So as we’re thinking about moving into a new house in the next 4 or 5 years, I’m starting my research on different options. One of the things I’m considering is a dome home (see examples at http://www.aidomes.com/index.htm and www.domehome.com ) as I think it’s the most house for the money. While I’m not planning on putting the whole thing together myself, I imagine that I will do some of the initial construction, and some of the interior. So do any dopers have any expirience with Dome houses? The first link aidomes.com I like because the sections are made out of a concrete mixture, which I would think would give you a longer lasting home, even if the cost of renting a crane adds to the price. I’m just leery of buying anything new, as I watched our current house being built, and know the quality of constuction on most new homes is poor. So any advice? Stories? Related attempts to do something similar?
First, unless it’s a hunting cabin/ski lodge kind of place… they are ugly! (IMO, of course)
Second, the interior celings, if left open to the large “ball” shape, cause some very interesting sound issues. Friends and myself used to rent one pretty regularly, and I can’t tell you the number of odd conversations that have taken place 180degrees away from me, far on the other side of the dome (one on another floor), that I’ve listened into, just like I was sitting in on it… (and replied too!). It’s VERY odd, being 40feet away, and whispering to someone, and having them hear you perfectly.
In a former life I worked in agricultural construction, and one job we had was a circular manure pit about 12 feet high and 160 feet in diameter, it was big. But the fun part was being able to have conversations across the pit by talking into the wall.
Just to reply to the OP’s comment about new-build homes. I’ve talked to a number of general contractors who’ve said they don’t want to work in ‘on spec’ projects because of the quality problems that the OP noticed. That doesn’t mean that the home building building for him or herself is facing the same problems. Without the need to build cheaply enough to put in a nice profit margin, many of the quality control issues the OP is referring to just aren’t there.
There were a lot of dome homes built here in Oregon in the sixties and seventies and even later, for reasons I won’t go into. I even looked into building one myself in the 70s. Some of the problems I heard of were:
a) They’re hard to finance. Many lenders don’t like to take chances on anything out of the ordinary.
b) They aren’t as easy to put together right as you might think. Many of them developed leaks in the roof seams due to sealing problems.
c) Contractors didn’t like to work on them. I don’t remember their reasoning here.
d) They are tedious to finish inside, especially the ceilings.
e) Resale isn’t/wasn’t real good. A lot of people think they’re weird/ugly.
Of course all that is anecdotal, from my admittedly not-so-good memory. YMMV, yada, yada.
BTW, I did build my own house once. It’s one of the most maddening, stress-inducing, fun and satisfying things you will ever do, especially if you do most of the actual work yourself, as I did. (it wasn’t a dome home though, but it was kinda weird) Go for it, and good luck!
Disclaimer: I don’t really know anything about dome homes, except that they are presumably dome shaped. My comments are really all conjecture.
It may give you the most enclosed space for the smallest amount of materials, but is it the most useful space, the most livable space?
I remember reading somewhere that, in general, in the archeological record, as a culture increases in stuff, i.e. more property to store and keep organized, it switches from round buildings (e.g. round huts) and round storage containers (jars, amphora) to rectangular buildings and more rectangular storage containers (boxes) because they are easier to fit together and are easier to organize.
When I read this, I changed my round Tupperware flour/sugar containers for rectangular ones and it did make much better use of the space in my cabinets.
Go for it, before everything turned around on me and I bought the family homestead I was so close to building a dome. Why? I’m a bit of an oddball and was inspired after seeing this guys house Horton Dome.
A friend of mine and I had even agreed on the price of a few acres of woods in the corner of his farm I was going to buy. sigh
If you’ve ever been on I-35 between Dallas and Waco, you’ll see their facility on the side of the road- it looks like a giant caterpillar, which is made of several domes right next to each other.
Mind you, I’m not a dome owner but I play one in my mind…
The pros that I commonly hear from dome-a-philes:
You can build domes yourself. Natural Spaces Domes (www.naturalspacesdomes.com) claims that you can put up a dome shell in a weekend with three people. This may be the case, but shingling and interiors will take much longer. Most kits that you can buy are designed for the do-it-your-self-er with a little construction experience.
Domes are efficient to build. The dome shape is the uses the least amount of material to cover the greatest floor area. Now as some other people have pointed out, commercial materials (and furniture for that matter) are standardized to rectangular building (i.e. you can’t get plywood in triangles) so there is some waste. You have to be creative with floor plans, furniture placement, kitchen layouts, etc.
Domes are efficient to heat and cool. The shape lends itself to efficient heating due to the shape. Eggheads say that there is less surface area to loose heat blah, blah, blah. But from what I see, dome companies just over-insulate the roof, and you whole house is a roof so you get really good heat retention. Somewhere in the range of a third to a half the cost to heat compared to a conventional house of similar. sq footage. IMHO, I think domes are good structures to heat with radiant heating in the foundation, good even heat without the pain of ducts.
And finally, domes have the cool factor. Domes have lots of possibilities of cool architecture. Do you want 180 degree panorama view… easy in a dome. Vaulted cathedral ceilings. Unobstructed floor plans, there are no supports walls to hold up the roof. Rocking acoustics (more on this later). Domers talk about a sense of tranquility in a dome, a pleasing geometrical pattern and an interesting sense of space. And of course, it’s not a cookie cutter house. They are unique and if that is your type of personality it may fit you.
The cons that I hear from the skeptics:
The shell may be easy to build, but the rest is a nightmare to build. Most contractors will be resistant to working on your dome. Curves don’t fit the definition of an easy job, they require more thought and planning and therefore more money. You can use conventional windows but your really have to think about it carefully. Traditionally, domes leaked if the work is done shoddily. There are just so many joints to ensure are sealed.
Financing. You have to convince the bank this is a good idea. There are some banks that have some experience (Wells Fargo I think) but you are going to have to do a song and dance for your banker. And your insurance agent. And your building inspector. And your mother. It helps if there is another dome in your area that you can point to and say “See they did it.” Just expect that resistance.
Sound. Sound carries VERY well in a dome. That is why good amphitheaters are half domes. That may be cool for the party on Friday night; but if you are trying to sleep on Saturday morning when Little Suzy Who is watching cartoons downstairs, you’ll know it. You can design some sound abatement stuff, but realize it may be a problem that you’ll have to deal with.
I’ve never had experience selling a dome, but I imagine it’s difficult. I’m sure that a large chunk of your target buyers will be turned off by a dome… just the unknown-ness of it. I’m sure some people will be excited about the uniqueness the house, but it may take more time to sell than a conventional.
So, what kind of person are you? Do you like being unique?
Like DMark I studied at Southern Illinois also and lived a block from Dr. Fullers house, that got me started. I’ve been thinking and building dome models ever since. I like Bucky’s vision, but I don’t know if panelized housing is right for me. I have become interested in a company in Italy Texas named Monolithic Domes (www.monolithicdome.com). They build concrete domes. Bolt a vinyl balloon to a foundation, blow it up, spray polyurethane insulation, fix rebar, and spray concrete from the inside. Boom, super-dome able to withstand hurricane force winds and raging infernos (www.monolithic.com/gallery/homes/braswell_fire/index.html). Check this out to see the possibilities (www.monolithic.com/gallery/homes/eye/index.html). They can be buried if you like the Hobbit Hole idea (www.stormbear.com/bagend2/index.php). Cool stuff.
I don’t live in one, but have been in one frequently enough to have an opinion about it… You really must find one and spend some time visiting it (not all at once, but over a period of time) and see what you think about potentially living in it. Some people really like them, but I find the space very awkward. Also you should consider how the resale value might be affected.
In the late 60s, early 70s I helped my father build a dome in the Adirondacks. Mind you, this is before they had the kind of kits described in your posting. The dome was never successful or, for that matter, really finished. It was a great experience, but in retrospect it was a bad choice. Most of the other posters have made note of the many problems, but for me it can be reduced to this; its all roof. While sealing a conventional roof is a problem with many solutions, sealing a geodesic dome is (or at least was) problematic. I am sure that better solutions have been created since I did this, they are solutions with, at best, a limited track record. What happens when your roof needs to be repaired? (It will deteriorate, make no mistake). After years of dealing with “The Whole Earth Catalog” I remain skeptical of ‘new’ technology materials. That’s not to say they won’t work, I just want to see them work over decades, even lifetimes.
I remember reading some time ago (no cite here) that B. Fuller said that he never intended the geodesic dome as a residential structure.
Beyond the technical problems, I am also skeptical about a family living in a dome. If you are an eccentric single or couple, anything can be made to work. Adding a couple of kids to the mix makes it (at the risk of repeating myself) problematic.
In my experience it was better as an idea than a building. On the other hand I do not regret the time (or the money) I spent in pursuit of that idea.
Sounds like it was elliptical in shape - two people can stand at the focus points of an ellipse, no matter how far apart the foci are, and hear each other speak. This is the trick behind “whispering galleries”.
I started out knowing nothing about them, now I want one. Turns out my wife has wanted one for quite some time. Someday, it will be mine. Perhaps one with two domes. It also looks like something that would be good for almost living off the power grid. Go solar or if you’re lucky enough to have a small stream, you could generate your own power. The effiency of the design really seems to lend its self to that.
Nope. Bucky never enforced his patents (if any) on the design because he wanted them to spread like topsy. He was more interested in getting people to move into them than making a buck off of them (though he did sell 'em to the military).
According to Buckyphiles, the problems with leaks have been fixed thanks to improved sealants. Domes in Africa, don’t need air conditioning, since the shape of the dome encourages cooling (as long as you have the vents open).
Sorry I didn’t get back to this sooner…yesterday was a bit hectic.
Ok, so it sounds like the major points I need to consider are:
Financing
Re-sale (not a huge issue as I’m anticipating this being our last home)
The do-it-yourself-ness is a bit on the complicated side, and getting contractors to work on them is difficult.
Sound carries (never actually thought of that one) across the surface of the dome
I was actually looking for the method that Monalithic uses with the spray concrete type of dome, but couldn’t find it. I think that’s the method I’d prefer, sure it’s neat to think about constructing my house piece by piece, but as was mentioned, with the Geodesic domes there are a ton of seams that need to be filled, which could lead to leaks.
I think that by building the interior with a second level, and closing it mostly off will help with the sound, and the overall wierdness of living in a dome. I do think that you get a better house for the same money, even if it’s not as cheap as first appears.
I don’t worry about hanging things on the walls too much, as most rooms will have at least one interior wall that’s flat.
So, any other words of advice or warning? This is still at least 3 years off, as I need to find a piece of land somewhere not too far from my job, and that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
An acquaintance of mine built his own dome home. It’s pretty nice.
Except for the foundation, he built it with one helper. The framing is traditional (lumber, not metal rods or concrete or anything); 3 stories (2 floors and a basement). He was going to go with some kind of kit, but he wanted some modifications, and the kit builder was an idiot, so he did everything himself instead.
It’s incredibly energy efficient. All electric, his electric bill is outrageously low for a house (maybe 25% of “normal” for a ballpark figure), and there’s a bunch of kids, too. But this is due to more than just the dome shape – he put in some kind of insulation or something, not sure what it is, and the basement is half sunk vs summer heat.
No leaks. Surrounding buildings got roof damage during a major storm, but his dome was fine.
Sound doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Keep in mind, though, that he’s done construction, and knew what he was doing, and put the house together right. Guess that’s the bottom line. If you know what you’re doing (or have a reasonable understanding, and can think your way through things), they can be very, very good.
