Man Spends 3 Years Turning Abandoned Cabin Into an Off-Grid Paradise—Complete With Secret Underground Bunker

A man who spent three years turning a remote and abandoned cabin into an ultramodern off-grid oasis that boasts a secret underground bunker has now opened up about the fascinating project in a jaw-dropping YouTube video.

Architect and craftsman Cawa Onbuti, from Belarus, discovered a crumbling homestead in the woods—and decided to transform the property into an awe-inspiring sustainable abode, beginning with a one-year renovation of the existing structure.

Far from turning it into a prepper’s paradise, Onbuti and his team opted for a more thoughtful design, prioritizing aesthetics and craftsmanship. Sharing the process in a series of time-lapse videos on his YouTube channel, the talented designer captures every element of the three-year build, which started with the cabin, before they turned their attention to the underground bunker space.

Onbuti notes that he just wanted “to reconstruct and create a new cozy place for permanent living and to make a secret hideout,” just for fun, rather than creating a space that would fulfill any particular use.

He and his team employed an intriguing mix of handcrafted materials and high-tech laser technology every step of the way. There’s no Home Depot or Lowe’s nearby where they can pick up precut building and decor supplies—they have to create just about everything from scratch.

They used high-tech tools to cut each board, plank, and shingle, and then transported them to the site and painstakingly laid each one out.

What emerges is an intricately designed compound in the heart of the forest.

In the beginning

The property Onbuti and his team originally acquired consisted of an overgrown swath of forest land with a one-room cabin about 85 years old, without foundation, plumbing, or electricity.

There’s also a barn at one end of the property, which a neighbor revealed had a secret distillery beneath it. Surprisingly enough, that is not what they decided to use for their hidden bunker—they would dig that under the one-room cabin later.

While it appears that Onbuti and his team are in the enviable position of not having to work with permits, inspectors, or code due to the extremely remote location of the build, they still do everything carefully, sturdily, and sustainably. It’s clear they’re building the place to last.

The crew salvage what they can from the one-room structure, including a small stash of vintage wallpaper and some boxes in the attic containing old letters written decades ago.

In a fascinating twist that you don’t see in modern renovation shows, some of the letters are read while the time-lapse documentation of the building proceeds. There is one about a creatively gifted orphan who never made it past the third grade, and another from a girl away at school who was writing home to her parents while they were living and working on the land.

Raising the roof

One of the first tasks they tackled was removing the rotted gabled roof and installing a new one. The new roof is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

They built a double skylight into the gable, which they called a “panoramic insert,” presumably to bring light into the otherwise dark cabin.

So it’s quite a shock when they cover most of the panoramic insert with soil and plant grass on it. An artistic expression perhaps? Whatever the reason, it looks cool and unique from the outside. They cut more windows into the walls to allow light into the cabin.

The rest of the roof is covered by hand-hewn shingles of different sizes that the builders place one at a time. With this level of attention to detail, it’s no wonder it took them three years to get this far.

Building the bunker

The workers spend days digging a shaft that leads from the middle of the main room down to the main bunker room. They have to dig the underground facilities manually, using shovels—the house is simply too small to allow mechanical digging devices.

To support the walls of the shaft, they build a wooden frame above it and drop it down the hole. Vents would be added and cement would be poured in later.

They also build a metal spiral staircase in their workshop, which can be dropped into the room and secured.

A door at the bottom of the shaft leads to the bunker’s main room. The intricately crafted door is not only back-lit, but it’s also opened biometrically, with a fingerprint. Again, if you want a safe place to hide, you’re probably not going to put artistic lighting around the entryway—even if it is securely locked.

Other fascinating features

• Most of the exterior is lined with treated wood paneling, but there’s also a large piece of metal siding decorated with “traditional national patterns,” also backlit.
• Since there are no sewer lines in such a remote location, they relied on a smart septic tank. The contents are filtered, and the water is 95% purified before it flows out through a drainage channel.
• The team dug and built a well to access clean water for human consumption.
• They added a brick, mortar, and cement foundation under the house. They left most of the original wood walls in place and added support beams.
• The large brick oven in the center of the house was removed, and the bricks were used to build a bathroom in the cabin.
• Laser technology was used to carve a tall, thick wooden plank into a likeness of the “god Vees” (who looks an awful lot like Jeff Bridges), to be used as a decorative piece.

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