55 PM
Yes, I have built one of these bunkers, but not for the purpose of a lab.
Over winter break, I made a vacation trip out to my freinds house, and he lives in a semi open area and we decided to build a bunker. It took us, 3 guys about 4 hours to dig a hole about 8ft*10ft*3Ft, in soft moist dirt. We did all of our digging at night, and came back the next morning and constructed a cheap wood frame about .5ft over it and a brown tarp, and then procedded to tie down tumbleweeds over it and around it, and this is in the middle of about an acre feild. No one could see it from around and it was very difficlut to locate if you were looking. And it took some other persons about 15 min to find it, when asked to hunt for it. We also put astro turf in the bottom and then eventually used it for BB gun hunting of rabbits and other small animals

GibboNet
March 11th, 2004, 06:04 AM
I've dug a few holes, meaning to make bunkers over the years. the first was great, it was just a foxhole / slittrench type setup, that I made just for fun.

When I attempted the real thing, it wasn't too bad. It started off about 2.5 x 2.5 metres square, I was planning to dig till I could stand up in it.

Of course, after a metre and a half, it started to fill up with water. No, it didn't rain, thee's a permenant natural spring somewhere close, and it always filled to the same level no matter how many times I emptied it.

It's starnge because the first one was only 25 metres from the second, and there was never any water in it. :confused:

irish
March 12th, 2004, 05:48 AM
GibboNet, You get that in wet ground some of my Sapphire mines are full of water and take non-stop pumping others nearby have bugger all water in them :rolleyes: . May not be a bad idea if your hole is going to be in use for a while to dig a small test hole a few feet below the deepest point to see if water is there. If you do have water near the bottom of your hole/bunker it will be damp and stink after a little while.

Mr.Azo
March 12th, 2004, 12:31 PM
I remember trying to make a sort of bunker myself.
I constructed a wooden box in my backyard. Then I dug a big hole. It took a lot of time. I used wood just as a experiment, to see if it was possible to make a bunker that way (digging a hole, and dumping the bunker into it :) ). It wasn`t acctually meant to be a bunker, more like a hiding place or storage place. The project stopped when I found this huge, enormous stone in my hole.