Anybody Know If It Is Feasable To Build A Fallout Shelter In A Well?

Discussion in 'General Q&A' started by raremarble, Oct 27, 2017.

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  1. raremarble

    raremarble New Member
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    I want to build a fallout shelter in a well. I don't see any examples of people doing that. Maybe it is not a good idea. I made a preliminary sketch of my idea. very preliminary! Thank you to anybody who can enlighten me.
     

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  2. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    a well is meant to hold water, good luck with that!
     
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  3. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    How long would you plan to stay hunkered up in that small hole? It might work as a bomb shelter for a few hours but fallout doesn't go away in one day. For a fall out shelter you really need to hide and stay down for quite a while depending on how close you were to ground zero.
     
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  4. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Well, ...
     
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  5. Begme

    Begme New Member
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    I saw something like that once. Supposedly pirates had dug it to hide their treasure. I think it was on a island. Are you planning to dig the well? Is it wet or dry? Was that a rope your planing to climb up? I think the pirates had a sort of loft made out of wood so it was multiple stories.
     
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  6. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    sounds like a death trap to me , I dug about a 18 foot well one time using a rope and bucket to host out dirt . It was a two man job . I don't recommend the well idea the sides could easily collapse burying alive someone . Trying to hollow out a room in a well will greatly increase the odds of the walls collapsing .
     
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  7. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    A similar idea that is safer and more comfortable would be to dig a trench and then lay a 48" concrete culvert pipe in the hole and cover it up. Close one end off to keep the water out and make a door with a seal and an above ground entrance on the other end. You will also need a filtered bit of ventilation. It would be a one person hole but then the well would be too and at least in this you could lay down.

    I have actually considered a larger version of this for a family storm shelter.
     
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  8. Ystranc

    Ystranc Master Survivalist
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    Caissons or shuttering can be used to support the sides of a well as you dig it but they're going to work out very expensive compared to TexDanm's suggestion.
    You don't need a shelter to be particularly large or deep unless you're thinking of starting your own religion. Safe dry storage space for goods, food, water and some method of containing or getting rid of excrement are the main use of space...living space is almost secondary. Most small shelters are built based on an estimate of spending between 6 and 20 weeks in the shelter, I wouldn't fancy that at the bottom of a well.
     
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  9. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I can't even imagine spending 2 months in a big fall out shelter of say 200- 300 square feet.
     
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  10. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    I once built a fallout shelter .I poured a thick concrete slab an put in reinforcement steel , then took a bucket and shovel and tunneled under it and dug out about a 9 square foot room . Then walled up the sides with cinder blocks and built a brick stairwell leading down into it . The problem was it was too close to the water table . When the water rose it would fill my shelter as much as six foot deep and I have no idea how for down the water table would go . I finally wrote it off as a failed project . Building a shelter in an abandoned well would leave me to believe you would have a similar experience .
     
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  11. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Yeah...and how would you not soil your water supply????? That angle needs to be carefully done as well as thought out.
    You can only store so much water pre bottled or contained....as to for how long....that too is a????


    Fallout shelter as in Nuclear radiation????


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite
     
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  12. Travis.s

    Travis.s Expert Member
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    If you're going to build a shelter wouldn't it be best to not cut corners and build one that's soul purpose is to be a shelter?

    There's also a means of calculating how much fall out pre foot of earth is diminished but I don't think a standard well is deep enough.
    I don't remember the formula but I'm sure it wouldn't be to hard to find.

    If it's for tornadoes the depth would be ok.
     
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  13. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Yeah...it helps to know the water table. Around here it is also not deep.


    I know a fellow who built a deep hole in the ground and put in it one of those heavy duty plastic tanks...with two access lids on it.. It is deep enough to stand up in it...with some extra overhead space.

    Then he covered the whole thing with soil except the covers. He stored his emergency supplies down in it...but before going down in it he would ventilate it for about 20 minutes with two fans...one blowing in and the other sucking out. Just good practice if you have ever worked in confined spaces.

    Then when he was satisfied...he built a shed with a floor in it over the top of the whole business and an access in the flooring to the two tank lids in the shed along with electricity outlets in the shed for servicing both the shed and the hidden tank.

    From the street you would never know it was there.


    Watcherchris

    Not an Ishmaelite
     
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  14. Ystranc

    Ystranc Master Survivalist
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    Last edited: Dec 16, 2018
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  15. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Fall out.....wow!!

    Loose contamination...,.particles loose which emit radiation. You do not want contamination to go into you ...internally. Referring to these particles of radioactive emitting particles...often loose.

    Internal contamination cannot be decontaminated by the normal means...
    You have to purge it out of your systems by natural means...sweat...going to the bathroom etc etc.

    External contamination can be de contaminated if you know the process.


    Radiation is the energy given off by radioactive materials.

    The Article correctly states that air in a shelter should be filtered...

    We often use various grades of hepa filters at work.
     
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    1. Ystranc
      Don't forget to stock enough Potasium iodide tablets to help protect your thyroid glands (not reccomended for pregnant or lactating women) prevention is always better than cure.
       
      Ystranc, Dec 16, 2018
  16. Ystranc

    Ystranc Master Survivalist
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    Gravity can be used to remove the larger particles but a HEPA filter and a tiny extractor fan to pull air through it (the fans used to cool a PC tower are very low amperage and run off 12v also car aircon systems can be re-worked and actually have HEPA filters built in) are a sensible precaution. the HEPA filter replacement elements can be bought reasonably cheaply and stored in their packaging until needed.
    It's about reducing exposure to the intensely reactive radioactive dust in the period immediately after the event by as much as possible. Nuclear contamination is absolutely survivable in the long term if you manage the risks.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2018
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  17. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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  18. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    If one could just make the survival unit itself float, as the water level in the well raised and lowered, the unit could bob up and down.

    While on the Theagenes thinking throne, I gave some thought to this, but don't know what the sh## one would do about the well radiation-protection unit's effluent needs. Maybe I should do some more reading to add fiber to my ideas.

    Patras potty?
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
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  19. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Looking at your drawing, I can see more trouble than asset from this concept. Your normal biological needs to relieve yourself, it going to be a major problem since our waste would be flowing into your water supply. If eh radiation did not get you, the contaminated water surely will. There are much better idea's available and members have made solid suggestions. Time to give this concept a bit more thought.
     
  20. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    The fellow who turned a decommissioned missile silo into a survival shelter had a great idea. Turns out however that these old and current silos have horrific ground water problems. They crack and leak. Duh!!! Talk about having to have enormous sump pumps!

    I now read that this conversion process has become something of an industry:
    https://newatlas.com/luxury-survival-condos/34861/

    Speaking for myself, I haven't the finances.
     
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  21. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    During WWII, an uncle of mine and his company were the object of a German artillery barrage. To seek shelter, he ran and lept through a window. Other times the men used explosives to crack the frozen ground (during the Battle of the Bulge) so that foxholes could be dug to protect them from the shrapnel from German 88mm tree-top-burst shells. They lost three company commanders during one particularly bad day. Half his company died.

    WWII, my dad was on more than one occasion the object object of a buzz-bomb attack (civilians / everybody / anybody / horses / any building, Church or home were targets, not just soldiers). He said that, "You'd be amazed at whatever pothole you could suddenly curl your hind-end into."

    What am I getting at? Shelter is often whatever presents itself. "I'll shelter at my home; it has a concrete basement. Plus, I have some land." OK, if things go as planned, then that will be great. Blessed is the mind that can adapt to near raw chaos. Blessed is the soul who, presented with fulminating chaos, has prepared to meet his Maker.

    Stretch your mind every day. Say your prayers every day.
     
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  22. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I wonder how one of these would do covered with dirt (not buried, just covered) and an air filter included?
    https://www.safesheds.com/
     
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  23. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    They would be better than nothing but would need to be buried under several feet of ground to keep out the radiation or at least keep it a survival able level. NOTE: Not an expert on radiation but I have read you need the concrete AND the level of dirt for protection. Just being covered is not going to be enough.
     
  24. AgapeReadiness

    AgapeReadiness New Member
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    This method would be far safer than a vertical shaft well, in my opinion anyway.

    Vertical shafts without solid walls and some sort of drainage pump sounds like disaster in the making.
     
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  25. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I don't worry a lot about radiation and surviving a nearby nuclear attack. I don't have the money to build a deep redoubt and stock it with the necessities for at least several months to a year. I am NOT going to sit in a tiny hole in the ground for a week then come up into a nuclear wasteland where everything is covered in radioactive residue. If you live within about 25 to 50 miles of a certain target you might be better served with a rapid exit plan and a bug out vehicle that might get you out in bad conditions. If you are at ground zero you are probably dead no mater what you do.
     
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  26. Morgan101

    Morgan101 Legendary Survivalist
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    I'm guessing by looking at your drawing that the platform is 15' down the shaft. I don't know what type of closure system you are planning, but that lid will have to be at least 4" thick lead. With other materials the thickness increases, and you would have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger to lift it. You have to be protected on all sides. You can't have a hot spot where radiation will penetrate.

    I agree with Travis. Build a shelter to be a shelter. I wouldn't try to jerry-rig something that important.
     
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  27. NomadWill

    NomadWill Expert Member
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    It would be a pretty neat type of shelter, but sounds super complex to actually construct one inside a well.
     
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  28. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Complexities abound and the cost will astound. Sorry, could not resist. That kind of mood.
     
  29. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    I'm in the TMT Tactical camp.

    There are complexities.

    Plus, does not the area require a city / county building permit ? Interfere with the area's water supply and "wrongful death" issues will get involved.

    Except for the skilled, a major project like a fallout shelter requires professional engineer skills. Just the electrical code is a major project for compliance.

    Before giggling on what I just wrote, guess how many citizen reports were sent to the city / county ! Recall a term I posted at msf.com: COG. COG = Continuity of Government. There will be little giggling later on when the real SHTF occurs.

    I'd like to tell non-common Marbles that the ROI - Return On Investment - is nil when the mandatory evac order is given. The Governor ordered the evac because of an infectious disease that's spreading rapidly.
     
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