Build your own Underground Bunker

Okay, so you might not be able to do all this by yourself, but this might get you started on your way to having your very own, very quiet and thick skinned underground bunker.

Why would you want one?

Well, that’s the question, isn’t it. Most people don’t do the whole underground thing, unless they’re mad dictators or something of the sort. The problem with this is that none of us are reallyready, if you catch our drift. If something were to happen, where you would need an underground, reinforced hideout, you’re out of luck now, aren’t you? Yes you are.

Whether you build this thing as a standard panic room or a separate shelter, it would be a good addition to your home, it’ll raise the property value (considerably) if you ever want to move away, and if the day should come when “they” decide to drop the big one on your local town, you’ll be up and about along with the cockroaches in no time, while everyone else are so much dust in the wind. Nice, huh? Yes it is.

What to do first.

According to BunkerBuilders.com, you have to find a suitable place for your bunker. They’ve got a nice checklist which we will take the liberty of reproducing here.

Things to consider when deciding where to build your underground shelter:

  • As deep underground as possible to protect from radiation, flying projectiles and debris.
  • Outside of areas known to be flood prone, including areas within the 100 year flood plain.
  • The bunker should be placed so that the evacuees have a short route to the entrance.
  • Away from any potential debris field and its emergency exits and air inlets can be extended on several sides of the building into zones that are free from debris and fire.
  • The bunker should have as much of its external walls against the ground as possible for protection from heat and for support provided by the surrounding soil.
  • Away from potential fuel concentrations, flammable materials, vehicles and hazardous materials.
  • Away from large objects and multi-story buildings, light poles, antennas, satellite dishes or roof mounted mechanical equipment.
  • The bunker should be made easily concealed.

Most sane people who decide to build themselves a bunker or a hardened part of their house to use as a panic room won’t fall in this trap, but we’re going to warn you anyway; If the people you’re looking to buy a shelter from (yes, some come pre-fab) has 2012 “Planet X” propaganda on their website, you should probably look elsewhere. “Stealth Installation” (yes, there are companies advertising this) isn’t really a viable option either, since a genuinely safe underground bunker will be noticed during construction. Also, you’ll probably need permits to build them, unless you live on a remote farm or on a huge property in the middle of a forest somewhere.

Ready-Made, perhaps?

We’ll mention one other alternative before we go on, however. There are a lot of read-made, nuclear-proof homes out there. It’s true! They’re on the market, too – readily available for purchase by anyone (who has the money). Granted, they can be expensive, but if you

have 400,000 – 4,6 million dollars just burning holes in your pockets, then this could be just what you’re looking for. What about a beautiful home built on top of an Atlas F missile silo with all the trimmings? 2000 lbs blast doors, several stories of hardened housing down into the earth, all the comforts of a top-notch residence on every level.

This probably isn’t for everyone, however, even if you’ve got the money and the financial planning for it. Most of these sites are pretty dreary – location-wise, at least. You pretty much have to choose between living in the middle of some desert or other (there’s one smack in the middle of Texas, for example) or deep in some woods where you actually need that private airstrip (like in the picture, there).

So we’ll go on to how you should go about building your own – slightly-smaller-than-a-missile-silo underground bunker. Should be fun.

Get your Permits, mister.

Make sure you’ve got the permits you need to dig and build in the place you found while following the list up above there. If you can’t meet all of the requirements, that’ll probably be okay, but you do need to come close, however. Also, you need to make sure that you’re not going to dig through your neighborhood’s watersupply, cables, drainage tunnels and all of those nasty things that seem to do nothing but cause trouble once they see daylight.

Once you know you’re allowed to dig, and you won’t cut off the nation’s internet access by severing a fiber cable down there, you’re good to go. Now you either get yourself a machine, or you hire someone to dig your hole for you. If you’re not in construction and you haven’t dug a hole like this before, hiring someone to do it for you is probably a great idea.

If you want to try doing this yourself, eHow has a nice write-up of a (very) basic shelter, which is probably possible to pull off on your own. It does require a lot of concrete work, which can be trying unless you have a lot of experience, but not impossible at all.

If you want something more than a basic shelter with four concrete walls and a bucket to do your business in, however, you should leave the construction itself to a professional contractor.

What you should do yourself is designing the place, making sure that you get it exactly the way you want it.

Bunker Design

One of the most fascinating bunker designs out there is the Vivos approach. This company is building bunkers all over the US, and will also build one for you, based on their own designs, but customizable to no end, apparently. Even if you don’t buy a bunker off them, it’s a good idea to check out their specs here (be patient with that pdf – their site is as slow as cold molasses).

As futuristic as anything out there, these bunkers will apparently be able to save you from anything – tsunamis, anarchy, radiation, blasts, heat, fallout – they’ll apparently save humanity when 2012 runs out too… yes, we said something about that up above, we know, but still. These bunkers are seriously neat.

The military has been building bunkers for a long time, and they’re probably the best people out there when it comes to making secure, timeless and useful bunkers, functional to the bone and efficient on top of that. You would do well to read one of their survival guides, for example, before you start prioritizing your bunker design. Basing your design on the army’s specifications is a very good idea, but you might want to add some more comfort to your hole – after all, you don’t know how long you’ll be in there, and if you plan on using this space as an addition to your normal living quarters, then you might want more than four concrete walls and a wooden bunk bed.

Sitting down and drawing up your bunker is a good idea – remember that you don’t necessarily need to reinforce every single wall in there, as long as the structure is sound and strong. Plan for drywalls inside the shelter, so you can hide air filtering, wiring and pipes, just as you would in a regular home.

Some things to consider when designing your new underground shelter:

– Light.There’s not going to be any windows, so plan for more light sourcesthan you would in a regular house. Make sure that you have emergency lighting on separate curcuits – you never know when that might come in handy.

– Air. Filtration systems aren’t cheap, but the most common flaw in private bunkers is a lack of adequate ventilation. Spring for the bigger one, if in doubt.

– Water. Again, filtration systems aren’t cheap, but they’re necessary if you’re going to use an outside source as a water supply down in your bunker. The alternative is to get a water tank, but depending on the size, that won’t keep you for long. Plan to have more resources than you think you’ll strictly need.

– Food. Stock up with emergency stuff, and get the fresh meats and fruits down there when there might be a need for them. Storage of food is what drains the most energy, so plan for this. Use ground cold/heat to store your food, and go for high-quality dried foods (such as MREs) and canned goods. That will get you a long way.

If you have other tips and tricks, please share them with us! Leave a comment or send us an email – the address is on the About page!

70 thoughts on “Build your own Underground Bunker

  1. Bullshit!!!! Any type of hole,cave or man made structure under ground will collapse on top of you or cave in because when even a small missile strikes the earth it sends shock wave into the earths crust crumbling any voids that migh be present and it does this for miles and miles in radius of the impact site!!! You cant afford a bunker that can resist an explosive impact or else any one could build one!!!

    1. Juan, you must be one of those crack pot troll’s or someone who thinks they know everything. Let me inform you of the fact that you know very little. As proof let me address each one of those statements you made with a few facts to refute them.

      MISSILE IMPACT….. No one is saying they are preparing to survive a direct hit. And no well built hardened concrete shelter will collapse from a blast unless it is in very close proximity to the shelter. Small animals living in underground burrows even survived the huge asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs and other larger animals living above ground .

      HEAT SEEKING EQUIPMENT…. The very sensitivity of the equipment is what foils them. Do you realize how how many false heat signal hits they get from the hundreds of animals in any given area? The success rate of law enforcement finding anyone hiding in the woods using heat seeking devices is very low. That is why they are seldom used searching for lost hunters or children who are lost in the woods. Animals give off the same heat signature as humans.

      They used heat seeking equipment trying to find those two prison escapees in upstate New York a few months ago, they probably found every deer, fox, and coyote in N.Y. but in all those weeks those escaped prisoners were never found by using a heat seeking device.

      That heat seeking equipment is extremely over rated, and exaggerated, as are YOUR Silly statements it would seem !! lol

    2. Yep the Japanese hid in caves during bombings and shelling’s without harm. In Germany the bunkers built, withstood Battleship assaults and bombings with our largest bombs and tons of them not just one all without a problem .

      Yes you sure know what you are talking about.

  2. And if you are building a bunker to hide from the law i hate to burst your bunker but they have heat seeking equipment now days and even if you wrap your self in aluminum 24/7 the heat seeking equipment comes in a variation of levels that can spot a rats breath a mile away!!!! Plus they will send a swat team with demolition expertice to bust up in that thing and drag you out alive!!!! They are really good at that!!!! Or probably just a crackhead with a slingshot for you!!!

  3. Bunkers are expensive, unreliable and death traps if any one knows where you are which they probably will cuz you can’t bring in that much construction equipment wihtout making some noise!!! ———- in case of a nuclear bomb your best bet is to get a sawed off shot gun and dig a 30 foot hole which is surprisingly effective against radiation and if you start to cough up your lungs from radiation poisoning blow your head off!!!! And all your troubles will be over!!!!!

    1. Okay, first of all, “Juan”, stop writing in ALL CAPS! Writing in all caps just means I have to edit it, and also that you’re a complete DOUCHEBAG! So yeah… there’s that.

      Second, reinforced concrete is made to withstand vibrations and shockwaves, since that’s also what happens in earthquakes. If what you say was true, there wouldn’t be a concrete/brick building standing anywhere after those. So you lose.

      Third, we also looked at solutions like Vivos, see? Why don’t you do a couple of things before commenting, buddy boy – read the article, and then check your facts?

  4. Great article. I have been trying to research for a project at my home and you have some good information here.

    Food is one of the big issues here. You need to remember that canned foods and MREs have a relatively short shelf life. If you have to rely 100% on food you have stored, which hopefully you will not, then you should also include freeze-dried foods as well since they are the only foods that will last 25 years. Canned foods are only guaranteed to last for 1-3 years depending on what is in them and an typical MRE is only meant to last 5 years.

    I guess it all depends on how long you need to stay underground.

    1. Thanks, Mooseskinner.
      That’s an excellent point. If one opts for canned food and MREs, then rotation is very important. Staying underground for more than a year would probably not be a viable option in most cases, so the expiration date, once you’re underground probably doesn’t matter that much.
      However, it’s always important to know what expires when, and rotate accordingly.

      Freeze-dried food is also excellent to have in your stock, but remember that those require water to prepare, and that has to be taken into account as well.

  5. i seen this energy producing machine called the sterling engine easy to make if it works it would be great im 17 and i have put a lot of thought into this subject and ive tried to find out all that can go wrong if in disaster scenarios a solar flare hits the world then an EMP would scramble all electronics so you might want to look into over coming this problem. they say if you place it in a metal container the EMP blast will hit the container and the electronics inside should be safe but you have to make sure the inside of the case is not metal or it will just act like a conductor and fry everything within it

    1. Like the article says, the best thing would be to get your own ground water source. That can ensure you have water indefinitely. If that’s impossible, you’ll have to store water appropriately, and a large enough amount to last you however long you plan on staying in your bunker.

    2. Hi Brandon.
      A Stirling engine is just that – an engine. It requires energy to run (heating, in this case), but it does have some interesting applications when it comes to producing electricity, for example. It’s worth looking into.
      In regards to the EMP problem, you should check out our guides on making Faraday cages. They can be any size, and customized in many ways. If you want a simple faraday cage, you can use a shipping container, for example – but you’re right, you would need to isolate the interior from the metal “shell”, lest the whole thing be useless.

  6. Build a dome home with a hardened bunker under it, to be used in emergencies only..a Geodesic dome is proof against fire, tornadoes and earthquakes.

  7. Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a
    blog article or vice-versa? My blog addresses a lot of the same subjects as yours and
    I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If
    you might be interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

    I look forward to hearing from you! Much appreciated info!

  8. Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with
    hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work
    due to no back up. Do you have any methods to prevent hackers?

    Very much appreciated information!

  9. Hello, Thank you for the good writing. It in fact was a nice easy read.
    I will come back to enjoy more of your good work. By the way, how can we communicate?
    Appreciate it!

  10. the germans made bunkers in berlin and some of the bunker withstood a barrage of heavy shelling. berlin was built on a large marshland. if you were to build a bunker and have many tons of sand around it. the sand acts as a cushion from bomb and can keep a bunker intact.

  11. Juan Juan Juan, You sir are an idiot who clearly doesn’t get his facts for himself from sources of authority on the subject matter who DO know what the hell they are talking about. Do you just repeat regurgitated things you hear from a bud? or from your sad education in grade 10 Physics classes that you likely failed miserably in? Your comments were so absurd I just had to take the time to comment. Do you even understand the physics involved here? do you understand what thermodynamics is and what it is applied to here? Obviously NOT. Next time just pass up these good people having a productive conversation on this persons great little blog, and go troll on youtube with your random bitchfest know it all wrong answers and opinions. Thank you.

    History has proven that Bunkers DO work, DO shield you from Nukes, DO NOT cave in, and when dealing with “shockwaves underground from a nuke, we refer to it as “Ground slap” If you knew your history, you would know about a little old nuke test we once did, with a little town recreated to full specs, in a well known little old state, and have had this standing data to prove the contrary to almost everything you spewed out of your head.

    To then tell the author about branded anything and not have read his material to see that he in fact did include such things, just shows you what a tool you are, and if you are going to troll good people smarter than you who put A LOT of thought into this subject, then you better try to get at least a handful of facts right. Nuff said.

    Apologies to the great author of this blog, I was just floored at the absurdity of this person, such ignorance I could not believe it. Cheers for the nice writeup.

  12. Juan (is that a reference to the number of brain cells you appear to have?), when i read your comments i could feel my brain cells committing suicide as your stupid somehow rubbed off on me through the interwebs

  13. What i don’t understood is actually how you are not really much more smartly-favored
    than you may be right now. You’re very intelligent.
    You recognize therefore considerably in relation to this topic, produced me
    in my view imagine it from so many numerous angles. Its
    like men and women don’t seem to be interested until it is one thing to
    do with Lady gaga! Your individual stuffs excellent.

    All the time care for it up!

  14. I am extremely inspired together with your writing skills and also with the format for your
    blog. Is that this a paid theme or did you modify it your self?
    Anyway stay up the excellent high quality writing, it’s uncommon to
    peer a nice blog like this one nowadays..

  15. Greetings from Florida! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to browse
    your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you provide here and can’t wait
    to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how fast your blog loaded on my phone ..
    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, awesome site!

  16. I do not know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else
    experiencing issues with your blog. It appears as though some of the written text within your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if
    this is happening to them too? This may be a issue with
    my web browser because I’ve had this happen previously.

    Appreciate it

  17. A lot of people either don’t know, or won’t remember, but Hitler’s “fuhrer bunker” beneath the Reich’s Chancellory in Berlin, was rated as highly, if not more highly, against potential nuclear blasts as USA’s Cheyenne Mountain facility, which still houses NORAD today. And Hitler’s bunker was built before there were nukes! Germany was the only one working on nuclear weapons prior to the Manhattan Project, and the closest they had come was a “dirty bomb” with no real blasting power (just radioactive fallout). Pretty impressive that Hitler’s bunker anticipated future needs like that.

    Also, lots of people forget that the allies decided to destroy the majority of Hitler’s bunker after the war, lest it became some kind of twisted neo-Nazi shrine. The walls on this thing weren’t so bad to collapse, once they got through the roof and excavated the ground and sand around the bunker. But the roof itself, which was rated as “indestructible” (bold claim) actually turned out to be damned nearly indestructible in that it took over 6 years of constant, daily onslaught with modern construction/demolition equipment and next-generation explosives to get through the damn thing.

    A show I watched actually said that even the nuclear and sub-nuclear “bunker buster” missiles and smart-bombs we use today wouldn’t make a dent in that bunker when it was intact.

    That’s the bunker I want! Fresh air will always be an issue, but you can usually find fresh water and geothermal energy if you dig far enough. Security is the larger concern.

    1. That’s a very good comment, Russ. Thanks for the info and input – it’s definitely worth the read, people.

  18. I have done A LOT of research for about 2-3 years now about underground bunkers for me and my family. I have to say i have found one company in particular that makes the best bunkers out there. They have everything you need to survive whether its a natural disaster, economic collapse, or nuclear fallout. You can find them all over the web and I personally know someone who has purchased from this company and said they do an amazing job and go above and beyond to meet your expectations to keep you and your loved ones safe. Visit their website at http://www.risingsbunkers.com to find out more information.

  19. Hi.
    Can somebody tell me website. Who rrecruit mercenary’s from Baltic state : Latvia (speak English and Russian , latvian ?
    Resident of UK .

  20. Link exchhange is nothing else but it is simply placing
    the other person’s webpage linbk on your page at proper place annd other person will also do same
    for you.

  21. Hi my name is josh I am 21 and married I know something is coming but I don’t know what I want to protect my family and have little money how would I protect them with low income
    And without the money for a bunker

    1. You know Josh, I was thinking about that too. Think about it, if you have one built for you and you finance it, the interest rates are pretty decent now. If something does come and you are paying for a bunker, you’ll be paying for awhile and you can always refi for lower rates after awhile, do you really think anybody will be around to collect the future payments when the unspeakable happens? Just a thought

    2. Start selling insurance. Bob Proctor can help. You can make 6 figure income in 1 year, or 7 figure.

  22. Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed!
    Very useful information particularly the last part
    🙂 I care for such information a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a very long
    time. Thank you and best of luck.

  23. Wow just Juan to many. If a nuke hits anywhere around me I dought I’ll be in my bunker when it hits. As far as surviving all the rest. Its just best to adapt. I figure if you could just give it your best and just live not in fear. Your biggest problem is just learning what needs to be done for safety and food. Who knows what or when something happens prepare to the best to our means. If it’s time to live in fear go for it when that day comes I’ll be enjoying life while everyone else is running like roaches. Oh! Made my bunker out of tin ceader post and concrete. 6×14×8. 200$ did all my own labor. Sleeps three for 30 days. Really planning on going back to the old ways of life. Check into bugging out . camo .ect.

  24. I recently constructed an underground shelter out of an Intermodal Shipping Container. I designed it to deal with a number of threats including: major tornadoes, nuclear war, major earthquakes, chemical and biological attacks, asteroid/comet impacts, firestorms, supervolcanoes, massive solar storms, electromagnetic pulse attack, global famines, pandemics and a nearby supernova event. A description of the shelter is available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Shelter.pdf

    1. Wow.. that’s an amazing document! Thank you for sharing it!! There are so many websites and videos on the web, but they don’t go into any detail about how they constructed their shelter, so thanks for the level of detail you provided. Awesome.

  25. Thank you for all of the information you have taken the time to provide. I am considering an underground bunker that will sit roughly 20 feet below the surface. I have completed all of the necessary research regarding water filtration, air supply, food etc. My biggest concern is where to place the bunker. As an amateur astronomer, I am concerned that a comet several miles wide is a very plausible scenario in the near future. (I’m not claiming to have any inside info or anything of the sort, just my opinion from my own observations) That being said, a body this size landing in the ocean would send a wave 1000 feet high and flood 100-200 miles inland. The estimated time for the water to recede is close to 60 days. I currently live less than 20 miles from the coast. My dilemma is, if I build at my current location I Risk 60 days under water while underground. If I purchase land at a suitable location, I’m looking at a 3 hour minimum drive to reach the bunker. Given the two evils, which is the lesser in your opinion?

    1. Hi Ed,

      In my opinion, it is almost impossible to have a safe journey to a bunker separated from your home when a disaster is happening.

      So, you need a bunker to survive a bomb disaster, and besides that, you also need a strong tower building to survive a tsunami.

    2. Hi Ed,
      Please find a place and move inland!
      I’m not even sure if I’m high enough (250ish meters above sea level). I am near-ish to the great lakes as well.
      But I have read up on the highest elevation areas in my province; it is five hours NW of me lol. I rent, in the city, no tunnels here but my husband and I have a pretty good place in mind less than an hour away in a currently unused and remote area. We break ground this week! 😀
      We all have to do what we can to survive; sometimes it has to get a bit extreme.
      Faith in The Creator, ingenuity and determination 🙂 We can all do it! 😀
      Move away from the coast, Ed!
      And take care!
      ~Shawna

  26. I do accept as true with all the ideas you have introduced for your post.
    They are very convincing and can certainly work.
    Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for novices. May just
    you please extend them a little from subsequent time?
    Thanks for the post.

  27. I’m looking into building a bunker, with myself and someone else, we would like to know if anyone would be interested in helping us build it, we do not have a permit, but were still doing it anyway.
    Btw we are in Australia, if anyone is interested contact my email: blackpheonix0111@gmail.com

  28. Casibom güncel giriş adresinde değişim meydana gelmesi sitede alan adı değişimi meydana gelmesine sebebiyet vermeyecektir. Bahis bakiyesinde sorun çıkmaması için gerekli olan tüm finansal önlemler alınmıştır. Alan adı değişimi ile alakalı olarak kişilerin dikkate alması gereken temel husus güncel verileri kullanmak ve daha sonrasında aynı yatırım çekim detaylarına dikkat ederek işlem akışını tamamlamaktır. Bakiyenizde sadece sizin onayınız ve izniniz ile işlem gerçekleştirilmesine izin verilir. Alan adının değiştirilmiş olması sitede biriktirmiş olduğunuz tutara bir değişim olarak sirayet etmeyecektir.

  29. Need information about your services
    And products you sell. Trying to figure out a Bunker – a
    Daunting task.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Privacy Settings
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy