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17 Comments

1. Wish you had some photos. Good description of your process but would have been much more interesting and coherent if you had shown what you did and the results of your efforts. Good job though.

   1. I did submit photos I guess they were not loadable for the editor

2. Excellent. I always wanted details on a root cellar. Our next step in our build phase. Also, great that you have an entry room [decoy] and then the real “room” behind some secret contraption.

   If you recall the man in Oregon who evaded authorities for so many years with an arrest warrant was found out by a nosy hunter when peering into his self built cave on public lands. Had he built a secret room behind the entry room, threw a bunch of empty canned foods and left so trash around looking like it was deserted, he might have been still at large.

   🙂

3. I buried a 20 ft shipping container which has worked like a dream for 10 years. I coated the outside with the black mastic used to waterproof cement foundations and stuck 2 in thick panels of blueboard onto that. I double layered the top and then placed rebar and 8 inches of concrete over that. I had to shore up the roof until the concrete was hardened but removed them afterward. There are other things I did that make it work well. Summer temps are around 60 F and winter temps around 45 F, no moisture problems, no spiders, no mice, etc. I grew up with the old earth style cellars and did not want to even mess with that style.

   1. I have to agree about reinforcement! Reinforcing the sides and top of a shipping container is a must, or they will be pushed in. They are simply not built to take weight anywhere except the corners, as originally constructed.

4. Great post George.
   I think every person prepping should experience building an underground hide-e-hole.. I also built one under my house complete with hidden room under the stairs. I built mine in concrete and rebar and concrete filled CMU’s smeared with Quickwall mix. Mine runs about 10 feet deep, with stairs. humidity sits around 50% I store all my preps including my guns in it. My 100 lb door is part of my floor and uses hydraulic lifts to open it. I don’t have water running to it, But I have power and phone.. It stays at 60 to 65 degrees year round. It’s about 180 sq ft of floor space with a 6′ 3″ inch foot reinforced Concrete ceiling … It took me 8 months to dig it by hand using 18, 5 gallon paint buckets and 5 milk crates for the rocks. and another 5 months to build it. I set up an electricians wire puller as a winch to haul them up and rollers to roll them out the dog door to my truck… I spread it all out in an empty field owned by the railroad.I did the whole thing in absolute secrecy. It definitely has a cool factor most would marvel at. I took pictures of the project..

5. I find myself worrying about the consequences of installing a toilet in a small food storage facility.

   1. there are RV type of toilets you can use, or use a camping type of toilet or you can use a 5 gallon bucket and sawdust, there are many options

6. Everyone seems to forget one of the best ways to support outside forces is the simple arch. Although not the easiest to build the arch supports extreme loads and last for centuries. Think back to the Roman times and how many of their arch’s are still standing. Arch’s are nothing more than a Quonset hut style and can be built the same. Once you have your area cleared it can be made with heavy wire mesh. Rebar would be better but more expensive and harder to deal with, covered with concrete, once hardened covered from all sides carefully and evenly and you’re done. Drawback is you will have some unused space and cannot stack straight up a wall. But the positive of that is air circulation, keeping moisture at bay. Square is the modern norm and easiest to work with as well as maximization of space. But old technologies sometimes, and in some cases are the most beneficial. Something to consider.

7. For those of you building within an existing structure, if you can run a connection from your RC to a sewer stack, you may cut down a ton on your humidity. If the sewer stack has been properly designed and plumbed, you shouldn’t have to worry about sewer gases making it past all the downline traps. George T – hope you’re being real careful with that stove. If you’re getting that much humidity, I’d expect that to be a “confined space”. Great project.

8. Can you send any photos? I can send you my email. This is something I would love to be able to do.

   1. I can try to attempt to send photos, I did submit them for the article but probably not down loadable

9. George, God bless your patience and getting over the goal line. Sounds like a lot of work but you kept going. That’s what I love about these articles; folks like you don’t assert having all the answers, admit minor mistakes and keep iterating to make it work. Thank you for the article.

   Squirrel 44

10. Back in the mid-90’s my parents built a “root cellar” into the side of the hill behind their house. My step dad wasn’t sure of the engineering of such a thing. I gave him a set of circa 1960’s fallout shelter plans. With that he was able to design the “root cellar”. 2 large I beams were used to support the 12″ plus cement roof. Mafia blocks were used to fashions an eterance. The thing is huge at 20’x40′. The walls were made of block with filled cores. Water and electric was installed as well. Pipes for a toilet were also included that were tied into our septic system. My parents stored lots of food and other Surival supplies.

    The downside of the project was that my parents used local contractors to do a lot of the work. I met someone a few months later in the nearby small town and they asked where I lived and I told them and they responded by saying “oh is that the house with the bomb shelter?”

    After several years mold is a problem because of lack of good air movement and I believe because they put a sump pump pit inside that always has water in it.

11. Great job on that sounds like a lot of work. Like the steel reinforced idea. I was considering the earth bag idea i saw posted here awhile back too.

12. Well written and very explainative. WOW did you ever put In. You put in alot of expense, inginuity, time and physical effort on that project.

    What kind of generator did you put ,in? What size? Is it quiet? Used for backup? Gas or solar
    Expensive?

    I applaud you for all of that hard work! Did you and Sally open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate?
    Hope you did

    Now you will be bombarded for more great ideas
    Proud of you!
    Sis

13. Editors: please work with the author to get and post photos. This is a very important project for most of us and the photos will help us understand the instructions better.
    Thank you.

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