Want to dig a hole?

[DeeBye]

In many soil types the sides would just collapse.  He really needed to put in footings around the perimeter, and then at least a 6" rebar concrete wall.  I would have tied in steel I beams in a couple points across the diagonal to provide lateral support for the walls to keep them from moving.  Then, walls in place, you apply a water barrier to  the outside to minimize moisture from seeping in.  It is unlikely to prevent all water from seeping in, so for that construct it would have been best to design a sump pump in from the start.

But... nice cistern.  He should set it up as part of his irrigation system.

He's not building a bomb shelter dude. It's just a hole :)

Seriously, 6" reinforced concrete walls with footings and horizontal steel beams would be overkill for this project. Even if you look at the last page, after it was almost completely filled with water from a rising water table, the sides still didn't collapse. For any really deep (and particularly narrow) hole, I'd agree that some side reinforcment would be prudent, but this hole doesn't look nearly deep enough to warrant it. And even then, reinforced concrete would still be overkill.

It's also kind of hard to judge from the pictures, but the soil looks to be perfectly suited to hole-digging. It looks like it contains lots of clay.

It's a nice hole, but I'm more impressed by the fact that he killed and ate a Copperhead!

If you'll excuse me now, I have a hole to dig.