How to Build an Underground Base in Minecraft
Excavate and furnish a hidden underground base with a flush glass ceiling, structured quadrants for storage and crafting, and aesthetic oak-and-stone-brick interior framing.
- Read the tools, materials, safety notes, and steps below for free.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Diamond or Iron Pickaxe
- ✓ Diamond or Iron Shovel
- ✓ Iron Axe
- ✓ Water Bucket
- ✓ Stack of Torches
- ✓ Ladders
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ 64 Glass Blocks
- ✓ 128 Stripped Oak Logs
- ✓ 192 Stone Bricks
- ✓ 128 Oak Planks
- ✓ 32 Oak Leaves
- ✓ 16 Lanterns
- ✓ 12 Glowstone or Sea Lanterns
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Light the surface perimeter within a 16-block radius to prevent creepers from dropping into your open excavation pit.
- • Carry a loaded water bucket in your active hotbar slot to neutralize sudden lava pockets or negate accidental vertical falls.
- • Maintain a continuous block light level above 0 across all interior surfaces to block hostile mob spawns.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Mark the Layout and Excavate the Main Chamber
Clear a flat area on the surface and mark out a circle with an 11-block diameter (center 5 blocks wide, stepped down to 3, then 1 on the diagonals). Dig straight down inside this perimeter to a depth of 6 blocks, clearing all dirt, gravel, and stone layers. Place temporary torches along the pit floor as you dig to keep the site illuminated.
- • A clean, cylindrical 11x11 circular pit that is exactly 6 blocks deep.
- • Floor is completely flat and level across all coordinates.
- • Digging straight down beneath your feet into gravel collapses or cave drops.
- • Miscounting the circular layout symmetry, resulting in an oval or warped pit.
Line and Frame the Perimeter Walls
Replace the outer dirt and stone perimeter walls with vertical Stripped Oak Logs placed every 3 blocks to create support pillars. Fill the intermediate wall sections between pillars with Stone Bricks from floor to ceiling. Ensure the top ring of the wall sits flush one block below the grass surface line.
- • Evenly spaced vertical stripped logs dividing neat stone brick wall panels.
- • No natural dirt, stone, or gravel visible on the perimeter walls.
- • Placing stripped logs with mismatched grain directions instead of uniform vertical orientation.
- • Forgetting to strip oak logs before placing them, leading to uneven wood textures.
Install Subfloor Lighting and Wood Flooring
Dig out the natural floor by two full blocks in depth across the entire chamber. Place Glowstone or Sea Lanterns in a symmetrical grid across the lower trench, then cover the entire floor with Oak Planks or Oak Slabs. The embedded light sources will shine through transparent slab gaps or illuminate your room cleanly without requiring floor-cluttering torches.
- • Seamless wooden floor that sits flush with the base of the stone brick walls.
- • Warm ambient lighting radiating through the floor with no dark spawnable patches.
- • Placing full opaque solid blocks directly over glowstone, which completely blocks light emissions.
- • Leaving dirt blocks exposed beneath the perimeter wall border.
Seal the Ceiling with Glass and Install an Entryway
Place clear or light gray Glass blocks across the top opening of the pit so the roof is completely flush with the natural grass surface. Select one corner pillar and carve a 1x1 vertical shaft straight to the surface right next to the glass dome. Install a column of ladders with a wooden trapdoor at the surface, or set up a soul sand water elevator for quick entry and exit.
- • The underground base is completely sealed from weather and mobs by a flush glass roof.
- • A working vertical entry hatch seamlessly connects the ground surface to the base interior.
- • Placing glass blocks one block too high, creating an awkward raised lip on the natural terrain.
- • Failing to waterlog or secure the ladder shaft top, allowing creepers to fall down inside.
Carve Dedicated Quadrant Alcoves
Punch 3-block-wide by 3-block-deep alcoves through the center of the four stone brick walls to create functional rooms. Line the alcove walls with Stone Bricks and wood stairs to form recessed framing. Assign each quadrant a designated base function: a crafting/smelting station with blast furnaces, a double-chest storage wall, an enchanting nook, and a bed station.
- • Four distinct recessed chambers extending symmetrically from the central rotunda.
- • Essential functional stations installed and operational without encroaching on central walking space.
- • Breaking into dark adjacent caves while carving alcoves without immediately blocking the breach.
- • Overcrowding the central floor instead of embedding functional blocks into the wall alcoves.
Add Interior Detailing, Foliage, and Lanterns
Hang lanterns from the ceiling using iron chains directly beneath the structural log pillars for atmospheric overhead light. Place Oak Leaves along the upper wall seams and alcove archways to give the bunker a vibrant, overgrown greenhouse look. Finish the living space by adding item frames to storage chests, laying down carpet runners, and placing potted saplings on workstations.
- • Lanterns hanging symmetrically from ceiling chains at uniform heights.
- • Foliage and accent carpets breaking up flat stone and wood textures across the interior.
- • Using open torches instead of lanterns, creating harsh particle effects and dated visual aesthetics.
- • Overusing leaf blocks, which can block access to chests or prevent enchanting tables from reaching max level.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Shock Frost — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Glowstone / Sea Lanterns? Torches placed under Oak Slabs or Carpets
- No Stripped Oak Logs? Stripped Spruce Logs or Smooth Basalt
- No Iron Chains? Iron Bars or Fence Posts