ETA:

This was supposed to go into the survival forum, I since posted it right there.



Do you survive GTNW?



Where you live/work?



If we ever do end up playing Global Thermal Nuclear War, do you survive the initial attack?



Are you in a place that gets vaporized in the first wave?



Do you have enough food/water to last a month even?
My Wife wants me to build something underground, not only to survive but to stay and live until it's clear.



The property we have is sandwiched between to high ridges, it's blocked
from major cities by higher Mountains, we are no where near a strategic
bombing sight (that I know of)



So we should survive a blast of a known target pretty easily.
If not for our growing family with Children, (my kids kids) I wouldn't
worry so much and to tell you the truth I really don't think we will end
up playing GTNW.
But I was a Boy Scout after all and the motto is still a great thing "Be prepared"



This pic is what she wants to build.



The 2 story on the right side is what she wants, not the silo part.



The ridge behind behind out home is 100 ft high, I wonder if we built
something like that at the base of the ridge and then covered it with
earth and then concrete would it be the same as digging down the 2
stories , yes?

 

I certainly will.

Everything has a purpose to its design. It does not appear you are close to a blast zone, so being built with fallout in mind does not require blast design. Of course any underground concrete structure designed to withstand support loads will also be strong enough to some blast loads. Something along what you have pictured here will need to be structurally engineered so it does not become a coffin.  I have an underground 60's concrete fallout shelter, built out of 12" thick concrete double 3/4 " Matt rebar steel 9" o.c.  Concrete is 6 sack design mix. Roof is several feet below ground. Also you need an alternate exit. It will also serve as minimal blast governed by the door design and over pressure vent valves.
We use it as storage and a wine cellar. It is fully air conditioned as to keep the temp a constant 72 degrees. In south Texas the soil gets hot many feet below the surface. We don't worry about heat. You are probably the opposite.

Just remember if you have a low entrance on a hillside design to incorporate a gamma ray trap in your entrance design.

And by the way. We are about as close to TNW as we have been in a long time, and the clock is closer to midnight.

30 year old long term preps were being replaced, lol, the Mountain House freeze dried stuff still taste ok. Recently overhauled intake blower,
Bunker makes a great storage facility, wine cellar and a great big safe.

OP, I think we have an Arfcommer that worked on the nuke side of the military for a couple decades. If you're looking for a good, no bullshit, subject matter expert, ask limaxray.

jzry, I want to do the same thing when we build our next house.  I'd like to put in an underground living quarters, vehicle storage and survival pantry etc.. with multiple egress points.

I've looked at the commercially available tube stuff but it doesn't really fit what I have in mind.  A lot of what is being built underground in London and other major cities (where people build down instead of up), is where I want to go with it.

This would make for an interesting thread. I'll find some underground housing pics to share..

That's a converted Titan II missile silo. She want's you to build a Titan II missile silo? It would cost at least $40,000,000 to build one, but you can sometimes buy used ones. I saw a used one for sale in 2007 for $1,500,000.  

I know the pricing will be astronomical but I hope to cut some of that out by using close contractor friends that can work hand in hand with a designer that does these things day in and out:

An example:



It would be nice if this were not under the house footprint but substantially off to the side. Lots of ideas of course.  Something that went down two or three levels would be great.

That right there would be awesome.

cool!



 

No she just wants the two story underground living quarters.

Thats only gonna cost a little more if we have to blast out rock, if it's just excavation dirt we can build it slightly higher cost than a stick framed house above ground , heating & cooling is from 55 degrees so that cost is cheap



 

We have another option too, it basically ends up 2 stories underground but we build up next to the 100 ft high ridge in the back and with a concrete lid , all water proofed and then fill in dirt packed down on top and it would be underground at that point right?



 

That's a good idea too!

There is a guy in AL who did something sorta similar.  Let me dig up some photos to share, brb.

It's a neat idea.  I don't like the fact that you can see it.  I guess it's very tough to mask it from Thermal cues but visual should be a piece of cake.

since this is for fiction, I suppose my stab at it would be:

It's 11:45pm one random Tuesday and I'm on arfcom when a thread appears from some poster in one of the Dakotas reporting that he's just seen dozens of Minute Man ICBM launches and is asking what's going on.

By 11:47pm posters in Wyoming and CA and AK report seeing similar launches.

It's not a drill and yet I sit fixed to my sofa, in disbelief. Surely this is a sick joke.

But by 11:50pm I'm not so sure as more and more arfcommers with tanks and pedigrees from the start of this site start chiming in that this is legit- their 'inside' track friends just called to alert them that this is the big one, that Russian and Chinese nukes are enroute and due any minute now.

11:55pm I'm hastily pulling on socks and boots and grabbing my GHB - the family is up and groggy. "oh boy, if this is a false alarm, I'll never live it down" I think as the wife and kids look at me as though I've lost my mind.

What is the target? Hunter Field or the Port? How accurate might a Russian nuke be?

It's coastal GA. There is no basement. We assemble in the first floor half-bath - away from windows. My mind races.... if the blast wave...if the fire ball....
The suburban is always packed with a basic load out of gear - tent, tarp, cooking gear, first aid kit, water bottles, some snacks.

Dare we bug out, put miles between us and Savannah? What if the target is Hinesville and the 3rd ID?

Midnight or 12:02:45 to be exact. We're still hesitating when suddenly the lights blink and pop and go out, plunging us in immediate darkness.

That's the EMP - the children begin to cry and whimper. The wife begins to pray loudly. Mind racing - better to be in a culvert pipe? I hazard a look north and see the rising column of fire blotting out the moon.

To the bathroom - we cram inside in the darkness illuminated only by a small LED flashlight of one of my boys.

A rumbling - long and low and deep shakes the house like a thunder that won't stop, then the sound of glass shattering and shrieks from neighbors above the roar.

The flash, the emp, the blast wave and flying debris.... next the fire ball.

Out, out I yell and we stumble through the home to the suburban.

As though in a dream we tumble into the truck - kids jumping in haphazardly, young ones on laps, wife in passenger front, I jam it into drive and floor it into the road and then across the main road onto a side dirt track running parallel to a canal. Fire fills my rear view mirror. The trees and some roofs appear to be on fire.

Don't crash, don't blow a tire, don't crash.... the mantra runs through my head as I drive into the blackness with light filling my rear mirrors. Like Lot I dare not look back.

Approx. 1am, somewhere south of Savannah but north of Darien. I had to drive down the CSX rail road line, following the lights of a truck ahead of me that knew a safe rout as a dozen car pileup hopelessly blocked the one escape route to I-95.

I check my gas gauge: half full.

I have to assume Kings Bay is annihilated along with Jacksonville and every other city close or near to a military base or major installation. Fall out will be coming - we need to find a safe tunnel or place to hole up in. A Jiffy Lube has basements but they're not airtight. AT&T facilities are good but how to get in? Just then someone asks... where's Johnny?

Where's our 4 year old? Not in the truck.

Keep going man , thats good!



 

I take my foot off the gas and slow to a halt.

Engine idling while my heart races and mind runs through the scenarios. My imagination takes over of a terror stricken boy wanders through the fire, weeping as the suburban - his daddy - abandons him.

"We have to go back".

Silence.

Who had him last? Everyone starts talking. Someone suggests that he fell asleep and was left behind in the shuffle. Others think he was just behind us in the garage.

I look to the horizon - fire and smoke.

We have to go back - risk our lives but who can live with the awful dread of abandoning a child to such a fate?

Slowly at first and then driving cautiously but as fast as I could we retrace our route back home.

A silent hour later we pull back into the smoldering neighborhood. Ghostly pedestrians wander randomly - some in PJs, some in tattered clothing. Eyes scanning left and right we pull into the drive way.

I expect to see a little body laid out at any moment.

We park. and I leap out. The wife is soon at my side as we open the darkened home and begin the panicked search.

Just then we hear a long BOOOM rumbling to the south west. Hinesville - home to the 3rd ID has just vanished. We would have been driving right past ground zero about now....

Ok were are doing this installments.

This will be the only thread I ever get e0mail notification on new posts