When it comes to buying a house, you don’t always have a whole lot of time to poke around every nook and cranny looking for irregularities. Even if you pay for a home inspection, you can often still find unwelcome surprises left behind by the previous owners after they move out.
Sometimes, however, those surprises can turn out to give your new home even more value. That’s exactly what happened to this man when he stumbled on an amazing structure hiding underground in his backyard.
After discovering and then looking at the original plans to his house, one man found something peculiar in his backyard. He had never noticed it despite living at the residence for some time.
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To find out what it was, he hired a metal detector expert to search through his yard. The expert marked two Xs for the best spots in the yard to start digging.
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Like anyone, the man had his suspicions about what might have been buried in his backyard, though he wasn’t entirely sure. What purpose could this addition have served if it was just covered up and forgotten?
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He started digging, and it wasn’t long until his shovel clanked on something in the soft soil. It turned out to be a metal object, though the dirt covering it made it hard to distinguish exactly what it was.
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So he continued digging. As he got deeper down, it was revealed that it was actually a metal lid, or, more specifically, a hatch. It was so heavy that he had to dig around it.
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When the lid was lifted, he attempted to determine what was below it. Were those stairs? Were those blades for something? He would have to continue to find out.
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Luckily, once the lid was removed, no dirt stood in the way of him entering the hole. Slowly and carefully, he descended what actually was a staircase, until his feet hit solid ground…
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He was standing in a state-of-the-art bomb shelter. Impressively, it utilized some sort of electric fan and a hand-crank fan. Whoever had made it was planning to be down there for a long time…
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The man wanted to make sure it was safe to be down there — and make it a viable place to just be in. To do this properly, he was going to have to get all of the debris out of his way.
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After some grueling labor, the rubble was finally all cleared out. He could climb back up to take a better look at the entrance and determine what the next step in identifying the structure would be.
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To fully explore the shelter, he figured it was probably a smart idea to enlist the help of his friends. Having some extra manpower — and people to help him were poking around in a hole in the ground to go wrong — couldn’t hurt.
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The group did their best to reinforce the entrance so it was safe. Once the space around it was cleared, they epoxied rebar securely into place; these would help the future supports for the entrance.
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When they were finished pouring the initial batch of concrete and securing the rebar, it was time to finally add some concrete forms to the exterior of the shelter. They began this process by building a wooden frame.
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The next step the men took was to apply a SonoTube cardboard form. This would provide a temporary type of protection for the interior of the shelter’s entrance. They didn’t want to damage anything while they were exploring the grounds.
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Now it was time to add a conduit for electricity and other utilities. No bomb shelter would be complete without some basic utilities, just in case they needed to be down there for a while during an emergency!
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And when it comes to life beneath the ground, you can never be too careful about making sure there’s breathable air down there, right? A lack of clan oxygen would make for a useless shelter. It was time for an air vent installation.
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Next, concrete was added between the forms. This was really going to fill in the gaps and completely add to the structural integrity of the entire project. They poured concrete between the upper forms as well.
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They still needed to smooth over the concrete and make sure everything looked good. Because what’s the point of a bomb shelter if it isn’t also aesthetically pleasing?
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While this almost looked like the finished product, you can see from the two-by-fours, there was still some work (and lots of drying!) to be done.
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The men removed the forms from the top part of the entrance. It really was finally starting to take its final shape. Just look how different it looked from when they first began!
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When the concrete was finally finished, it was time to take a trip down to have a look inside. It was like going down into a completely different structure. It looked brand-spanking new — and much safer!
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The difference between this image and how it was first found is like night and day. It almost looked like he and his friends paid a real professional to pull this project off, but it was all done the DIY way!
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Still, the inside wasn’t totally finished just yet. There was work to be done! Now it was time to remove the old steps. Getting them loose would be a problem, as the screws were also rusted. It was time to break out the propane torch and the grinder.
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Here’s what was left of the steps. Clearly, they were about as old as the hills, and would never have supported anyone climbing into the shelter. So it was a very smart decision to replace them.
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The support pole for the steps was rusted as well, so it also had to be removed. This picture provides a really good perspective of the space that the workers were dealing with down there.
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They finally got a much better look at the interior of the shelter. It was nothing spectacular or extravagant, but with a little work, it could, they knew, be something truly special. Time to get to work!
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Unfortunately, the fiberglass on the ceiling started to come apart. This meant that there was going to be more work than planned. Fiberglass is dangerous when it touches bare skin, and it can affect your lungs, so it needed to be fixed as soon as possible.
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Bit by bit, they chipped away at the fiberglass layer until it was totally gone. All that was left was a dome of concrete. After all of that work, it must have felt like looking at the Sistine Chapel.
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He wasn’t nearly finished with the shelter just yet. He had a lot of work left to do on the interior alone. Still, enough had been done that you could see how much potential it had! Some projects take longer than others, but this one was worth it.
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After exceeding costs, it was time to call it a day. Some DIY projects can’t be done all at once. This one was going to require a “part two” eventually, once the group’s coffers were full again.
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They still had to go ahead and clean up and haul out the garbage from downstairs! Sometimes your work is never truly finished, though he did have some inspiration for a truly next-level build.
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This is YouTube personality Colin Furze. For years he dreamed about having his own private sanctuary where he could spend time away from the bustle of the outside world. So, one day he stopped dreaming and started doing.
These were the blueprints he initially drew up for his DIY project. As you can see, he didn’t put a heck of a lot of effort into them. He had the vision in his mind, simple though it may have been.
Colin’s backyard was pretty idyllic; there was a decent amount of open space to lounge, and he had a great view of the rolling hills behind his home. However, his backyard would soon be the site of major construction.
This was Colin’s old shed. It had done its duty as a fine place to store his stuff, but now it needed to disappear to make room for the huge undertaking Colin had planned. He would miss his Clay Badger Shop, though.
Colin and his friend removed everything from the shed, hopped inside of it, and knocked down all the walls. The shed was old and the wood wasn’t nearly as sturdy as when it was first built.
After the walls were down, Colin broke apart the wooden boards into smaller pieces and brought them to the dump. Look at all of the space he had to work with now that the structure was gone!
Colin called in some heavy machinery to do some digging next. In no time at all, Colin and his crew had dug out a decently sized crater where the shed once stood.
After removing several feet of the soft earth, they came into contact with bedrock. To get any further, they’d need to bring out the jackhammers. They held their hammers to the sky and went to work.
Once all of the large rocks were broken down to manageable pieces, the crew excavated the remaining debris. With that complete, the team started putting down the foundation.
Once metal flooring was placed over the frame, it came time for Colin and his crew to start stretching metal beams across the top to create the ceiling.
Fiberglass-reinforced concrete was laid on top after the roof was in place. Colin was on a mission to make this project as sturdy as possible. This would be a DIY adventure that would live on long after he was gone.
They had to install load-bearing beams and wiring to help hold the weight of the concrete. The beams definitely made the entire project more complicated, but Colin wanted as much reinforcement as possible.
Remember that idyllic backyard? It was still there, but it was a little messy. This was when they installed ventilation pipes for what was going to be Colin’s own private backyard bunker!
Finally, it was time to reconstruct that fence and shed! One last systems check was put in place before it went into production! This shed, however, was going to have something very special installed inside.
Colin and his crew built all of the walls and roof separately, and then they raised the whole shed upright and bolted it all together. Just wait until you see the secret hiding inside…
When you first walked into the shed, it looked like any old normal storage spot: lawn tools were hanging from the walls and Colin’s grill was nestled in the corner. But underneath the grill was something incredible.
Look! A secret handle in the rug beneath led to a hidden hatch. After weeks of major construction in Colin’s backyard, he was finally ready to unveil the secret project that was through the hidden door.
It was Colin’s very own private bunker! Colin knew his man cave was a success, and he sure couldn’t hide his excitement. It was finally complete, and there was so much cool stuff to show off!
Colin had a kitchen stocked with non-perishable food items, his very own toilet, and even a twin-sized bed in his dwelling. If Colin was ever bored of the above-ground world, he could seek solace in his underground kingdom, pig out on food, and then take a snooze.
In case there was ever inclement weather that knocked out the power in his house, the generators made his bunker a welcome place to stay until electricity resumed.
And no bunker is complete without a flat-screen TV and drum set! He had the means to watch his favorite flicks and play along to his favorite music. Colin really couldn’t ask for much more than this home away from home.
It took a lot of time, energy, and persistence, but in the end, Colin’s DIY bunker came out exactly as he imagined. All you have to do to enter is walk into the shed, move the grill, and enter the secret hatch…
