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So you want to build a tunnel

practical.engineering

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Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#111

Post by mindslight »

dyauspitr wrote: post #102
King-Aaron wrote: post #78

There's a lady on Instagram that goes by the handle 'engineerkala', who's been building a tunnel/mine below her home and learning the process along the way. I'm pretty sure one day the account will go dark when she's entombed herself a hundred metres below her living room, but until that comes it's a fascinating and extremely entertaining page to watch.

I don’t know how Colin Furze hasn’t come up in this thread yet. He has built a sprawling series of tunnels and rooms under his home and not in some cursory, lip service way like Kala.

Read the article and find out!

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#112

Post by dyauspitr »

mindslight wrote: post #111
dyauspitr wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how Colin Furze hasn’t come up in this thread yet. He has built a sprawling series of tunnels and rooms under his home and not in some cursory, lip service way like Kala.

Read the article and find out!

I got about halfway through and didn’t see him mentioned.

Edit: lol he’s in the first paragraph.

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#113

Post by Windchaser »

mlhpdx wrote: post #63
autoexec wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get the same endorphins with exercise, but you don't get to see the results of your work. It's so much more satisfying when you can clearly see your progress. Playing in sandboxes or digging holes in your yard is a game, but manual labor alone is often just work.

I haven’t been to a gym since leaving college (I rowed in a championship 8, and twice daily workouts were a thing). Instead I do manual labor and love it. I’ve built dry stack basalt walls, mowed, edged, pruned, chopped and sawn, poured and broken cement, etc and never missed the (for me) pointless repetition of “exercise”. I respect folks that can do it, but I can’t understand how.

Oh, there's a lot of exercise that's not so pointless. Climbing, soccer, racquetball, dance, etc.

For running, I put on some headphones and get lost in a meditative headspace. For weights, I usually end up reading a book on my phone. Still, neither weights or running are as much fun as the gamified exercises (sports), the puzzles (climbing), or the social-oriented exercises (dance, partnered acrobatics, some sports).

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#115

Post by rogerrogerr »

taurusnoises wrote: post #101

My wife and I have an excavator on our property that we use for making trails, trenching, digging up stumps, etc. All of it is exhilarating. But, nothing beats simply digging. Something about breaking through the top layer and getting a big scoop of earth that just feels real good.

I’ve sometimes wondered about getting a big plot of land, some cheap old heavy machinery, and letting people pay to play with it.

Probably liability insurance makes it impractical, which is a shame. There really is nothing like playing with a big excavator. Very fortunate that it was one of my formative experiences.

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#116

Post by rogerrogerr »

ineedasername wrote: post #107

How far down does a person own, on their property? I mean, keeping things (relatively) simple-- and residential-- and assuming you respect the water table, utilities, etc?

In most cases, you own to the center of the earth. But you may not own the rights to extract those minerals.

Also, it’s often moot because some part of the government will require you to pull permits to kick a rock in your backyard.

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#117

Post by elihu »

hi_hi wrote: post #64

You can't talk about hobby tunnels without mentioning the Moleman of Hackney :-) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyttle - The house was later brought back to life in an amazing way https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/sue-webst...

Also worth mentioning Baldassare Forestiere, who spent about 40 years digging an extensive network of tunnels in Fresno, CA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestiere_Underground_Gardens

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#118

Post by kleiba »

shagie wrote: post #19
kleiba wrote: post #4

Colin Furze ftw!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray > Cray avoided publicity. There are a number of unusual tales about his life away from work, termed "Rollwagenisms", from then-CEO of Cray Research, John A. Rollwagen. Cray enjoyed skiing, windsurfing, tennis, and other sports. Another favorite pastime was digging a tunnel under his home; he attributed the secret of his success to "visits by elves" while he worked in the tun…

Yeah, but he didn't make crazy yt videos!

Re: So you want to build a tunnel

#119

Post by taurusnoises »

rogerrogerr wrote: post #115
taurusnoises wrote: post #101

My wife and I have an excavator on our property that we use for making trails, trenching, digging up stumps, etc. All of it is exhilarating. But, nothing beats simply digging. Something about breaking through the top layer and getting a big scoop of earth that just feels real good.

I’ve sometimes wondered about getting a big plot of land, some cheap old heavy machinery, and letting people pay to play with it. Probably liability insurance makes it impractical, which is a shame. There really is nothing like playing with a big excavator. Very fortunate that it was one of my formative experiences.

We've thrown some parties on the prop, and have often thought, "Maybe it'd be cool to let people try some of this stuff out," at which point we remember how incredibly dangerous something like an excavator is, even when closely monitored and in a safe environment, and then have nightmares about worst case scenarios. So, it's been a no-go thus far. What we have actually considered, though, is seeing about renting it out to a known-to-be safe / mature user to use on projects when we aren't. But, haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.
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