ADVICE FOR PREPPERS BURYING SHIPPING CONTAINERS

Okay, you bought a used shipping container, you’re going to dig a hole and bury it, all done right? I’m afraid not. As a matter of fact, you may have a disaster on your hands and you don’t even know it yet. What was meant to be an inexpensive alternative to buying a professionally made and installed emergency shelter could end up being a nightmare if you’re not careful…
David from Coffee Talk: PO Box 1692 Lithonia, GA 30058
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[stcroixatlast]

We’ll find out years later that all the tombs in Egypt turn out to be Egyptian preppers.

[nurzrachit]

I feel like I've dissapointed you, and we've never met.

[davewolf]

The irony is by the time you create adequate walls, a ceiling, and a foundation, you're putting a shipping container inside a self sustaining structure, so the shipping container is no longer even needed!!!

[willdwyer]

If you want a steel structure for an underground bunker, use galvanized steel culvert. The cylindrical shape will distribute the weight of the soil above it so that it won't crush. When you install a floor in it, you will have storage space beneath the floor.

[ForbiddTV]

You also didn't mention the floors of those containers; they are wood and will rot unless you have excellent drainage with ventilation underneath, or extremely dry soils. Even placing it on a concrete slab that doesn't account for moisture migration from that slab is also dooming the structure to failure.

[ronsmith]

Be sure you are making a shelter, and not a tomb.

[WJRHalyn-jwho]

Didn't notice any comments about the fact that pretty much every one of these steel shipping containers has a WOOD floor! I asked about that when buying mine, and it turns out that during the handling phases of actual shipping, these boxes need to be able to flex a bit. A box with ALL facets solid steel would be more prone to crack than flex, I was told.
Thus, they just run skinny steel beams at intervals along the bottom, and lay in treated/oiled heavy plywood or similar wood between the steel beams. That way, the floor panels shift a bit to accommodate small twists and bends that occur while the cranes are loading them.

That same wood can, obviously, eventually start to rot if you're just setting the box on a dirt (or even gravel) bed, then. Underground, there's ALWAYS moisture present, and that can break down the wood floor eventually (like, two or three years) in spite of the wood being treated.
In my own case, my 40-footer was just for above-ground storage, and I jacked the entire box up about two feet off the ground and put it on massive-thick posts to allow air to circulate constantly, and things have been just fine for the last seven years! No moisture deterioration visible yet.

[astridvallati]

1. Coat container with asphalt based sealer ( water-proofing), including underneath.
2. Proper concrete foundation ( Rebar slab, ) filled block walls.
3. Agricultural drain pipe at floor level, to collect any water seepage.
4 Proper Aereation vents ( motorised)
5. Internal Wall and Roof bracing.
6. Internal fiberglass wool insulation
7. Approved Electrical Wiring.
8. Water supply and outlet.
9. Exit Door that is not the Swinging End Doors.
10. About $30, 000 or more to do the lot.

[GypsyHunterUK]

I use these all the time in.my intrst as a bunker installer..Aftet stripping back we totally clean..prep it..and give it a few coats of heavy duty paint and water proof it outside by adding tanking. add a few sacrificial anodes..then Bury it on a concrete stand then add a wall of old car tyres along all sides then add a rough mix of concrete in to the tyres this sets up snd then.back fill.wth dirt any gaps in between the dirt wall and tyres other concrete fills between the tyres and wall of the container bunker here in the qeer old corrupt UK 🇬🇧..They fix out the container any way the feel fit aftet we fit all the ancillaries of course

[fokkerdred]

You might just as well make a basement type shelter using poured concrete walls roof and floor. You don't have to worry about shipping the container to the location and then get the equipment to put it in position.

[Treblaine]

At this point, just make cinderblock walls and forget the shipping container.

[axe]

Wouldn't poured concrete be cheaper at that point?

[ChandlerYoung]

I like this guys disposition... basically he’s saying don’t build a bunker with a shipping container... I want him to make videos about everything, which will basically say don’t do it. Love the tone.

[EazyT]

Go to a construction site that does concrete, ask the head carpenter if they wanna do a side job. Get them to frame everything and shore it then pour concrete and strip the wood. Much better

[ccmogs]

You just buried my plans ! i can"t contain myself :)

[jordanstewart]

Tips on how to design a bunker/fallout shelter:

1. First of it is probably best to go for a cylinder or a dome shape much like a submarine or a metro tunnel where the round shape is much better at distributing the weight evenly around the structure.

2. Carefully choose the location and set a solid foundation with earthquakes, floods, and water drainage in mind (like what the video sayed).

3. Make it in layers, first you want to start with some form of Steel (the cheapest option would be corrugated steel pipe that has been welded closed), second water proof the hell out of the shelter (obviously), the third layer should consist of reinforced concrete, and finally if you want to spend the extra money it couldn't hurt to add one more layer of waterproofing material.

4. Build an appropriate entrance for the shelter, first you want to include a 90 degree angle turn before reaching the main door, second include a drainage tank and a warer pump system, third you will want the outside door to be raised up high enough so if it floods (think Texas) the water will not come poring in, finally make sure it is concealed well enough that it does not become immediately noticeable from anyone who doesn't know it is there to begin with.

5. Features that people typically leave off their shelters, first major room you want to include after entering and heading down into the shelter is a decontamination shower, include blast and overpressure valves ( I don't think I need to go into great detail on why those are important), have extra filters for the air purification system, a place to store dead bodies (in case someone dies) and waste while you still have to be underground, make sure everything essential for survival can be manually operated in case you run out of power or it goes out, have candles in case you don't want to waste electrical energy, have a emergency escape exit that after opening will not immediately contaminate the rest of your shelter (it's a problem with most companies that build shelters), find a way to replicate a day and night cycle, have some means of viewing the outside world ( cameras/periscopes), finally it would be advisable to put the NBC air filter in its own room right next to the decontamination room so while changing the filters you don't accidentally contaminate yourself or the rest of the structure.

Some good examples would be the Kennedy bunker in Peanut Island, the design scheme of Atlas survival shelters bunkers (though they still aren't perfect), the Titan 1 nuclear missile silos, the entire Moscow Metro (it's basically one big nuclear bunker), and finally bunker 42.

Hoped this helped.

[Ardnaciuin]

Well informed video! I bought a 40ft container 17 years ago to move my 'stuff' from the UK to Ireland. I sited it above ground, on corner pads, where I can repaint it and it's still working out fine. This year I thought about burying it but the expense to do so adds up to more than a self-built concrete block root cellar with a reinforced roof. Do the calculations first folks ;-)

[alexanderskrabacz]

“ok, you bought a used shipping container”
me: “OH SHIT I DID?”

[repalmore]

0:51 You can get single trip containers. Yes, they are more expensive than old rusty ones but they are cheaper than new. Besides, I don't know if containers are even made in the US.

[RIP-epes]

You are spot on pointing out the drawbacks that need to be overcome if you are burying a sea container. The one I missed was your setting it on a foundation. People do not understand that soil slowly moves given temperature and moisture changes.