Underground den

[brightspark]

When I was about 8 ? Summer holiday in the South of france, Morris traveller, tents, campsite, near the sea.

Can I dig a hole with my spade ? Go for it.

Hours later, it was pretty big and deep, the owner turned up and demanded I fill it in, before there was an accident.

we used to dig a hole on the mud footpath in the woods and put twigs across it then cover with docking leaves and spread the soil; back supose it was luck no one seriously hurt themselves falling in it seemed the fun thing to do as a kid

 

[Onoff]

we used to dig a hole on the mud footpath in the woods and put twigs across it then cover with docking leaves and spread the soil; back supose it was luck no one seriously hurt themselves falling in it seemed the fun thing to do as a kid

The sharpened bamboo stakes went a bit too far. Still, the napalm and DDT put paid to your antics I bet!

 

[Cobbler]

, the napalm and DDT put paid to your antics I bet!

when I was a child, I found a load of bottles of DDT, I used to fill a water pistol with it & shoot the wasps around the dustbin. It’s surprising I haven’t mutated, wife might say I have, or my nuts shrivelled & fallen off or something

 

[clift_d]

Iirc it stopped sinking and they had to add a few hundred tons of weight to get it sinking again?

Correct, as a result of friction from the soil, so when they did the other end they made the bottom of the caisson slightly wider than the top and that solved the problem.

 

[Fastdruid]

Did not yet

My job basically starts with drilling holes in the ground, trust me, water can appear at the most unexpected moments

Happens even to the professionals...

https://imgur.com/UCYYjW7

(ruptured sewer gallery in São Paulo while tunnelling for a metro https://www.reuters.com/world/ameri...pses-near-metro-construction-site-2022-02-01/ )

 

[colnerov]

Hi, ISTR in Lake Peigneur in Louisiana they were test boring for oil into a lake bed and an abandoned mine was where it shouldn't have been and they ended up draining the lake into the mine.

Colin

 

[Trevorleach]

Hi, ISTR in Lake Peigneur in Louisiana they were test boring for oil into a lake bed and an abandoned mine was where it shouldn't have been and they ended up draining the lake into the mine.

Colin

I think it was a working salt mine, and the drilling co had to pay the salt co millions in compo, vids on youtube of everything getting sucked down.

 

[Ali]

I think it was a working salt mine, and the drilling co had to pay the salt co millions in compo, vids on youtube of everything getting sucked down.

Didn’t it get spat out again in the following days and the boats just re-floated?

 

[Ali]

I think the idea of a semi-underground hobbit house type arrangement sounds easiest / safest. The girl wants one too so maybe something with a tunnel between. Will start looking out for suitable containers, I won’t be buying anything new at the prices I’ve seen. IBCs look ideal but a bit small. Are they one size only?

 

[Onoff]

Was it on here that someone was experimenting with cement / concrete soaked towels draped over a framework and left to harden?

How about a geodesic dome(s)?

 

[Onoff]

Will start looking out for suitable containers

So much for this WON'T be happening...

 

[Ali]

So much for this WON'T be happening...

Yeah well he won’t be getting a full on underground secret lair complete with fake volcano and 360 degree CCTV system, but the pair of them have been bugging me about this for ages so they might get a semi buried used diesel tank covered up with turf nicked from the school playing fields and a periscope made out of an old drainpipe.

 

[Farside]

Didn’t it get spat out again in the following days and the boats just re-floated?

Well, sort of. The place was wrecked though.

 

[Trevorleach]

Didn’t it get spat out again in the following days and the boats just re-floated?

I think some of the barges did come back up again, the video description has all the info.

 

[Trevorleach]

Was it on here that someone was experimenting with cement / concrete soaked towels draped over a framework and left to harden?

How about a geodesic dome(s)?

British company made something along them lines for the military, erect the tents wet them and voila hard buildings.
Iirc they were very very expensive.

 

[Onoff]

British company made something along them lines for the military, erect the tents wet them and voila hard buildings.
Iirc they were very very expensive.

It was I'm sure discussed on here and a video of the company you refer to put up. It was in a thread on potential workshops.

 

[Onoff]

Just throwing thoughts out there, you never know what might come up as available.

Stacked railway sleepers. Quick and easy to build.

Wire gabions? I wonder if you could mix top soil and cement then fill stacked up gabions...

I think we need to take a step back here and realise the fact that kids often have more fun with the box. In my day the cardboard box a washing machine or sofa came in was an instant camp. Imagination fills in the gaps. So....

How about...a 4x2 wooden frame. Partially sunk into the ground, say 4' in and 4' above.

Then cover in AstroTurf. Teletubby esque.

You could wrap whatever structure in a dpm and back fill the sides with gravel for drainage.

Echoes of Andersen shelters but without the added weight of earth.

What's your ground drainage like there? Could maybe build on a bed off free draining crushed stone in the base of the pit.

Here's a nuts idea...could you fence off a square in the garden using the same posts and fencing you have there. Build an above ground camp behind this but with a "secret", decent sized door in the fence. Spy hole to look out etc. Basically a shed hidden in the fencing.

 

[selectedgrub]

In my day a den was something you made in the woods from fallen branches covered in ferns and leaves!

In my day a den was somewhere you went and paid a lady, not wearing much more than pair of stiletto's, to whip you.
Sounds more fun than twigs and branches.

 

[Onoff]

In my day a den was somewhere you went and paid a lady, not wearing much more than pair of stiletto's, to whip you.
Sounds more fun than twigs and branches.

Was that Cleopatra's in Dunedin?

 

[toddy]

In my day a den was somewhere you went and paid a lady, not wearing much more than pair of stiletto's, to whip you.
Sounds more fun than twigs and branches.

be carfull you will get @Parm come asking questions.