To avoid the walls collapsing you’ll want to angle each wall slightly so that the opening of the fort is a half foot wider than the base. Digging down further than 6 feet can be dangerous and isn’t recommended as it’s more likely for your fort walls to collapse and cause you or others harm. In order to avoid the walls collapsing, never dig deeper than you dig across. The ratio should at least be equal.
An example fort plan would be a 3x3x3 foot square box dug into the ground. (You can angle the walls after digging the original design. ) Write down the dimensions so you’ll stick with the right measurements once you begin digging. Check out how much arm room you’ll have by using suitable markers, pegs or flags, and arranging them on the floor, in sync with your fort dimensions. Sit in the mock fort to see if you’ll be comfortable and it feels like the right width.
Call 811 or any other relevant advice line where you live a couple of days before you dig and get help with locating utility lines in your area. [4] X Research source Check with your parents, or other authority figures, before digging to get their permission. If there is a septic tank, the homeowner should know where it is so you can avoid it. If they don’t, you may need to contact local septic tank pumping companies to ask if they’ve worked on it, look for records of the location in any materials you have about the property and house. [5] X Research source As a last resort to find the septic tank, you can scan the yard for any differences in the grass in the shape of a large rectangle. The grass may not grow in the area on top of the sewage tank, or it may be growing much greener than the grass around it depending on the sewage emissions. [6] X Research source
The best location will be in a grassy field. Avoid building an underground fort in sand. Do not dig a fort if you are in a flood zone.
This will be hard work and may take a couple days, depending on the dimensions and how much time you have to dig. If you want to protect the work you’ve done, cover it with a tarp overnight. Hold down the corners of the tarp with small boulders or mounds of dirt. You may want to use the dirt you’ve dug out to mark where your fort is to avoid anyone falling in the pit. Build it up as walls around your fort but leave one side clear to make sure you can still enter and exit your fort safely. Otherwise, you may want to have a wheelbarrow to take the dirt to another area.
Though a battery-powered light works best, keeping glow sticks in your fort can be a fun way to illuminate the fort for nighttime ventures. [7] X Research source Avoid using candles or lighting a fire in your fort. Doing so may cause debris to fall and potentially injure someone. There is also a potential to suffocate from too much carbon monoxide.
To make an easy step you can use a couple of bricks or a cinder block. Just be sure to pack dirt all around the blocks, about an inch thick to cover sharp edges and corners. To make a rope ladder get nautical rope, or nylon cord, around 1 inch in thickness and find a nearby tree or drive a post into the ground a couple feet away as an anchor for the rope. Wrap one end of your rope around the post or tree and tie an overhand knot. Tie more overhand knots in the rope at appropriate distances for you to reach with your hands and feet. [8] X Research source Then you can cut off the end of the rope after it reaches the base of your fort. This is a fun way to climb out, but only if you already have a safe alternative such as a step.
You can also cover the walls of your fort by cutting plywood boards to the size of each wall. You want the plywood flush with the walls starting at the base of the fort. Drive two pressure treated 2x4 posts down at each corner of your fort and then nail or screw the plywood edges to the 2x4s to create siding. The posts should touch on one corner, creating a small box of space at each fort corner with the 4inch side of the 2x4 flush with the walls, if you’re looking from above.
Take any blankets or cushions you bring out to the fort back inside after use each time so they won’t become damp and get moldy.
You can also horizontally stack long sticks over the entrance if they reach a few inches longer than the fort and won’t fall in. For a more durable alternative, use 2x4 pieces of wood, so long as they reach. You’ll want to cover the sticks and/or 2x4s with cut-out patches of grass for excellent protection from the rain and to keep the fort insulated. Moss is another fantastic way to cover a stick roof over your fort and make it water-tight.
You’ll want to place markers around the entrance so no one will accidentally fall in the pit.
The A-frame is built with three initial logs; one long piece of wood held up on one end at the intersection of two shorter logs in the shape of an ‘A’, or upside down ‘V’ which have been driven into the ground. The open pit will be located in the middle of the triangle shape that the A-frame makes. Sticks are then placed parallel to the two shorter logs all the way down the body of the long piece of wood. A light layer of mud can be packed into the frame to create a roof. You can then add pine cones, needles, leaves, and other natural material on top for camouflage. The lean-to is started by hammering two poles into the ground slightly over the fort. The poles will then hold a board up which will be the peak of a slanted roof down to the ground. Again, sticks can be nailed to the peak of the roof, gradually getting shorter until you reach the bottom of the roof where it touches the ground. This can also be packed with a layer of mud and covered with clay, leaves, pine needles, and/or other natural material to mask the roof.
