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​Teen Spends Six Years Digging Underground Cave In Garden After Fight With Parents

​Teen Spends Six Years Digging Underground Cave In Garden After Fight With Parents

Andres Canto was 14 when he fell out with his parents and started digging a hole in the back garden

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A teenager in Spain was so annoyed after an argument with his parents that he decided to dig an underground den beneath the garden - spending six years creating his own subterranean oasis.

Andres Canto was 14 when he fell out with his parents when they told him he couldn't go out wearing a tracksuit, prompting him to grab a pickaxe and head out to the garden in La Romana, Alicante, to let off some steam.

Six years later, Canto has managed to create the ultimate man cave, complete with its own sitting room and bedroom.

Now 20, Canto doesn't really understand what compelled him to start hacking away back in 2015, but is happy with the result.

Real Press

Canto, an actor, said: "My parents wanted me to change clothes to go to the village, but I wanted to wear the tracksuit that I liked to wear at home so I could mess around in the village.

"They told me I could not go out dressed like this and I said: 'No worries, I can entertain myself', and I went to the back of the property and started to dig a hole."

Real Press

But the hole continued to grow as Canto wound down after school and in his free time excavating the earth by hand.

His friend Andreu then brought round a pneumatic drill, which sped up the process - with the pair eventually creating a 3m (9.8ft) deep cave, which they spent up to 14 hours a week digging.

Now Canto plans to extend the site - which already features mod-cons like a heating system, WiFi courtesy of his mobile phone transmitting from the entrance and a music system.

Real Press
Real Press

He said the temperature remains a constant 20 or 21°C between May and September.

Canto continued: "It's great, I have everything I need. It can be tiring to work here as it is wet and there is not much air going around, but I have found my own motivation to keep on digging every day."

He's not too worried about the the odd flood or even the occasional visits from insects, spiders and snails, especially as he 'destroyed their house'.

"I let them build it in a new place in the wall. It's no problem," Canto said.

He explained that he has 'always like to build little huts', as he lives in the countryside, and went on to start creating tree houses.

"I was a kid with a lot of imagination," he said.

Real Press

Canto estimates that the project cost him no more than 50 (£43) as most of the construction materials were much cheaper than he expected.

He mainly dug by hand using buckets to carry the soil from the hole, but eventually decided to study other excavation techniques to help him - which was when he came up with the idea of using a pulley system.

Canto also reinforced his cave roof using arched entrances and vaulted ceilings reinforced with columns, as well as concrete walls to prevent collapses.

Real Press
Real Press

He went viral after posting a video of the cave online, soon attracting the attention of the local authorities.

The Civil Guard and its environmental protection department paid him a visit to ensure the den was legal, with Canto saying: "As I am the first person in Spain doing something like this, when the Civil Guard arrived there was not a specific report for that, it was not a basement, neither was it a storehouse, it was only a well-built underground hut."

Amazingly, his parents are fine with their son's underground retreat, with Canto saying: "[My mum] came down and told me that it was smaller than it seemed in videos."

Featured Image Credit: Real Press

Topics: World News, News, Teenager, Spain