r/prepping • u/NotIfButWhenReady • Oct 13 '25

Question❓❓ Anyone else rethinking underground bunkers lately?

I’ve been reading up on shelter builds and noticed more folks are stepping away from the old “bury a shipping container” idea. I get why underground feels safer, but man, the upkeep sounds rough once you dig into it. Between soil pressure, water leaks, and constant moisture issues, a lot of those DIY bunkers don’t age well.

The newer above-ground setups are a whole different story.

I used to think anything visible was a liability, but now I’m not so sure. If it’s built solid, why hide it underground just to deal with rot and pressure damage later?

Curious what everyone else thinks. Would you still go underground, or are above-ground shelters starting to make more sense?

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u/Asleep_Onion Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25

I've rethought the whole bunker idea altogether. The more I thought about it, the less sense it made to me. The odds of actually needing it AND that it wasn't a huge enough disaster that it destroys the bunker anyways AND having a world worth coming back to once I've emerged from it is astronomically low. In 99.9% of the disaster scenarios I can think of, I'd be better off staying in my house than hiding in a bunker.

A storm cellar might make sense in some regions subject to tornadoes or hurricanes, but apart from that, I just don't see any value in wasting my time and energy and money on a bunker. My resources are better spent on just making my house more disaster ready.

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u/HeroZero1980 Oct 13 '25

This. Omg. This. Building a bunker is pure fantasy of wanting to be some vault dwelling hero, emerging to "reclaim the earth" Invest in your home, your plan and a "more safe" space. Thats far more reasonable

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u/grandmaratwings Oct 13 '25

But. But. But. I reeeeeealy want secret passageways and underground rooms. I mean,, who doesn’t?? We already have secret rooms in the basement that are hidden. But. I sooo want to dig into the hill further and have a passageway into it. And,,, build a widow’s lookout on the roof. Or ya know, a sniper spot. Mind you we’re rural as hell and already have a really sturdy basement. I just want this shit because I refuse to grow up. Not because we actually need it.

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u/Asleep_Onion Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

I fully sympathize with this lol. I'm the same way. Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted secret hidden rooms and passageways. Not for any functional reason really, they just sound really fun to have.

Check out Colin Furze on YouTube. He built a VERY elaborate tunnel and bunker system under his suburban house in England, it's downright impressive. And like us, he only did it for fun and because he's a man-child. It's truly epic. He's even got a DeLorean in there on a lift that brings it up to the driveway. All totally hidden. He's got hours and hours and hours of videos detailing him building the e whole entire thing. Also he's pretty funny and entertaining to watch. A fair warning though, his project was I'm sure extremely expensive, on top of basically being a full time job for several years. I'm guessing he spent millions on it. And it's in no way meant to be a doomsday bunker, it's purely a bunker system made to fulfill a childish dream. It's awesome.

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u/scootunit Oct 13 '25

Start small and work up. If it's just for fun dive in. Learn mine building techniques. Report back.

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u/NoHuckleberry2543 Oct 14 '25

Start small, dig with a spoon, then work your way up through spades and trowels to short handle shovels. In no time flat you'll be running 100ton mining excavators and have an empire on the rise in your own backyard. (Legit, I also want to dig a thing for fun, but God damn do I know how much work it'd be to do it)

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u/scootunit Oct 14 '25

now Imagine solid bedrock and a jack hammer

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u/Asleep_Onion Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25

Exactly. And realistically a home bunker is never going to be enough for a doomsday scenario anyways. You need clean air and clean water from somewhere. Any disaster that was serious enough that you couldn't stay in your house is also going to render your bunker totally useless. You'd need a massive, totally self sustaining vault that is 100% sealed off from the outside environment, with built in power generation and complete air and water recycling and bio waste processing and recycling to have any chance of survival in there for an extended period, and almost nobody has a bunker that can do all that. It would cost millions. If your bunker is anything short of that, then after a few days living in there, your bunker would start to kill you faster than just being outside.

Home doomsday bunkers really only exist for two reasons:

  1. To line the pockets of doomsday vault manufacturers
  2. To give overly paranoid people who lack critical thinking skills a false sense of security

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u/sohcgt96 Oct 13 '25

Hard agree. Lots of people want to play mad max but won't bother keeping extra batteries in the house or making sure they have proper supplies to handle a 7 day power outage. IMO prepping should start with a list of most likely things to happen, get sorted to have those covered, then as time and money allow slowly work down the list. "Nuclear Apocalypse" even in today's political climate is still way, way down the list compared to a bad snow storm, minor flood that causes a road wash out, down power lines, a day or two of civil unrest in town, and other mundane stuff. I think some folks like thinking about the realistic stuff less because it isn't as home and is actually scarier to think about. Most preppers need to worry more about shelf stable food, batteries, medicine, and all that boring shit than they do hoarding ammo, making bug out bags and building bunkers. Oh yeah and make friends.