Teen Builds His Own Underground Cave in Backyard After Dispute With Parents

An angry teenager began digging a hole in his backyard after a dispute with his parents six years ago. He rarely stopped digging and has since built an underground cave with a living room and a bedroom.

Andrés Cantó was 14 when he argued with his parents and headed into his backyard with a pickaxe, according to a report by Zenger News. Cantó's parents told him he couldn't go to the village in his sportswear, so in a defiant, teenage act he decided to find a different way to entertain himself.

He began digging a hole in his garden in Alicante, Spain, in what soon became a regular activity. Cantó would spend his evenings after school excavating his cave, and one day, his friend brought around a pneumatic drill to help speed up the process.

The friends were able to dig out a three-meter cave with two rooms, with most of the work done by hand. They found ways to work faster, like replacing the use of buckets to remove the soil with a pulley system.

Cantó, now aged 20, has reinforced the roof of the cave with arched entrances and vaulted ceilings, and used concrete walls to prevent a collapse—and remarkably he has only spent about $60 on the whole project. Future plans include further expansion and the addition of WiFi, lighting, heating and a sound system.

Cantó shared photos of the cave and his experiences on Twitter. His first tweet amassed more than 46,000 likes and the photo of the cave was shared by more than 12,000 people.

He notes that building a cave is not without its problems, like dealing with insects and the possibility of flooding. But, he's happy to peacefully coexist with insects and says that flooding strengthens the earth and reduces the risk of a collapse.

When word got out, the Civil Guard and Spain's department for environmental protection visited him to ensure the cave was legal and safe.

He told Zenger News: "As I am the first person in Spain doing something like this when the Civil Guard arrived there was not a specific report. It was not a basement, neither was it a storehouse, it was only a well-built underground hut."

All the checks have assured him that the cave is totally safe. Local authorities gave him the go-ahead, and the cave has since passed several inspections by experts who have made caves themselves.

Cantó isn't worried about the cave collapsing, telling HuffPost: "At first it was more scary, but people who know have been evaluating it and they have told us that we are doing well. You cannot fall in any way. In addition, I am reinforcing it with pillars."

Cantó told Newsweek that this week he finished the columns in the deepest room of the cave, which measures 1.8 meters by 2.5 meters, and that he hopes to finish the room by the time he goes to college in September.