[survival]

Acidlittle brought this up (Thank you!!!) or I would have never seen this on Discovery channel. Looks like the Discovery channel is going to compet with national geographic channel for the doomsday craze. It looks promising already.

Going to be on the first week of March 2012. I'll have to look it up again to be specific.

 

[acidlittle]

Hopefully they treat the people like they should, and don't make them out to be crazies, like that "Pandemic lady" on DDP, I even thought she was a little on the nuts side, just with how she was kind of forcing it on her family and neighbors...

Yeah, I'm excited to see this one though, since I'm in the market for a house, maybe I'll build a bunker with a house on top of it ::rambo::

 

[survival]

Ooooo... good idea. One thing came to thought about bunkers though is I would make at least two to three escape routes. What if.... a tree fell over the doorway (tornado) or if the house got burnt down and the rubble was over your exit sites. That in itself would be a nightmare trying to get out. I would also have an escape hatch in one of the walls where I can take it down, dig through some dirt to get to the top.

I bet you that guy that was on DDP show (the last one with the 70 residents) will be on this show. Just a hunch. That reminded me of Racoon City (Resident Evil). :twisted:

 

[Buckinbronco66]

I am wondering would it be better to buy one of those pre-fab bunkers / cargo container / or make one out of concrete? I have the land to do it and have some ideas on hiding the main entrance and being able to have it as a choke point to defent IF it were discovered. My main concern is what to build it out of. My wife and I are planning on building a home and having the bunker constructed before we build our garage, which the bunker would be burried UNDER the garage providing it protection from emp and fall out as well. If you would like to hear about my ideas for the "secret" entrance let me know.

 

[acidlittle]

Concrete would be nice...but there is a lot of engineering that I feel would have to be done, of course reinforced with lots and lots of rebar.

There is a building in German that was an above the ground bomb shelter, that was reinforced so much that the Americans had to GIVE UP bombing it and using artillery on it because they just weren't doing enough damage. The build was basically buried with other building that they could bomb down to rubble. You can probably still see it to this day!

 

[Buckinbronco66]

well I did a little thinking today and came up with a few things

1: Poured concrete
2: Sprayed concrete (like what they do for pools just much thicker and more reinforced)
3: Shipping Container
4: Steel prefab bunker
5: Fiber Glass with sheet metal surounding it (faraday effect)
6: Cinder blocks with concrete roof

I am going to do some research and see which has the best for my catagories

1: COST! (near and dear to all of our hearts)
2: Strength (laterally and covered weight by earth)
3: Ease of construction
4: Time to take to construct

If I were to do the sprayed concrete I would have vertical walls and a domed ceiling for added strength with a support in the center to help distribute the weight, I could do the same with the poured concrete but I think it would be more difficult to do and would take more time to let it cure.

 

[jpride_2000]

Well, I to am in that same thought of which would be the best bang for the buck. Although I am not looking into pre-fab due to the extra costs involved. Plus allowing extra eyes around my site. (just my take on it) Plus I do have some building skills with concrete, metal, and wood structures. So labor costs are contained to sweat equity.

I personally would not put to much consideration into a shipping container due to the cost of the unit and then to tie up even more funds to adapt it to work for my needs. Average cost of 1500.00 to 2500.00 plus structural improvements to make it viable due to the weight loads involved. Which the structures frame is the really the backbone and the rest is purely sheet metal. Not to mention water proofing 6 sides properly with out heavy equipment to lift it.

Concrete, when done properly would not be all that cheap. It would be met with alot of bracing, forming, and alot of sweat hours. But would be one mean Hombre if the time arose.

I however am seriously considering 10 foot metal Culvert as my means. Huge weight toleration, combined with no form work.... (which that really makes me happy lol). Welded end caps with considerations for reinforcement seems doable. and all of the typical considerations for plumbing, air, electrical and multiple entry/exit needs are met. Water proofing, drainage and then septic and backfill needs. The only thought is would this type of construction eventually rise even though on a hill side with lots of drainage?

I am going to construct this in the southern half of Alabama, on a hill side. If anyone has any experience with this type of culvert construction and wants to chime in with any tips or considerations I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have constructed other types of structures here in the South and want to share any info I should be thinking of would be appreciated as well.

 

[MountainMan]

How long would a shipping container last underground? That'd be the way I'd like to go if it would work as a permanent structure. Do you know the dimensions?

 

[Buckinbronco66]

http://shippingcontainerdimensions.com/

 

[jpride_2000]

I could not guess how long the metal would last. I would imagine it would depend on a few factors. Drainage, how well water proofed it was prior to covering ect.
I dont have any doubt with enough effort and adaptation that this would not work. I think it would be totally bad to the bone. The only thing I wonder with the strength of the units in the framing, and the rest of it sheet metal and wood flooring, how could you handle the weight load over time holding back earth at 2-3 foot deep while maintaining long term structural and safety of its inhabitants. You could beef it up with post and truss internal to the unit, but over time would the sheet metal buckle and fail with weight loads and rusted sheet metal ?

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying its a bad idea at all and nor could it be perfected. I have the access to several of these type units, but looking at my situation with waterfall in the area, type of soil, and the depth I want to achieve, I cant wrap my pea brain around it plus my total comfort with my children and wife involved.

 

[MountainMan]

The dimensions aren't bad at all for the standard 40ft. With two you could probably survive pretty comfortably. It'd be like a double wide trailer. Only tornado proof. :lol:

 

[Buckinbronco66]

I was considering getting x2 40' hightop and welding them together and opening up a center area for a common room and using the other 4 sides to be rooms and storage. I will set up an outdoor sandblasting "room" and get them squeeky clean then either cover them in a truck bed liner or marine grade paint. This will be a temp bunker until I can construct a more permenant concrete one. This way I can have two places to bug into and have them connected by a secret passage so I can move into the bigger one and use the shipping containers as pure storage.

 

[RuDown]

I haven't looked into this yet as I don"t have the land. I would think the shipping containers are the best route. If you look at ship yards these things are stacked like 6 high. So I would think the strength is there. I'm not sure I would build a house or a garage on top of it though. If near them though would have a tunnel to it. Treat it with a water proofing treatment before you set it in the ground. Leave a air pocket around the whole structure to keep moist dirt and the pressure of warming and freezing earth off of it. I think it would be great. I don't know about any where else but concrete is high here. Plus you must think about a earth shaking moment is a concrete wall really going to hold up. I guess if it was thick and strong enough but then that would cost more money. I cant help but think about Hong Kong and #4 though.
Somebody had mentioned a secret entrance I just seen I think on instructables.com has bit on this. I have a membership to this sight so if anyone wants article and dont want to join let me know I will get it for you.

 

[MountainMan]

I'd love the article. If I was going to do it I wouldn't go with marine paint. My family owns a boatyard people give marine paint more credit than it deserves. The truck bed liner sounds like a great idea. I've seen them stacked pretty high too so I don't know why I thought strength was an issue.

 

[RuDown]

I too like that idea of the bed liner.