In early 2020, Ruben and Joan Romero bought a nuclear-grade, Cold War era bunker in the Midwest. They relocated from Georgia and set about turning the subterranean structure into a family home, alongside their four children.

Working together every step of the way, the Romeros are transforming the extraordinary refuge into a fully self-sufficient living space. Click or scroll on to witness the highs, lows and near misses involved in bringing their dream to life...

"Alright, so... we bought an underground bunker." It's the first thing Ruben says in his earliest YouTube video, way back in July 2020. From then on he has regularly posted updates on his popular Underground Living TikTok and YouTube channels, documenting life doing up one of the world's most unusual homes.

The nuclear-grade bunker was an old communications facility, one of around 100 built across the US in the 1960s by the government and AT&T (an American telecoms company) to keep the country connected in case of war. 

After considering various out-of-the-way options, such as a deserted island or even a submarine, the Romeros fell in love with the idea of living in a bunker after seeing a fully-renovated one for sale. Eventually, Ruben found an unrenovated one in the Midwest and persuaded the owners to part with it for just $300,000 (£237k) according to the Daily Mail.

Ruben moved in ahead of his family and set about preparing the bunker for their arrival. It was a race against the clock for Ruben, who had just one week to make the empty shell fit for human habitation...

During his first night sleeping in the bunker, Ruben admitted (in one of his YouTube videos) to feeling disconcerted after he closed the "extremely heavy" blast doors behind him, sealing him alone, 25 feet (8m) underground. The 6,000-square-feet (557sqm) EMP-shielded shelter is made from two-feet of reinforced concrete on all sides. However, Ruben found it hard to sleep in such a huge, open space.

"I'm as safe as probably anyone is in the world right now," he said, having woken in the middle of the night. "Unless somebody is in here with you... and you're locked in here with them." 

After successfully setting up the internet on day one (ahead of water or even a sewer), Ruben received a notification that the bunker was suddenly filling up with dangerous levels of industrial fumes. He concluded that one of the fluorescent lights had broken and was releasing toxic gas straight into the bunker. After shutting off that part of the shelter, Ruben bought an industrial fan to disperse the fumes. 

He admits he's also worried about exposure to radon, a radioactive gas, while living down in the bunker. "Radon's not something that's going to kill you right away, but it is carcinogenic so it can cause cancer, so it is something you've got to be careful about."

For all his enthusiasm for the project, Ruben, an online consultant, admitted to feeling worn out at times. 

"I was so exhausted yesterday it hurt to stand," he said. "I'm used to working at a computer, I sit most of the day, and now I'm going up and down several flights of stairs 40 times a day, in trenches, working... my legs are going to collapse out from under me."

Ruben's next priority was to get running water to the site. After digging a trench (and breaking a water pipe in the process), Ruben discovered a number of pipes and eventually tracked down the right one to hook up to the city water supply.

"It's been quite the ordeal," he said later that day. "We've torn up more ground than we needed to, but we made lots of discoveries" as well as "a few mistakes". After connecting this spigot, Ruben admitted he never thought he'd be "so excited" by the thought of a bucket shower!

While digging the trenches, Ruben stumbled across this manhole cover. Upon opening it, he found a 22-feet (7m) deep concrete silo beneath the ground. Upon climbing down the ladder inside, he found water flowing through two openings at the bottom, which may even be a spring that runs beneath the property.

Later that day, he did manage to connect flowing water to the bunker, but a series of leaks inside and out meant the project had to be delayed until another day.

Finally, and after only one minor flooding incident when Ruben was trying to hook up the showers, Joan (pictured) arrived with children Eden, Enoch, Zion and Celestial. 

Although Ruben admits they "certainly know it's a little strange", his children have adapted well to bunker life.

Eden in particular seemed bowled over by their 13 acres (5.3ha) of land, while the others had fun using the hydraulic hoist, seen here, to lower their belongings into their new home.

As the only boy, Enoch got his own bedroom, while the three girls were initially split between a brand new metal bunk and a temporary tent in another room.

The family's first meal in their new home was a makeshift affair. To celebrate, Ruben posted this photo to the family Instagram account, showing them eating a meal of pita and hummus on a cardboard box dining table they "threw together for the occasion".

The whole family quickly got stuck into renovating the bunker, helping to dismantle the existing kitchen. If was just as well that they were there to help, as Ruben was diagnosed with an infection in his leg and had to use crutches to get around until it healed.

The kitchen had been built by someone who had wanted to buy the bunker and subsequently changed their mind.

Originally located on the mezzanine level of the bunker, the Romeros moved it to a lower level to make way for Ruben and Joan's bedroom, seen here.

They created this temporary kitchen on the lower level and while Ruben admits there are "some issues with putting the kitchen downstairs" he also says: "we've got solutions for that". 

In the meantime, the family were no doubt grateful simply to have a working kitchen and a proper dining table to gather around.

"One thing that will become very evident from these videos is that I am not an expert," Ruben said as he attempted some home plumbing and caused a small flood. "I'm an amateur. Hopefully in six months, maybe I'll be a little bit better and we can all look back on this video and laugh."

Luckily, his and Joan's bid to install a toilet in their new home went a little better and, after a couple of small setbacks, they built a fully-functioning one. The original metal toilets in the bunker were mounted on springs, designed to protect the plumbing in the event of a nuclear blast.

This room partition was built by the previous owners and didn't fit with Ruben and Joan's plans for their home. More importantly, it was built from drywall and wood studs, which are both prone to mould, a potential problem in a bunker as underground structures are susceptible to damp.

The Romeros killed existing mould by using an ozone generator (a machine which purifies the air) while they stayed safely above ground. Then they simply called some friends over to help, grabbed their sledgehammers and got to work!

Ruben reveals that the biggest concern when living in a bunker is the quality of the air they breathe. High radon, methane and carbon dioxide levels, along with low oxygen levels, are the main hazards.

To help maintain their air quality, he and his son installed an Energy Recovery Ventilation unit (ERV), which continuously takes stale air from inside the bunker and pumps it outside, replacing it with fresh air. It also recovers some of the energy used during that process, so the bunker doesn't lose valuable heat in the winter.

In an effort to keep the bunker as safe as possible for their family, Ruben and Joan also cleaned and de-clogged all their drains before fitting them with radon plugs, seen here being installed by Joan. These let allow wastewater to flow out of the building, without letting harmful vapours enter.

While there are multiple ways to heat an underground space, the Romeros still use the original wall heaters that came with the bunker. "One of them will heat up the space pretty quickly", Ruben says. "We'll often put a fan in front of it to keep the heat at our level. Unfortunately, they also use a lot of energy."

Humidity is another problem of bunker life, but by running three dehumidifiers constantly, the family is able to keep it under control.

While the Romeros don't count themselves as 'doomsday preppers', they have certainly adopted an attitude of being as self-sufficient as possible.

Joan built this water purification system and confessed she was excited to have it as part of their 'bunker family' as it doesn't use any energy. "It is hard to have a bunker and not have a little bit of prepper come out in you," Ruben admits.

With ceilings that reach almost 17 feet (5m) high, much of the work in the bunker has to be carried out on tall platforms. Unfortunately, that means things can go wrong in the blink of an eye.

Ruben demonstrated this while he was removing old HVAC vents from the rec room ceiling. As one fell to the floor, it hit the scaffold he stood on, almost sending the whole thing, along with Ruben, crashing to the ground.

Luckily, Ruben's team of assistants (the rest of the family) made light of the work, although it took a week to remove all the old metal. Barring that one incident, the rest went without a hitch.

The next step was to put up the lighting, which Ruben first laid out on the floor.  The family try to reuse as much material as they can, including these lights, partly because it's in keeping with the bunker's original look and feel, but also to save money. 

Bunker life isn't glamorous. Here we see the family pulling together to unearth a sump pump pipe. They needed to block off the pipe to prevent sewage backing up into the bunker.

Once they'd dug the trench, located the pipe and fixed the problem, the team then set to work filling the trench back in, so the exposed pipes didn't freeze and burst during the winter.

But, despite the hard work involved in getting the bunker into habitable condition, Ruben doesn't regret buying this unusual home. "I wish I had half a million to a million dollars in the bank when I bought it, but I didn't, so you've just got to move forwards sometimes. Really, honestly, no regrets."

While your average homeowner would almost certainly feel a little claustrophobic heading down into a subterranean space like this every day (which is actually one of the many underground silos, drains and tanks Ruben has found on his property), the Romeros don't seem to mind it.

"It depends on the bunker," says Ruben. "If you're living in our bunker, chances are you're not going to feel claustrophobic because it's a big space. It's like entering into a movie theatre. Yeah, there's no windows, but it's so wide and open. Now, if you're in a tiny bunker with seven- or eight-foot (2m) ceilings, probably more people would feel claustrophobic. But these AT&T bunkers are massive, so most people feel perfectly fine being in them."

How the family survive without natural daylight is a question the Romeros often get asked. "People who live underground can get vitamin D from artificial light", Ruben says while addressing the topic on TikTok. "Tungsten are the best."

Ruben currently opts for 5K LED lights which simulate sunlight. He also reveals he goes outside more now than he did before he moved to the bunker, for the simple reason that he has more jobs to do outside than ever before.

The Romeros plan to eventually farm their 13 acres and can be seen here building a large compost bin together from old pallets. However, they are often asked if it's possible to grow plants underground.

To begin with, the family started growing herbs in their bunker and have also had some success with potatoes. Eventually, Joan would like to have an entire wall full of plants down in their unconventional home.

Several years on from buying their bunker home, Ruben and Joan took to TikTok to reflect upon their long-term plan. "The end goal of the bunker is to have a place that we can do everything we want," Ruben says. "Farm, live off the grid, do art, be protected from the apocalypse, have family reunions. Underground bunkers like this just check off all the boxes."

If the Romeros' hundreds of thousands of social media followers are anything to go by, they're certainly not the only ones who desire a safe, simple life below ground.

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