Earth Covered Building

[Mudfarmer]

Recently saw a dune covered restroom at the beach. Thought that may be a good idea for a low maintenance storage building built into one of my hilsides. Has anyone done this? I'm thinking of planting a cargo container in a trench and covering it over. Any thoughts on longevity of the metal underground? Wrap it in plastic ahead of backfilling? Pour concrete around it? Your thoughts appreciated.
Mf

 

[Groo]

concrete around it would definitely do it, but that seams a touch much. I think if use some heavy duty foundation sealer, that might be enough too. The real problem would be the wooden floor.

The real reason to do earth covered is to protect it from storms, aesthetics, or the insulation properties. A cargo container would last "forever" sitting out in the open without dirt on top.

 

[Mudfarmer]

concrete around it would definitely do it, but that seams a touch much. I think if use some heavy duty foundation sealer, that might be enough too. The real problem would be the wooden floor.

The real reason to do earth covered is to protect it from storms, aesthetics, or the insulation properties. A cargo container would last "forever" sitting out in the open without dirt on top.

And bullets?
Mf

 

[Groo]

And bullets?
Mf

lets not forget EMP and Nuclear blasts too. No good against Zombies though. They already have practice digging out of their graves:confused2:

I'll admit, getting the equipment shed shot up by jerks is a concern.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The other advantage of subterranian construction is the temperature regulating properties of the dirt... I.e. root cellar.

 

[brin]

You might want to buy a plastic roll used to line the soil in crawl spaces....I forgot what mil thickness it is ..but it heavy stuff and comes in wide rolls...12 ft or more and is not real expensive...then take construction adhesive and apply that to the cargo container and drape the plastic roll over it ..you could do the sides and put it down underneath the container as well...that would have to last longer than you...just make sure to seal all the seams with duct tape or some method...

 

[bcp]

Think big!

Buy a fleet of old school buses and bury them in concrete.

From:
Ark Two Nuclear Survival Fallout Shelter Introduction Page

 

[Mudfarmer]

Think big!

Buy a fleet of old school buses and bury them in concrete.

From:
Ark Two Nuclear Survival Fallout Shelter Introduction Page

Hmmm, about what I had in mind!!
Mf

 

[smiley]

This is also posted over at; http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/243753-root-cellar-building-plans-experience.html and there's other good discussion on the subject at; http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/241591-bomb-shelter-tornado-shelter.html
If you haven't already done so, check out the Bomb shelter /tornado shelter thread in this forum. Some good ideas there and the simplest is to bury a tank or container.
I mentioned in that thread about building a block inground shelter when we had a mobile home in Fla. The photos below show why we no longer needed that shelter. We built the whole house inground. The reason I mention this is that we used a unique (for houses) construction technique and that is that we used bridge decking for the roof. Bridge decking is nothing more that real heavy duty Galvanized roofing that is laid on bridges, roofs etc and concrete poured on top of it. The advantage of it is that it has it's own structural strength. We put steel I beams 4 ft on center and if I remember correctly at that spacing, would carry about 250 lbs. per sq ft.. about double our planned load. We DID NOT pour concrete on top but simply coated the roof with a roof coating, laid a double layer of 4 mil plastic, 4" of insulation board and covered it with a foot of dirt. As far as we know, this house built in 1984-85 was the first time it had ever been done this way and it's still there as good as the day built.

Now after that explanation, I'll get to the point. A friend from Alabama had visited and helped on the house, then went back to Alabama and built a storm shelter/root cellar using the decking for not only the roof but walls as well. He dug into a small bank, framed it with PT lumber, and put the decking on the outside of the walls and roof then used the excavated material to finish mounding it up. It was only about 4 ft wide and maybe 8-10 ft long but with proper design could be done larger. The decking at that time was only about double the price of steel roofing.
It wouldn't work well in a real wet area, but a cheap easy way to consider and one person can do it alone.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

To me the major disadvantage of a house in ground like that would be the lack of windows. I need natural light.