Anyone here build a fallout shelter?
- Thread starter ive
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mcbane
Well-known member
I couldn’t find a concrete batch plant willing to run a batch with depleted uranium aggregate. Didn’t want a half baked project so I have deferred action.
If you had a strike ANYWHERE near you, sitting in a bunker twiddling your thumbs waiting for the cloud to disappear is the least of your worries. If you are that concerned, you'd do better off picking up and moving away from potential targets. I live in a town near an Air Force base so I'm TOAST!
Do you really think Canada could get hit? Canadians are everyone's friend! If you really are serious about a fallout bunker, plan 50-100k.
Do you really think Canada could get hit? Canadians are everyone's friend! If you really are serious about a fallout bunker, plan 50-100k.
Ah...brings back memories...I was in two as a kid back in the 60's when personal ones became a must have to some. First was a neighbor across the street. Had a simple cider block room in the side yard built into a hillside. It was dark, damp and cold. I'd have rather died than spend more than a day inside it. Second was a rich guy whose house my father watched in the winter. This thing was basically a fully furnished and stocked 2 bedroom home underground that you entered through the main house or through an underground garage. Was nicer than our house.
If you have property you could bury a steel container into the side of a hill, so you might survive an initial blast (not a direct hit) storing and preserving supplies and utilities would be difficult, and every thing would need to be restored periodically. Plus would you want to live in those conditions, only to emerge in worse conditions when the supplies ran out.
Metal-Marc
Well-known member
1. Buy a mountain
2. Hollow it out
3. Build ultimate shelter
4. ???
5. Profit.
2. Hollow it out
3. Build ultimate shelter
4. ???
5. Profit.
yatg
Well-known member
Remember seeing this poster way back when the cold war was still going on and the government was lying to us. 50 years later and nothing has changed.
kelpaso1
MEMBER EMERITUS
LOL are you serious? A nuke hitting anywhere near and you are toast. If by chance you do survive there wont be anything outside left. With the radiation on everything you will be gone within a couple years anyway. I would rather die right away than live for a couple years with radiation poisoning.
Bondo
Well-known member
Ayuh,.... I too, remember the '60s, when we had drills in school, 'n were told to hide under our desks,..... 
PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I don't have one... but If I did... it would be properly labelled.
f150skidoo
Well-known member
X2 If the blast doesn't get you, and the fallout doesn't get you. The nuclear winter causing global crop failure will.
This.
And my luck, I'd have a sweet shelter, and I'd come out a day too early and croak in the doorway. Taking a deep breath, "I love the smell of napalm in the mor... " (thud)
firebirdparts
Well-known member
I don't find survival too interesting, but I will say that the basement of my two-story shop is pretty tornado proof. That would certainly protect you from some things. That cost about $20,000 20 year ago.
duneslider
Well-known member
We were doing those drills when I was in school in the 80's. I don't remember when it stopped exactly but we had fire drills, earthquake drills, and bomb drills. I went to a really old school building and it had a fallout shelter under the school. There was even a sign on a telephone pole in front of the school indicating it was a fallout shelter.Ayuh,.... I too, remember the '60s, when we had drills in school, 'n were told to hide under our desks,.....
There are quite a few people who have built "bomb shelters" near me, I think most of them use them as game rooms or man caves. Most I remember going in were 10-15 years ago, the city even had a special permit for them. I don't see it listed on the website anymore so the craze must have died down. Most I knew about were being built by people who had a lot of money, I just figured they had money to burn so why not have some extravagant project to brag about to your neighbors.
oldmachinenut
Well-known member
If it happens I will go outside and sit in a lawn chair so I can watch.
Rich M.
Well-known member
I think it might be best to put a little spin on this and call it an under ground man cave, complete with all the amenities of life. This might get more traction for the spousal’s approval.
Now will this help you survive a nuclear disaster, probably not, but you got a unique man cave.
Now will this help you survive a nuclear disaster, probably not, but you got a unique man cave.
Innovate1
Well-known member
Not a fallout shelter but I put a storm shelter under my porch as part of the basement. We are at the end of "tornado alley." Was built about 18 years ago. We have a place that makes hollowcore concrete for parking garages and the like about 5 miles away. Got their thinnest ones (6") and had them set in place, then a rubber membrane and poured the porch slab over that. The place was easy to work with and the cost was under $1000 for them to set them in place. About the cost of filling the space with gravel at the time and we moved an outside foundation wall for the porch to get an 8' x 18' room. I considered doing something similar recently for another build and they no longer did that size - only thicker. Prices were crazy and only included bringing the material to the site - they required me to unload and place them. And a slew of rules about ventilation of the space and other details that made it impractical. The whole build was cancelled for multiple reasons.
slowtwitch73
Well-known member
Now to get the nomenclature correctly we don’t call it radiation. We call them Zoomies. They just go whippin’ through you and you don’t feel a thing…at first. Having worked on a few nuclear shutdowns we had all kinds of quips about how safe we we and how silly to worry about it.
vrinner
Well-known member
Remember there was a Twilight Zone episode where a family built one and when a "scare" came all the neighbors basically fought to get in.
Kind of like when we had a power outage years ago that lasted a couple of days, we had a generator and had some friends over. We were making margaritas before all the ice melted and having a good time. The only house around with lights on and any sort of activity. Neighbor called the cops on us.
Kind of like when we had a power outage years ago that lasted a couple of days, we had a generator and had some friends over. We were making margaritas before all the ice melted and having a good time. The only house around with lights on and any sort of activity. Neighbor called the cops on us.
rjn2649
Well-known member
I'm with oldmachinenut out in the yard, if it's summer in the pool. A few cocktails and sunglasses so my eyes don't get damaged from the big flash of light. Heck maybe even some Hawaiian Tropic, for a nice even bronze...
FredWanaker
Well-known member
Funny - "You are having too much fun. Please stop before we have to arrest you. Do you mind if I take a couple of ice cubes for my diet-pepsi?"
Bet it beat burning candles like everyone else.
Nick Danger
Well-known member
We took the tour of Sedan Crater atomic bomb testing site in Nevada. The tour guide mentioned in passing that there has been no point in building fallout shelters since thermonuclear bombs became standard.
https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ is an interactive map.
https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ is an interactive map.
engineer2
Well-known member
If you survive, you better have enough food and water to last a couple of years and the ability to hide or defend it from roving gangs.
2Busy
Well-known member
Ryan, a new opportunity for you—Bunker Journal!
Lucifer's Hammer - Wikipedia
vrinner
Well-known member
So good think is if they bomb Los Angeles with an 800mt I'm just off into the safe zone from the blast and fallout.
WisJim
Well-known member
Back in the 1960s I remember a number of people building fallout shelters. My dad was a high school physics teacher and spent a summer school session at Battle Creek Michigan taking a course in nuclear war related stuff, and came back with a large chest of Geiger counters, dosimeters, etc. Almost any public area that could be considered a shelter got signage and a supply of drums (30 gallon size or so) of emergency rations. I remember getting rid of bushels of stale crackers from that kind of supply many decades later. After the food was used, the barrels were to be used as latrines. I still have some of the booklets about building fallout shelters and related info around somewhere, but due our moving situation, I can't find it right now. Even today, in a different part of the state, I sometimes find out that someone has a house that had a fallout shelter added or adapted, but they are either storage or TV room or other use today.
danfromsyr
Well-known member
man, now that's a blast from the past idea.
shoot summ
Well-known member
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Neighbor across the street has one, house built in the late 50's, 12x12 under a back patio slab. Has an Ohio Forge crank blower to move air.
We used to do "disaster drills" or "fallout drills" in elementary school, some were under the desk, others we had to go to the hall, kneel down, and cover the backs or our heads with our hands.
On a related note I might have been assigned to a misdemeanor work project as a juvenile back in the mid 70's. One of my projects was cleaning the rotted cheese and crackers out of a true fallout shelter. The cans had rusted, and the product had rotted, it was really bad. I was not a repeat offender...
We used to do "disaster drills" or "fallout drills" in elementary school, some were under the desk, others we had to go to the hall, kneel down, and cover the backs or our heads with our hands.
On a related note I might have been assigned to a misdemeanor work project as a juvenile back in the mid 70's. One of my projects was cleaning the rotted cheese and crackers out of a true fallout shelter. The cans had rusted, and the product had rotted, it was really bad. I was not a repeat offender...
kbeefy
Well-known member
Our current house has a fallout shelter built in 1959 under the garage.
The blueprints spec out 'Lead Curtains' for the under grade window, but they're not around.
It also shows a 500g fresh water tank, thats gone as well.
It's 2 bedrooms, a storage room and a full bathroom. About 500 square feet.
The orange paint and flourescent light came out really weird in the phone pics....
The blueprints spec out 'Lead Curtains' for the under grade window, but they're not around.
It also shows a 500g fresh water tank, thats gone as well.
It's 2 bedrooms, a storage room and a full bathroom. About 500 square feet.
The orange paint and flourescent light came out really weird in the phone pics....
couch67
Well-known member
This thread reminds me of the Diefenbunker, built just outside of Ottawa during the Cold War. Its a multi-floor bunker built into the side of a hill. It was intended as a refuge and war room for the Prime Minister and other officials in the even of a Nuclear strike. Its now a museum open to the public. The furniture and equipment are all from that era, its like walking through time!
diefenbunker.ca
Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum
The Diefenbunker is a once-top secret, four-storey underground bunker, now a museum and national historic site. Tours, exhibitions, escape rooms, and more!
diefenbunker.ca
Steve in UT
Well-known member
One of my favorite movies!!man, now that's a blast from the past idea.
cpttuna
Well-known member
my parents built one in 1962. Concrete was $15/Yard. The shelter was 4 sided and sat next to the back of the house. You entered a steel door between the two. The walls were 8" thick, the floor was 12" thick and the unit was 12 feet high with 4 feet under ground .all was rebar reinforced. It has electricity, sink, toilet and shower. It had air pipes on both sides(one shown in picture). We also had a hand crank unit on a tripod to move air. Total cost was $6200.00. The house is no longer in the family.
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Shiftless
Well-known member
Sounds nice until you think about the odds that in an all out nuclear war that you would still have running water to work the toilet.
danfromsyr
Well-known member
hope.. they sold hope and preyed upon fears.
if you put all of the facts on the table. then they don't make sense.
other than to those who sold them and those who installed them.
also I wasn't around but the nuclear 'threat' was just a small yield one or 2 cities event.
not the carpet (nuclear) bombing abilities they have now.
now we know there's little hope if all out..
though maybe it'd be a *** for tat... one city/regional area for another on each side..
but usually the bully sucker punches ya and runs away to their bunker
if you put all of the facts on the table. then they don't make sense.
other than to those who sold them and those who installed them.
also I wasn't around but the nuclear 'threat' was just a small yield one or 2 cities event.
not the carpet (nuclear) bombing abilities they have now.
now we know there's little hope if all out..
though maybe it'd be a *** for tat... one city/regional area for another on each side..
but usually the bully sucker punches ya and runs away to their bunker
GreenIron
Well-known member
A Fall-Out shelter is only meant to help protect against the radioactive effects of a nuclear detonation, not the actual blast. If you do survive a nuclear blast, you'll have much more to deal with once you leave the confines of the Fall-Out shelter.
Monza Harry
Well-known member
90% of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the US. So any mid size nuke will make a HUGE dent in our population! So not a little concern for many of us. I personally live within 1.5 miles of the "Motor City" and we are the "Automotive Capital of Canada" so yes we are a target "Loved" or not. But the reality is unless you live "North of 60" we will be severly affected if the nukes start flying about. Life will be pretty harsh if you do survive, real, real harsh!
Harry