Terra-Dome Earth Shelter Build

[woodlandfarms]

Pat... Always amazed by what you know and what you lead on as you don't know. Starting to get an idea you are way smarter than you look ;-)

I never factored connectivity loss in an earth sheltered structure. Makes perfect sense now that you mention it.

Glad to hear the network via powerline works. I expiremented with that a number of years ago with terrible results.

But ultimately, for a guy who is going off the grid, and claiming to be hunkering down in case things go south, you are way, way way heavily connected to the outer world.

So it has been a while since photos, got any more updates?

 

[SamWalton]

I have been busy with some out of town work, I totaled my Jeep Liberty and repaired it and also held up by rain and just being unprepared to overcome obstacles on the home build. Thing have been going slow. It is so much simpler in my imagination and most of the time it works out as planned. I wish I had more time to plan and edit the drawings but I was not sure on the details of many things. For instance the connections through the footings were not all identified so we install extras thinking we may need those options. This is why the 3 inch water line conduit had got two unnecessary sweeping 90s. This conduit may never be used or it may end up with multiple uses. Anyway I figure it is good dig once and have options.

In this batch of photos we began installing conduit for the electrical service entrance and a backup rural water hookup conduit. We were also having problems with rain water entering the garage and migrating into the great room. We started the conduit without two essential tools, the conduit oven and a demolition hammer. The following weekend the oven got us moving but we struck bedrock. I have always been thinking about purchasing a demolition hammer but choose to rent the last two times. Now I am tired of throwing our money away. We also pitched the garage and driveway area so the water would go away and began the installation of a twenty foot drainage pipe. Well we ran into bedrock again. I am determined now to purchase a tool but have had problems with EBay. I missed what looked to be great deals and have been waffling with the many choices. One example on EBay was it took me a few weeks to purchase an OEM steel wheel for our Jeep because most pricing was frankly a total rip off. I eventually got one for $42.96 including shipping. I will have a trial bucket of Dexpan Non Explosive Demolition Agent. This will help me break up some of this rock. As for demolition hammers I am leaning toward a Bosch 11335K which weighs in at 35Lbs and has an impact of 34.5Lbs. The good news is the water is now managed and I am rethinking the priority of work. After getting the drainage pipe installed, we will begin water proofing select areas of the roof which currently leak, like cold joints and chimneys. Cover the ECOLINE-T & R with carpet to prevent UV damage. Install the 6 foot sky window and begin install all under slab utilities. We want to move in so bad. We are planning on moving be and finishing while we live inside.

 

[sajurcaju]

Hi Sam,

For waterproofing ours, some black rubbery stuff was sprayed on. This did not stop all the leaks, which makes me wonder a little, but they thought it was normal. There was a second round of spraying. In the valleys we laid bentonite sheeting (Paraseal), with drain piping through all the valleys to the roof drains. OK in theory.

In practice, we had three flat areas (like the 12x28' flat extension on the shop) that had poorly done drainage. We had 3-4" deep puddles, with the drain pipe on the end high and dry. I rate this as poor concrete work by the Terra Dome crew. There are only two drains for the whole roof, the concrete needs to slope towards them to be a decent job.

Something to be very careful about is leftover stuff sticking up out of the concrete. I don't know what the reason was, but Terra Dome left some long screws sticking up out of the concrete all over. Our contractor is putting dirt on the roof over the various waterproofing, and we've got this drip in one spot. He dug down and found one of those screws had punched a hole through the Paraseal. I'd suggest sweeping with a stick to find them--you'll miss some by eye.

Think about whether you want to install the skylight before or after dirt--ours is still open while they backfill the roof to avoid damage.

Steve

 

[patrick_g]

A good O & M (Operations & Maintenance) manual is a good idea Pat regardless of construction type(s). However most people, myself included don't have one.

Heck, the last place I worked at (renewable energy lab) had woefully inadequate to non-existent manuals for its numerous facilities.

Actually the eclectic mix of construction styles/methods is not the major concern. Of greater importance is the mix of systems that are not the average run-of-the-mill-every-tech-can-fix-it sort of things. From the ERV system to the air to air and geothermal heat pumps, in-floor and in ceiling hydronics, pairs of thermostats in some spaces, T'stats wired to 3 position switches to control exhaust or circulating fans so you can force the fan to run, prevent the fan from running or let the fan run as decided by the t'stat.

I have 2 variable speed blowers on my range hood, one exhausting air (blower mounted on roof to hold down the noise and another in the front porch attic to supply make up air and provide an air curtain to prevent exhausting conditioned air. The two air to air heat pumps have outdoor T'stats to switch from heat pump operation to propane furnace at a given outdoor temp which is picked according to the efficiency curve of the high SEER heat pumps, current cost of a KWH of electricity, and the efficiency of the propane furnace and the cost of propane.

I have two electric water heaters neither of which have their heating elements connected to power. One is used as a storage tank for hot water produced by the geothermal heat pump and is the water circulated through floors and ceilings while the other is heated by a water to water heat exchanger that gives heat from the first mentioned tank to heat the second mentioned tank by turning on a circulation pump when the heat sensor of tank two calls for heat. Notice I said heat sensor not thermostat. I had to build an interface circuit with a couple relays in it to "trick out" the system so it thinks there is a simple set of T'stat contacts on tank two and to meet a second requirement of turning on the circulating pump.

There is a timer and T'stat controlled recirc pump to ensure hot water at the far end of the house (master suite) without having to waste a lot of water running it till it gets hot.

Satellite TV2 is controlled by a radio transmitting remote control but that TV is located in the sitting room and is two steel reinforced concrete walls away from the Satellite receiver and the signal won't make it. There is only one coax from the home run location to the sitting room. Luckily there is a way with diplexers/splitter-combiners and ingenuity to send the TV signal from the satellite box to the home run area then from there to the sitting room TV and the remote control signal (widely differing frequencies) back from the sitting room through the same coax to the home run area and then from there to the satellite box mixed in with the signal from the dish. The dish signal and is separated out and sent from the home run to the Satellite box where it is separated out from the combined signal and sent to the Sat boxes remote antenna connection. (The above is the readers Digest version, not the entire story in detail.)

A high priority is to make a simple check list that my wife can follow it to turn on the TV, surround sound system (including wireless side and rear channels) and be able to watch TV without depending on me. Only 3 remotes are needed to control TV1. You can watch TV2 with only one remote if you manually turn on the satellite box. Of course, watching a tape, playing a DVD, or watching home movies or digital camera pix or whatever is another matter.

I think you probably get my drift regarding needing a check list for the wife to watch TV and a manual for the various systems.

Pat

 

[SamWalton]

Hi Sam,

For waterproofing ours, some black rubbery stuff was sprayed on. This did not stop all the leaks, which makes me wonder a little, but they thought it was normal. There was a second round of spraying. In the valleys we laid bentonite sheeting (Paraseal), with drain piping through all the valleys to the roof drains. OK in theory.

In practice, we had three flat areas (like the 12x28' flat extension on the shop) that had poorly done drainage. We had 3-4" deep puddles, with the drain pipe on the end high and dry. I rate this as poor concrete work by the Terra Dome crew. There are only two drains for the whole roof, the concrete needs to slope towards them to be a decent job.

Something to be very careful about is leftover stuff sticking up out of the concrete. I don't know what the reason was, but Terra Dome left some long screws sticking up out of the concrete all over. Our contractor is putting dirt on the roof over the various waterproofing, and we've got this drip in one spot. He dug down and found one of those screws had punched a hole through the Paraseal. I'd suggest sweeping with a stick to find them--you'll miss some by eye.

Think about whether you want to install the skylight before or after dirt--ours is still open while they backfill the roof to avoid damage.

Steve

I insisted our domes and parapets were pored with Berylex. Tracy had some misconceptions from a bad experience and they learned differently on our build. The Berylex alone prevent any leaks in the domes or anywhere it is used. We do have some leaks at our cold joints and chimneys. We plan to power wash and apply the ECOLINE-T & R in those areas and see if that is the fix for our leaks.

I got tired of EBay and found a Bosch Brute with 8 bits for $600 on craigslist. We tried it on the rock where we are installing our drainage pipe and rock won't be a problem anymore.

We are going to install pressure treated sill plate on out sky window with glue and screw with lead anchors. Our window will be removable and will keep it dry during the construction but come out as needed.

 

[mjncad]

Actually the eclectic mix of construction styles/methods is not the major concern. Of greater importance is the mix of systems that are not the average run-of-the-mill-every-tech-can-fix-it sort of things.

...

I think you probably get my drift regarding needing a check list for the wife to watch TV and a manual for the various systems.

Pat

Pat:

You are definitely correct in the need for the O & M manual for your systems! I can sympathize with with you concerning your wife's needs for simplicity in operation as my wife is technophobic; but not as bad as my Mom.

 

[patrick_g]

Pat... Always amazed by what you know and what you lead on as you don't know. Starting to get an idea you are way smarter than you look ;-)

I never factored connectivity loss in an earth sheltered structure. Makes perfect sense now that you mention it.

Glad to hear the network via powerline works. I expiremented with that a number of years ago with terrible results.

But ultimately, for a guy who is going off the grid, and claiming to be hunkering down in case things go south, you are way, way way heavily connected to the outer world.

So it has been a while since photos, got any more updates?

Smarter than I look? Well that certainly isn't saying much!

Except for my walk-out basement I'm not earth sheltered but the ICF portion of the house has similar reception performance. With an earth sheltered home it may be entirely reasonable to install an external antenna to get a good cell signal. If the signal is good enough at the antenna you may not need an amplifier to distribute it in the house or the part of it of interest.

The cell phone backup on our security system has an external antenna aimed toward a cell tower. Since its installation, two more towers have become available and we might not still need the multi-element (11 I think) vertical yagi beam antenna BUT... it is working fine and not squeaking so it gets no grease right now.

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

One example on EBay was it took me a few weeks to purchase an OEM steel wheel for our Jeep because most pricing was frankly a total rip off. I eventually got one for $42.96 including shipping.

We want to move in so bad. We are planning on moving be and finishing while we live inside.

Sam, When in the market for OEM Jeep wheels I went to a dealer who had a high volume of Jeep sales. Many of the buyers wanted fancy custom wheels or larger ones and the takeoffs were piled up like a giant pyramid. I bought a set of 5 wheels at their going price of $5 each. This was in the early 70's but allowing for inflation I still think you were ripped off.

I understand your desire to move in. Sometimes it is NOT a good thing as it can, in some instances, really get in the way of progress. We ended up living in a slide-in pickup camper sitting on the floor of a metal bld removed from the truck for 9 months. It was hard not to move into the house under construction but we got the house really done in detail much quicker. This house was for my mom. We then moved in and moved my mom in and started work on our current house which we moved into before it was totally done.

In this last instance it is working fine but... the ground floor was nearly totally finished before we moved in. It is handy to live at the work site and having a woodworking shop and a metal shop on-site is extremely convenient. The upstairs and the basement comprise well over 90% of the work not yet completed.

Congratulations on your progress to date. As someone who has been there and done that I really appreciate what you are going through. Just keep focused on the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it is not an oncoming freight train.

Pat

 

[Cacinok]

sam, great read so far. i'm looking forward to the updates. my wife and i plan to go the monolithic dome route. we've mainly looked at the air form type of dome construction, but my wife has recently voiced the concern of having a circular (domed) home - could be b/c she feels like she runs in circles all day chasing the kids. i showed her your pics and she likes the idea. we're at least 5 years away, assuming the world doesn't implode, from building as i just started my own business a couple years back and we're slowly growing.

pat, could you im me or email me (my screen name at gmail.com) the details of your satt tv2 remote control setup. we have the dish setup w/ the second radio transmitter (tv up stairs satt receiver on main floor) and it occasionally works, spotty at best.

Clint.

 

[patrick_g]

Pat... Always amazed by what you know and what you lead on as you don't know. Starting to get an idea you are way smarter than you look ;-)

I never factored connectivity loss in an earth sheltered structure. Makes perfect sense now that you mention it.

Glad to hear the network via powerline works. I expiremented with that a number of years ago with terrible results.

But ultimately, for a guy who is going off the grid, and claiming to be hunkering down in case things go south, you are way, way way heavily connected to the outer world.

So it has been a while since photos, got any more updates?

No intention of intentionally going off grid for our house. I suppose we are a little better prepared to "hunker down" if things go south than the average home owner.

Just posted pix of the light fixture I designed and built for over the pool table. Also pix of the cue rack. both built with wood I felled in the woods.

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Pat