'Secret tunnel' project under Virginia home shut down after complaints, TikToker says

A Northern Virginia woman who set out to build a “secret tunnel” storm shelter on the side of her home’s basement was shut down by officials, according to a recent TikTok post.

The woman, named Kala, lives in Herndon, about 20 miles northwest of Arlington. She played audio from a phone call with local building officials in a TikTok video posted on Dec. 28. The person she spoke identified himself as Jack Smith and said he received complaints about construction on her property. 

“They said it's excavation,” said the person on the phone. “That you're pulling stuff out of the basement.”

Kala admitted she was excavating “a little bit” and agreed to let them take a look. She was then given a stop-work order and told her the project has to be evaluated by a professional engineer.

Online, the woman identifies herself as an engineer, going by the TikTok handle @engineer.everything.

“Fortunately, contrary to fuel rumors here, it is constructed entirely below the slab of my house and it shouldn't be too hard to get the permits and approval,” she said. “We'll be working on that.”

The State Building Codes Office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment but a spokesperson for Herndon, the town she lives in, shared a statement with USA TODAY Friday afternoon.

The spokesperson said town officials received a notice about activity that may violate the Uniform Statewide Building Code. 

“As is standard protocol following such notifications, representatives from the building official’s and zoning administrator’s offices conducted a site inspection on Thursday, December 7, 2023,” the statement read. “The town is working with the property owner to correct any violations and ensure that the property is safe and in compliance with the code.”

‘Secret tunnel’ project has been ongoing for at least a year

Kala first posted about the project in October 2022. She said she planned to cut into a wall to build the shelter, as well as add a wooden ramp for it.

“(For) the other side of the window, which is about 14 feet below ground, we will need to construct a crane and a bucket to get all of the rubble out of here and put it into a trailer or truck,” she said in the 2022 video. “This project is going to be enormously expensive and have zero return on investment. It's something that I wanted to do and it should be fun.”

She continued to post over the past year, including updates about project obstacles such as water seepage, a lack of space to put rock and debris and a smoking and sparking power cord.

The biggest problem, she said, included a malfunctioning jackhammer. Some of its bolts fell out and there were also internal issues causing the device to malfunction.

Kala can be found online at www.tiktok.com/@engineer.everything and www.youtube.com/@engineerkala.