Yesterday I was looking around at the monolithic homes. This is something we had thought of before, but the size of house we need will run us $100,000 USD. We can't do that. I began following links and stumbled upon Dome Kits. A DIY lovers dream. The same sized house done in wood will cost us $27,000 USD. A whole lot better.
But still the use of an all wood structures isn't part of our dream. We want a berm house.I e-mailed Dome Kits. info last night about what we are wanting and if they could help us. I got a response this morning. Monte informed me of some other sites to look at, who have some pictures of the berm/loft/green house domes we are wanting. {Still have to go look at those}
A build-it-yourself dome seems like a wonderful idea, until I found this link to a Domebuilder's blues. I hadn't thought about all the coding and what those square homes coding could mean to a GEODESIC DOME. WOE IS ME!
I really think that these domes would be perfect for our needs/wants. Now because of the Domebuilder's blues, I need to investigate this even more. This will require many phone calls and library trips. I will need to get the correct coding for this county {though according to the county we don't exist. There are about 20 homes in this area that do not exist} I will need to talk to building contractors about coding and how I can comply with a round house.
It's not easy being green.
8 comments:
My husband and I have fantasized about building a hobit house. How cool that we really could!
The Berm type house is the way to go I think. Although, I'm sure they have code issues as well.
I hope everyone's feeling better soon!
I am for building homes that seem to fit into the landscape of the area. It seems to me a berm home would be ideal for the prairie-all of the sod and protection from those awful winds.
Still when it comes down to it, the pocket book tends to be the almighty "decider". I wish you the best in your decisions. I feel I will be making similar decisions in the near future.
Ouir neighbors have a dome home. It's big. I kind of like it and I don't like it. It's weird.
I live in a smallish log home. I like it after 12 yrs!!
I hope you find the perfect fit for your family.
Try this for the insulation. http://www.mgicanada.com/icynene.htm#health
I don't know if icynene is a enviromental nightmare or not but we heard about it on "This Old House" years ago. Supposedly it is magnificent for insulation. You could try sheeps wool too---but you need a lot of sheep and it's not very commercial yet as an insulation product. Though it is great stuff for insulating with--just ask my sheep :-)
By the way--there are DIY kits for the spray in foam stuff. We checked into it once. Don't remember much about it though.
There was a surge of geodesic-dome building around Fairbanks back in the late 70's. There are many considerations to be taken into account in order to make one truly functional. Most have not stood the test of time. Some are covered in spray-foam insulation now, and look like surrealistic igloos-ala-Warhol.
Earth sheltered housing has done much better in Fairbanks. There are some nice homes around here that have gone that way.
When I run a search through our local Cooperative Extension, they have retained a number of articles and resources regarding earth sheltered housing, but there are none to be found for geodesic domes. That might be a sign too.
Each location has unique considerations though. Alaska is not Kansas. Do your research well (I'm sure you will), and figure out what's best for your location and needs. It should be an interesting adventure.
...and I hope you're all feeling better soon!
Don't know if you have seen this site. http://www.earthshelter.com/ They do earth bermed domes. I am pretty heavily leaning to corwood construction, but this might be of interest to you!
Hope you are all better and had a great Christmas!
I talked to my real estate agent about these. One of my friends has a neighbor with one for sale and hadn't gotten any interest in it. My agent told me that banks won't finance the purchase of dome houses. Said that she had once tried to sell one and took forever.
There is one in the Columbia River Gorge that was blown off its foundation in a heavy wind. They managed to get it back on the foundation and it seems to be holding up okay now.
Post a Comment