Planning Permission

[Devonian]

Have a look at the link on my previous post for details of pipes that are ideal in this respect...

[grenfell]

I can't really add anything to the planning permission side but wondered if using a shipping container as the shutter for concrete is viable? obviously the sides and roof would need propping before the pour .
Of course strength aside removing the soil to bury a container is a pretty big task, not one that could be done by hand or in secret in most locations.

[Malthouse]

How would you disassemble the container after setting? Or would you leave it there to corrode.

[Pickyree]

You could also use the big 2.4m or 3m diameter plastic drain pipes

http://www.weholite.co.uk/

They would be awesome! A 3 metre diameter one with a false floor in to store your supplies in would be good. Wonder what sort of money they are though....

[Partimehero]

I can't really add anything to the planning permission side but wondered if using a shipping container as the shutter for concrete is viable? obviously the sides and roof would need propping before the pour .
Of course strength aside removing the soil to bury a container is a pretty big task, not one that could be done by hand or in secret in most locations.

The weight of all that ready mixed concrete, say 300mm thick, will be extremely heavy and it will push the sides in if left unsupported. The sides and roof will have to be beefed up but by the time you've done this, it should be sturdy enough just to be back filled with earth anyway - avoiding the use of RMC. The whole structure should be painted with a bituminous paint and then it should last a few decades.

[grenfell]

Yeah I was thinking the container would stay in place after the concrete went in, painted before hand to prevent corrosion. The alternative if building a concrete bunker would be to form the shutter in timber and remove afterwards which would be expensive (although comparible to using a container?) and time consuming . I was just thinking if in the very very unlikely event I was ever to build one it would be simple enough to brace with scaffolding and acrow props and cast around it. Once set the concrete would be self supporting and not impose any stress on the container.
On a similar note wasn't there someone in the first Doomsday Preppers programme that was forming an underground bunker with school buses linked and buried in an old quarry. Again they aren't designed for that but I can't remember how they got around the weight of soil problem.

[Devonian]

Yeah I was thinking the container would stay in place after the concrete went in, painted before hand to prevent corrosion. The alternative if building a concrete bunker would be to form the shutter in timber and remove afterwards which would be expensive (although comparible to using a container?) and time consuming . I was just thinking if in the very very unlikely event I was ever to build one it would be simple enough to brace with scaffolding and acrow props and cast around it. Once set the concrete would be self supporting and not impose any stress on the container.
On a similar note wasn't there someone in the first Doomsday Preppers programme that was forming an underground bunker with school buses linked and buried in an old quarry. Again they aren't designed for that but I can't remember how they got around the weight of soil problem.

Its not quite that simple, you would also need to reinforce the concrete else you risk the concrete placed on the roof shearing off from the concrete on the sides then squashing the container from above!!

[grenfell]

Well yeah , it was so obvious the concrete would be reinforced (to me at least) irrespective of what is used as a shutter that I didn't mention it , perhaps I should have
I've done a fair bit of shuttering in my time from stairs, ringbeams , lintels, machinery bases, assault courses and a basement for a new build which became underground toilets so I know at least the basics .

[Devonian]

No worries, one of the problems of the net, you never really know who you are chatting with or what their experience is

But either way I'd still go with the pipe everytime and for that you wouldn't need concrete, unless you have a high water table and need to prevent flotation.

[grenfell]

Plastic pipes do seem a good idea and I suppose you could have two, one as a bunker and one as a water store and there would probably be the advantage that people would assume they are some sort of large septic tank going in rather than an habitable bunker.