DIY underground chamber

[Pengyou]

I am doing research into the feasibility/cost of building a subterranean chamber. You can call it a cave if you like, but it will not be in a mountain and my experience with using the word "cave" confuses people. Also, please do not tell me to buy shipping containers and bury them!!!

I want to build this chamber for two reasons - one as a climate controlled dwelling and the other to house a data storage business that I want to open.

My idea: dig a rectangular hole in the ground and erect a scaffolding to support a curved roof structure (the roof of the cave will be about 10' underground - also curved may not be essential). The first layer of the roof will be rebar/mesh reinforced reactive powder concrete; the second a thicker layer of common portland concrete; the third, a layer of soil cement - perhaps 2' thick, the next layer another layer of some kind of soil substance that does not shift as easily as soil and finally 3-4' of soil.

The numbers and substances used here are somewhat arbitrary but are used to communicate the main idea of what I want to do. The idea is to use a combination of materials to make a strong structure but reduce the cost. I am hoping for at least a 50 year life of this structure but 100 years would make it more marketable when it came time to sell.

I am looking for ideas about construction, materials, design and anything related. URL's are always welcome, as well as recommendations for good books, videos, etc.

I know that moisture and water are a major issue for anything underground. I will look at that in phase two. Right now I want to learn about building underground chambers.

 

[noseall]

Er...I think your proposals are out of our pay grade!

 

[Pengyou]

Hehehehe thanks. but do you have any suggestions for words I can use to search on? any ideas at all?

 

[joe-90]

Underground bunker.

 

[maltaron]

It is certainly not a DIY job, if used for secure data storage it's not much use if the roof falls in. You definitely need a structural engineer experienced in underground structures and, depending on size, upwards of £ half a million.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What about burying some old shipping containers? That might work.

 

[SimonH2]

Have a read of this site that I came across the other day. Might give you some ideas.
You will need the services of a structural engineer.

 

[dormermike]

Wonder if you're really in China or not, and also what threats you are trying to counter. Commercial datacenter will be $$$$ to setup and is more to it than physical security (underground or otherwise).

Is this really a potential commercial venture or something a little more along the lines of hosting illicit data.. no offense intended, just seems a rather odd thing to do for a few reasons.

 

[OwainDIYer]

http://www.andersonshelters.org.uk/construction.shtml

 

[Norcon]

(the roof of the cave will be about 10' underground

Then the base about 2.4M below that?

At those kind of depths you are well out of your depth as regards diying.
(No pun intended)

Reinforced concrete walls are the only way to do this and you would need a SE to do the design.
If there is a water table close to the surface, springs, heavy rain penetrates the surface or the soil strata is porous then the structure can lift, heave and fracture (then flood) or it may lift in one piece.
Weighing it down from above will help keep it down of course.

If the floor area is large then the walls may stay put and the floor can flex and crack. Again flooding.
Drainage is a good option but not always needed and not always possible.

I've seen it all. Underground chambers is my speciality btw.
Were doing one shortly which will have about 1000 cubic/M of concrete poured into it.
Here in the province that will set you back about £60,000.

 

[Pengyou]

Actually I do live in China now, in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong and am teaching English here. I am thinking/planning now to buy some land so that in 3 or 4 years when I return to the U.S. I can settle down. I use a vpn service so my emails, posts, etc will look like I am in Southern California, Hong Kong or sometimes the East Coast of the U.S., depending on which location the server is available.

What do I want to hide from? not really hide from...I first started looking into underground homes because I like cool temps in the summer but do not like the dehydrating affect that a/c has on the body. I also like the "green" aspect of underground homes - need minimal heating and cooling and also being able to use the land on top of the house for a yard, garden, etc. In reading forums I found that a lot of people had problems because of the various kinds of construction tech used to make the home, and in managing moisture. I looked into using caves for a dwelling but land in the U.S. with a cave on it is expensive and difficult to find. Flat land or land with rolling hills can be found rather easily and inexpensively. With such land, the water table is not very high.

The data center idea is just an idea a friend and I have been considering - not the main reason for the chamber, although our idea was to use some kind of chamber like this only for offline data storage. I do not know much about this - am trusting in my friend's judgement here.

So I wanted to check into the feasibility of building a subterranean chamber. Thank you for your input!

 

[Pengyou]

Norcon: I liked your pun

 

[Norcon]

Most subterranean structures will have one side open to the skies.
Just like a cave on the side of a mountain.

I'm guessing that's the way you need to go.
With a basement below for keeping the wine or the armaments stash. Or just a panic room for when the world goes crazy.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am thinking/planning now to buy some land so that in 3 or 4 years when I return to the U.S. I can settle down.

So you decided to ask on a UK forum, why, exactly?

Do you not think that maybe a US one would be better, as people there would be more likely to know about US rules/laws/regulations/codes of practice?

I pity your students.

 

[Norcon]

I am thinking/planning now to buy some land so that in 3 or 4 years when I return to the U.S. I can settle down.

So you decided to ask on a UK forum, why, exactly?

Do you not think that maybe a US one would be better, as people there would be more likely to know about US rules/laws/regulations/codes of practice?

I pity your students.

Why start trolling over here?

Look back at the first three opening words....

I am doing research

Does that not ring a bell?

For your homework write out "I am doing research" three thousand times and report back to teacher in the morning.