Reinforced

In addition a car shelter is a low cost option. The hole we bury the vehicle in will be like an underground car park, because we have to drive the thing in at least and possibly drive it out. So at some extra cost would it be reasonable to have concrete sides (tight fitting), for extra protection, that just allow the vehicle in. Then the lot may be covered with soil or whatever? I am imagining a sort of Armourguard truck or similar. The councils here in Australia construct subways under roads by using a square cement (very thick/robust) pipe about 9 feet high. It should be easy to use something like that, well seated in a concrete bed to drive the vehicle into. They will handle all the earth you want to pile on top. This, dug into a hill side would be inexpensive and very strong.

A half pipe shaped like ' l__l ' may be buried in a trench (obviously upside down, solid part on top) that has been dug out on a low concrete slab (that has been damp proofed) The metal rods then are cast into another slab that will create the floor. One end is sealed with concrete and the other (entry) would have a type of reinforced door. The outside I would cover thickly with pitch. The top I would cover with thick plastic and then pitch again before giving it soil 3+ feet. Along the sides I would put down agri-pipe to drain the water leakage. On the outside I would put crushed rock 4 inch diameter +/- and then fill with soil. This would allow the drainage of moisture. I do not know if this will work as planned, I would have to test drive this. However if it works, we would have a low cost (I'd guess $100-200 each pipe) very sturdy shelter. Each pipe is 5 meters long x at least 3 wide. This would also provide heaps of storage space at low cost. Recently someone wrote about undergound caches. This could be one feasible way.

Offered by Stephen.

If I did decided to use an auto as shelter I would construct a metal roof by using one-half of a huge culvert perhaps 8-10 feet in diameter. You know, cut it in half and bury the edges perhaps a foot or two into the edge of the pit with a berm surrounding it. No dirt on the roof of the auto. The round dome-like roof would permit wind to pass over, and it would be fireproof and possibly strong enough to deflect incoming debris. The open ends could be sealed by welding plates over them. At this point I don't know what type of shelter I will use as just about anything that I construct in my mind creates as many problems as it solves when I consider the heaving that will occur. But you're right; moving earth is extremely dangerous. Mother earth is going to be really rocking and rolling. It seems to me that any pit that is dug to contain an object the size of an auto would need to be supported by concrete walls to avoid collapse, as somebody suggested.

Offered by Mike.

Why not strip a vehicle down to its seats/harnesses and frame, then weld the frame to a re-bar grid. The grid would then reinforce a concrete foundation for that re-bar-reinforced concrete dome, the construction of which is detailed on a ZetaTalk site. Auto-seat/harness configurations are already designed to take tremendous jolting and impact. With the auto frame welded to the foundation grid and buried in the reinforced concrete, all an "Earth-rider" would need is a helmet for head protection, a barf-bag and an extra pair of trusty Depends.

Offered by Granville.