Great job on the trench! Radiation from falling particles shoots out in all directions, so it's imperative to be able to fill in the ends of your shelter. I'd fill in one end with earth, the other have it half full with sandbags and enough inside to fill the rest after you climb in. Stack them so the longest is in line with the trench giving you a thicker wall.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

Good point!

@Shrubberyjsc

Жыл бұрын

Adequate ventilation needs to be preserved. I don't think completely filling in one end is a good idea. Escape exit is always a good idea. But yes, increasing the protection from fallout is a great idea.

I saw this same design in a book that I have somewhere laying around. I spent the last few hours trying to see if I could find something similar and Bam, you made it. Thanks!

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

Glad to help! :)

During WWII, British people started making what they called Anderson shelters in the back yards. These shelters wouldn't stop a direct hit from a 250 kilo bomb, of course, but they did work at stopping shrapnel and blown up house debris. BUT, what they did find out is that people died in these shelters due to overpressure. There wasn't a mark on their bodies but during autopsies they found that that lungs basically exploded because of the overpressure of a bomb that detonated close to the shelters. Because you have what amounts to be a glorified Anderson shelter, you may want to think about this especially because you live so close to a major air base. Another consideration for is, although you have radiation protection on all sides of your shelter, if there's a wind, it may blow fallout or radioactive particles inside your shelter through the entrances.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the thoughtful comment! I don't think that this is a bomb shelter by any means... It is just for radiation. If a blast gets me there there is no surviving. My plan is to hang plastic at each end of the shelter if I did have to use it to keep radiation particles out from blowing in. Also remember radiation is extremely heavy, so it mostly falls downwards.

The important part of fallout protection is right angles. I know how ridiculous this sounds but hear me out. If you have the outside. A door. A hall way. Then a door. Then a fallout shelter behind this second door radioactivity and photons and Beta particles and higher energy particles can sit straight into the room with only two doors protecting the fallout shelter. BUT If you have multiple 90° turns in the hallway and also multiple doors and rooms between the first door and the fallout room then it cuts down ACCUMALITIVE DOSING dramatically. Also if you cover the logs with that or pitch it almost acts like pressure treatment and protects the logs. Like for example a telephone pole which seems to be covered in tar. This is the same principal....... Except now a days most telephone poles are actually pressure treated.

Hi Joel, Interesting video about your quick and easy method for a Fallout shelter, it reminds me of the similar types we used to make in the Army. Basic simple structure that could mean the difference between Life and death in the situation. Can i ask, how come you left gaps between the planks used on the sides? I have a few designs and idea's i've played with over the years, and as to keep costs down for the average person simple to build, like yours. These are certainly bizarre and scary times, and i wish you and your family all the very best! Stay safe and keep preparing, i think we're very close to realization of a real SHTF situation!

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

I assume you are asking why the planks for the emergency cave in support walls have gaps between the dirt wall and the wood? Ground contact with wood accelerates rot so I tried to keep those a bit off the dirt. Best of luck with our design! I would love to see it when you are done!

@craigsimmonds6201

2 жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 Appreciate your reply, Ah, right, so the earth between the wall and sides panels, that would be enough protection against Radiation? I'm just thinking of materials against Radiation, do you think that with your structure, it would offer more protection to slip corrugated sheets between the two? and would that help keep any foods supplies at a descent temperature for long keeping during the initial strike? Thank you for your time on this, i'm just figuring out best way to survive.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

@@craigsimmonds6201 the only protection you get from radiation is from the three feet of solid earth resting on the logs above, and the earth in the sides of the trenches. My wood side walls are simply my own addition in case the earth side walls collapse in and dump the roof down on the occupants. I am not certain it would hold, but I think something is better than nothing here.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

@@craigsimmonds6201 Corrugated sheets would not keep temperatures steady, nor would the earth in this design since it is open at both ends. I live in Washington State with a moderate climate, so I can rely on warm clothes and blankets to keep us warm. If you live somewhere further north, you probably would need to consider alternative solutions.

I would line that pit with carpet and then some really heavy plastic or rubber pond liner. To prevent water seeping in And the carpet to prevent punctured. Need some sort of sleeping platforms or air mattress or something. Creature comforts. Some sort of emergency lighting. Defense weapons. And a book or two and something to write with and on. Something to pass the time. A first aid kit and something to keep the kids entertained. And surely there is a way to cheaply but effectively close off those ends and have a controllable air inlet and out let. Like in an old fashioned root cellar with a filter to make it safer for your children.

@joelx77

8 ай бұрын

Interesting ideas! The land actually drains extremely well and the climate here rains a lot, so if you used a pond liner you would end up with a hot tub effect inside I think. As it is, all the water quickly drains down to the aquifer. I've never had any puddling yet. If I ever needed to use this, I would bring the creature comforts down with me (tarps and sleeping bags and blankets and battery flashlights). Defense items could be brought in easily too. I actually prefer the airflow from the open ends as otherwise the air would get quite stale and you might even run into radon problems. This plan was what the US army recommended I believe back in the day. It is very fast and easy to build and use. Fortunately I have not had to use mine yet.

@lpmoron6258

8 ай бұрын

@@joelx77 I hope we never have to! I was thinking of snakes and insects coming in as well as water. If the top covering of plastic was lapped over the edges of the liner, that would shed the water. Make a curb up at both ends with the liner up and over that. That would serve as a berm to keep water from flowing in. Even if this is not to apply to you maybe someone else reading could use the idea!

Thanks for this , great job have dug a small hole with 3 foot walls of earth seems essential these days

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

It certainly does seem necessary!

Good video, thanks for posting..If someone can't manage to get those poles, would 4x4 lumber work do you think?

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

Good question, I remember when I was researching to see what size poles were needed I think that I saw that 4*4 would be too small to handle the load. Remember you are piling 3-4' of dirt and rock on top. You may be able to double stack 4*4s or just get a larger size. What you want to do is check the horizontal load weight capacity of treated lumber, then calculate how much that width of dirt and rock piled 4' high weighs. Add in some forgiveness margin for snow loads or a person climbing on it.

@Stella2U

Жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 Thanks.

Can you do an update on how it's looking now after 10 months? I'd be curious.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

It has held up very well. I had an elk herd walk over the top. The rain washed some soil away on the walkway down leaving just rocks but that is fine for me.

Joel, have you finished? You might put a fire extinguisher in your bunker. Hang a hammock inside. Have you worked out the air handler? I would burry deep some caches nearby. Sounds interesting.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

I have finished it! I just have two garbage cans full of water in it now. The fallout shelter does not need an air handler as air can blow through it. At most I may just hang plastic down. Remember fallout particles are generally quite heavy and will fall straight to the ground. I would like to bury some hidden caches though.

@sixoffive

2 жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 Have you worked out how to find it in the dark? How long does nuke detonation glow? Has there ever been a detonation at night, hmm?

@sixoffive

2 жыл бұрын

I read yes there has been night detonation sky goes from intense white to yellow - orange - red and last about half hour. Higher detonation less atmosphere the glow dissipates faster.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

@@sixoffive Flashlights should be just fine for us to see to get out there I hope.

nice man

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Okay, that's great for people who own property. But what about people like me who rent or live in apartment complexes?

That shelter won't do much. I dont see why you can't set aside 20k to build a proper fallout bunker. Coyote steel & co from eugene oregon can sell 16 sheets of 10 gauge hot roll steel 48" x 96" for $4,899.00. Im sure can find a supplier closer to seattle. Maybe move to kalama? Higher in the mountains, easy to drill wells, septics, etc. You have an excavator. You can easily excavate a proper hole, lay gravel foundation, plate pack it, followed by rebar and concrete foundations. Square steel beams for frame, pipe for air filtration, and another $7k for a proper air filtration system. Alot more too it, but its feasable, and a hell of alot better than what you have set up.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

Why do you say the shelter won't do much? According to the specs put out by the military, it will reduce the radiation dose received a few thousand times over. I agree that it won't be comfortable at all and actually living in it would suck. But this took a total of two days to build and cost very little. A full concrete and steel bunker would be far nicer, but would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take months to build and might require permits. A bird in hand is worth ten in the tree.

@Shrubberyjsc

Жыл бұрын

@Daniel Goncharov Without knowing more information, this critique seems improper. You don't know his budget, what the water table is, how far down before huge rocks/bedrock, etc. He's got a good start and needs only a few adjustments to achieve a protection factor of about 300. A much bigger concern would be having a plan for the thermal pulse and fires, can you get everyone into the shelter with only 20 minutes' warning? etc. The difference in a million-dollar shelter and what he has shown is negligible if you can't get to the shelter in time with your essentials...

Cool. I hope you never need to depend upon it for protection. I’m building mine in my basement

could this be used as a tornado shelter?

Good but can be better ends or entrance should be l shaped to stop shine from getting in. Also the plastic is good idea but you should have more plastic near the top. Reson is in case rain brings fallout and it works its way down to lowest level If never rains this desighn is OK but keep weight of wet dirt that is very heavy dry so bury some plastics a few inches under top layer. Also wind and rain may carry stuff in via surrounding dirt. Always from bottom up plastic dirt more plastic then more dirt then top layer of plastic spreading 12 feet or more in all directions around the ditch to keep out ground water contaminated in case of heavey rains. If you only have plastc near where you are and wet fallot reaches in plastic you are not as safe. Looks like you have room so please fix this.

I may have misunderstood but wouldnt radioactive dust, i.e. fallout just blow into the shelter since it's open? Maybe you covered that and I missed it. Thanks for sharing your work.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

Radioactive dust is very, very heavy and mostly falls pretty straight down. But I will put up plastic at each end of the tunnel to make sure a strong wind doesn't blow any inside anyways.

@Ash_95

2 жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 I'd read that yes, the heavy particles do fall fairly closely to ground zero but the lighter dust like particles can go high in the atmosphere and fall/rain down far away. This seems to suggest that therr are dangerous, light particles that could get blown into openings, crevices, cracks, etc. If you have a good reference I'd love to read it as Im trying to come up with a good plan for the potentiality. Thanks for the response.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

@@Ash_95 That's a good point and something I don't have a great policy for other than the plastic at the ends of the tunnel. My fallout shelter is sort of a minimum cost entry point to fallout shelters and should keep me alive... it won't be comfortable and it won't be perfect... there may be some radiation from light dust that blows in, but the vast majority of it should be kept away.

@Ash_95

2 жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 hey, you actually have a shelter so your better off than so many of us that don't. Plus, you could tape/seal up that plastic to help keep it all out. Wish you and your family well. Take care.

@RobertJLessard

Жыл бұрын

Yes for sure and that's what kills you. Inhale the dust and then you've got something inside you emitting radiation. You have to have air filtration. Unfortunately plans from bakc in the 60s are about as useful as the duck and cover under your desk kind of thing.

Buying some time til the "All Clear" sounds.👍

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly right.

I'm sorry but I'm skeptical: do you think to stay there in 5 for at least 3 days (let alone weeks...)? I have organized a 12 square meters basement as shelter and we are in 5 and I think it's very tiny. There is no space for 5 people there. Not even for one adult, let alone with 3 children. I have 12 sqm of space and I have food, water, games, books and boardgames and it seem to me uncomfortable. In your "bunker" there is only ground: not a place to sleep, no space for food, no space to go to the toilet. Do you think to sleep laying down (if you can lay...) in the middle of you poop and pee? What if it rains? You are underground, you can cover over your head, but water can flow anyway by the sides. Radioactive water, I mean... I'm sorry, you have to do things better.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

It would suck to live in, but it is possible. It's a cheap emergency backup that hopefully will never need to be used.

@Shrubberyjsc

Жыл бұрын

@Marco The shelter looks uncomfortable? The months after a nuclear exchange will potentially be a whole lot more than uncomfortable. How you spend the first 72 hours will be a distant memory when you're attempting to adjust to life without our modern conveniences for years or decades. Don't obsess on the shelter. Think about what's after that. Some useful tools and skills will be of much larger consequence than momentary comfort. If you're not aware, many people use chemical toilets for emergencies: simple 5 gallon bucket and bags. Doesn't take up much space. I don't think he needs to be exhaustively going over every mundane detail. You don't think that he forgot that people poop and pee do you? 😆

Build a bermed shelter. You don't need to deal with water swamping out the ditch.

are you making an entrances too? in the right angles and for the ventilation. Yeah people talking nonsense here, they did not read full manual.

But where will you keep your 2 weeks of food and water per person tho and where will you use the bathroom. You would have to stay down there for 2 weeks minimum that's small. But it's better than nothing I don't see many people even trying to make any kind of fallout shelter. I live to close to water so I can't dig down going to be making a sandbag bunker. Hopefully you got water purification and also anti radiation pills. But I would definitely cut in a right angle at the entrance.

@joelx77

Жыл бұрын

I have two trash cans full of water already in there along with water purification tablets and anti radiation pills. I have freeze dried buckets of food. Toilet will be in a home Depot bucket we can take up and toss. Both the entrance and exit have right angle cuts going up. This solution would be horrible if I have to use it... But it would keep my family and I alive. It is better than nothing.

You got both ends of it wide open if you close them off what are you doing as far as fresh air bathroom several weeks and that thing You're going to have to go to the bathroom

@joelx77

8 ай бұрын

Bathroom: 5 gallon bucket with sealing lid dumped out every few days in a 3 minute trip outside.

This is a start, but it's to small for several days to weeks of staying there. You have water, but what happens if those big can get contaminated? Food and a way to cook? And now that you ate and drank, what about bodily functions? Where you going to do that? Again your shelter needs to be bigger/longer or your just going to get on each other's nerves and smell like shit.

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

It won't be comfortable, but it will be survivable. I have iodine tablets for the big water cans, plus more water I can move from the house nearby. Food is all massive freeze dried packs of food from Costco. Doesn't need cooking. Bodily functions will happen in a bucket that can be emptied tossing it out. I agree bigger and longer would be more comfortable. But bigger and longer may never have gotten done. Better to have something than nothing.

@fredted1611

2 жыл бұрын

@@joelx77 You best look up nuclear fallout as your shelter and plan has many holes in it. Southern Prepper is a wealth of knowledge on fallout and a shelter. Your plans my have come from government plans but it's a death sentence as it sits right now.

@Stella2U

Жыл бұрын

@@joelx77Bathroom stuff. You probably want to separate #1 and #2 due to volume and smell considerations. # 1 can go into bottles with twist lids ( laundry detergent bottles are good) until it can be dumped outside. The males in your family should have no problems but the females might want to use a kitchen funnel to accomplish this. It would need to be cleaned so don't forget the antibacterial wipes and a large Ziploc bag to keep the funnel in.# 2 can go in a bucket. If you don't have one of those seats designed to fit on a bucket, you could slit a portion of pool noodle and fit it on the top. Then you would want to add kitty litter- the scoopable kind or mulch or sawdust. The latter two can be composted. I'm sure you won't forget the tp and trash bags. Please believe me, you do not want to mix pee and poo!

That was extremely considerate of you to pre-dig your own grave. And to use the plans from the same idiots who suggested "duck and cover". Maybe you will survive long enough to burn that useless manual to cook one of your last meals. There are much better better plans that might actually improve your chances of living long enough to starve to death.

Very intelligent, God gives wisdom for what He has said is about to happen. Jesus is our protection!

@npc_retired

Жыл бұрын

Jesus doesn't stop bullets.

4 to 6 weeks in that little space,wow that be awful

@joelx77

2 жыл бұрын

True, but better than being dead!

@Shrubberyjsc

Жыл бұрын

@ Maggie Nope, that's not right. Exponential decay means 72 hours after the last blast is best practice.

If i had to pick somewhere to live it would be furthest away from any kind of US military base given the no red lines application to war and the most war crimes commited in history by any nation. The military industrial complex is making the world increasingly dangerous for Americans.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

after more than a month it will be occupied by Rats or Snakes 😀

Not talking shit but u need to rethink that u have a child man use your brain wood erodes when wet ..shockwave of a blast will shatter your tiny frame .your looking atbspeeds pf wind up to a thousand miles an hr ..radiation u need at least 3 ft min to absorb u need fresh filtered air coming in a way to push whatbu exhale out . More water for three ppl toull need at least 500 gallon bare min for drinking cleaning and cooking i can go all day u missed a lot dont chance it man do it right plz u got me like damn lolo its your path tho im just trying to help ya theres so many things u missed that u really really need

@joelx77

7 ай бұрын

It's not a bomb shelter... It will not resist any sorts of blasts directly or the thousand mile per hour wind. It is simply a rudimentary fallout shelter: it is for people out of the blast range to be able to survive the weeks of fallout after a nuclear detonation nearby.

@martywebb1487

7 ай бұрын

@@joelx77 I understand that .who's to say where that blast will go off closer u are more the damage js u do u just throwing suggestions but yeah I get ya

Your just about at ground zero. That's your grave site.