A MAN who bought a 1980s abandoned nuclear bunker and turned it into a stunning home could never have imagined the discovery he’d make.
Dean Anderson was desperate to buy a property in Paradise Valley, Montana, after falling in love with the area during a fishing trip in 2018.
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenDean Anderson bought a 1980s abandoned nuclear bunker and transformed it into a home[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenThe area in Paradise Valley in Montana is made up of more than 50 bunkers that were built to prepare for nuclear fallout[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenAccess could only be gained through a small hole when Dean brought the property[/caption]
And after conducting a thorough search, he came across a man who was selling a dormant bunker for a reasonable price and snapped it up.
But what Dean never expected was to inherit 45,000lbs worth of food and medical supplies.
Having been stored in the basement for a number of years, these helped seal the deal for Dean.
However, with the basement around 20ft deep, it took a lot of effort to get rid of all of the wheat and other food supplies which were stored in sealed barrels.
Dean made use of some of the goods he found, though, with abundant supplies of olive oil, sesame oil, mung beans, margarine powder and peanut butter powder.
In a YouTube video made by documentary maker Kirsten Dirksen, the nuclear bunker owner opens up about his unique property project.
He said: “Basically to me it was like a million to a million and a half dollars worth of cement stuck underground.
“I was thinking all this leftover stuff, gone, they’re going to bury it, so I could buy it for next to nothing and turn it into something cool.”
The area is made up of more than 50 bunkers that were built in the 1980s to prepare for nuclear fallout.
They can be easily spotted due to their ventilation shafts sticking up from under the ground.
According to Dean, all homeowners in the area were required to have a spot in a fallout shelter and ‘it was actually in the home owners association’s (HOA) documents.’
Due to years of neglect, however, Dean ‘s bunker needed a lot of work done to it to get it up to liveable standards.
He began by cutting doors and windows into the reinforced concrete, before attaching an exterior structure to serve as the home’s entranceway.
Its oversized windows offer prime mountain views.
Dean also turned one space in the bunker into an open plan dining area and kitchen, although the curved ceilings meant he had to install horizontal freezer and refrigeration units.
Other features of the kitchen include a central island with a six burner range and three sinks.
Touching on the design aesthetic, Dean said: “We wanted to keep the place… kind of like a bunker or a shelter or a nuclear fallout shelter, so we went with a lot of aluminum… a lot of greys.”
In a bid to be as sustainable as possible and to keep costs down, Dean made lots of the furniture himself or repurposed items.
That includes using an old flamethrower he found discarded in the bunker as a doorstop.
However, because there are no windows in the main living space, Dean installed bright white bulbs ‘with a little blue tint’ in the ceiling and added blue paint.
“[It’s] to try to get the feeling that you’re outside,” he said. “It’s almost like the sky.”
A former medical centre has since become a bedroom, while there is now a shower room inside an old storage room and an office in the new extension.
The underground shelter was built to accommodate 250 people, so there is plenty of room, although Dean shows that the conditions would have been quite cramped.
As things stand, there are still two floors of building to complete, but Dean already has two apartment spaces in his sprawling bunker.
Helping him along the way, however, have been a team of young men in recovery.
Dean believes that physical labour can serves as therapy, having given up alcohol the same way.
All of the men, who are often just off the street or out of prison, receive training and payment for working on the construction project.
‘We’ve had 40 kids through here,” Dean revealed. “The bulk of whom are clean and healthy and doing well.”
Summing up his unusual bunker conversion project, Dean concludes: “It has been one hell of a ride with this thing.”
Another man who owns a secret nuclear bunker has said that people have offered him £30,000 for a space in case of World War Three.
Mike Parrish, 76, from Brentwood, Essex, is all set for a long stint in the bunker in the event of a catastrophic nuclear fallout between global powers.
Elsewhere, a bizarre new tourist attraction which used to house a fleet of Soviet fighter jets underground could open to the public soon.
Carved into a stunning mountainside, the James Bond-style Zeljava Underground Airbase in the Balkans has been abandoned for decades.
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenDean never expected to inherit 45,000lbs worth of food supplies in sealed barrels[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenStacks of medical supplies had also been stored in the basement[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenIn a bid to make the bunker a liveable space, Dean went about cutting doors and windows into the reinforced concrete[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenHe also turned one space in the bunker into an open plan dining area and kitchen[/caption]
YouTube / Kirsten DirksenDean installed bright white bulbs ‘with a little blue tint’ in the ceiling and added blue paint to make up for the lack of windows[/caption]