What made you start?

This letter from the township: https://ganymed.ca/temp/township_letter.jpg

I have a defensive compound / bug-out location in the woods. The township is bothering me all the time.

Above-grade construction is governed by a myriad of laws, rules, regulations, and building codes. Construction of underground structures, specifically root cellars, is not exactly bound by such strict regulations.

For example, there is a rule that nothing can be built on the lot until the primary dwelling is built. A primary dwelling requires a septic tank with a minimum capacity of 8 cubic meters (2,000 gallons), a leach field, a minimum lot area of 0.3 hectares (0.74 acres), and a minimum house floor area of 500 square feet. None of this applies to farming buildings such as root cellars. There is no minimum floor area requirement for a root cellar. If you want to build a septic tank, its size is entirely up to you. The size of the leach field is also entirely up to you. If you have rural zoning, you do not need to apply for a zoning change.

Obviously, a root cellar cannot be a primary dwelling, so you will not be able to register a postal address or receive Amazon parcels and other mail. Services such as garbage removal or wood chip delivery usually refuse requests unless you can provide a postal address. So that is one of the negative aspects of it.

A storage shed with an area under 160 square feet can be built without a building permit. However, you cannot add insulation to it. If you add insulation, the storage shed effectively becomes a house and requires a permit, while also becoming subject to the 500-square-foot minimum floor area requirement and all other related requirements. However, when building a root cellar, the insulation, typically XPS boards, is placed between the soil and the concrete. It is not visible in any way from the outside. I am unaware of any provisions that would prohibit insulation in a root cellar. Even if such provisions did exist, I am unaware of any practical way to identify the type of insulation being used, whether from inside or outside the bunker.

Are you building it yourself or hiring people?

I am building it myself.

What’s been the hardest part so far?

Permits and paperwork.

And realistically, do you think it’s worth the money?

Yes, it makes a lot of sense economically. Land outside towns is cheap. Construction is extremely cheap when you do it yourself. My current estimate is around $200 per square foot. My estimates were not exactly accurate on previous projects. Sometimes the final cost ends up being up to twice the original estimate. Even at double the estimated cost, the price tag would still be about five times cheaper than a conventional above-grade house.

I have a background in nuclear physics. I have processed results from numerical and physical experiments. There is a popular statement: “Nuclear weapons were built to never be used.” I do not share this sentiment.

Somehow, this logic does not correspond to the human behavior I have observed in life. At any given point in time, people are usually acting in what they perceive to be their own best interests. Abstract morality does not play a major role in human behavior, at least not all the time.

If something is considered unthinkable, that does not mean people will not do it. People do unthinkable things all the time.

Later in life, I worked for insurance companies. Specifically, I analyzed data showing what types of construction lead to higher insurance risks. As an insurance professional, I can tell you that nuclear reactors are effectively uninsurable. If a radiological emergency occurs, the estimated damages would be so enormous that no company, and realistically no government, could fully cover them.

Having said that, I am actually a proponent of nuclear energy. In my opinion, it is safer than other forms of energy generation. I am also a strong advocate for placing reactor cores below ground level and constructing containment buildings above them.