Terra-Dome Earth Shelter Build

[patrick_g]

...about all the underground or earth sheltered type comments... didn't anyone notice the "on grade" foundations or the slab on grade floor. If this project is to be earth sheltered it will be buried in dirt after the exterior and any other load bearing walls have cured sufficiently.

There is a wide variety of degrees of earth cover in common use ranging from little or no berming to virtually complete coverage.

If anyone is interested in acquiring a fair library of books about earth sheltered construction, PM me as I have a fair selection left which are surplus to my needs since I went with a walkout basement with part of the ground floor in ICF's.

MY house project is chronicled at the sister site in the Home Building section.

CountryByNet.com Forums :: South Central Oklahoma Farmhouse

It is 22 pages with 159183 views to date.

Pat

[SamWalton]

...about all the underground or earth sheltered type comments... didn't anyone notice the "on grade" foundations or the slab on grade floor. If this project is to be earth sheltered it will be buried in dirt after the exterior and any other load bearing walls have cured sufficiently.

There is a wide variety of degrees of earth cover in common use ranging from little or no berming to virtually complete coverage.

If anyone is interested in acquiring a fair library of books about earth sheltered construction, PM me as I have a fair selection left which are surplus to my needs since I went with a walkout basement with part of the ground floor in ICF's.

MY house project is chronicled at the sister site in the Home Building section.

CountryByNet.com Forums :: South Central Oklahoma Farmhouse

It is 22 pages with 159183 views to date.

Pat

Thanks Pat,
It is nice to hear from a seasoned mole. I began my underground experience in the U.S. Army at the Adams county Pennsylvania Raven Rock Mountain Complex better known as Site R. This facility had two power plants and an underground lake and many other things I can't mention. As for our Terra-Dome, we will be earth covering the structure from east to west after the water proofing and drainage systems are installed. I also have a fine collection of earth sheltering books, one of which is a PDF file. "Earth sheltered homes plans and designs.pdf" the file is 26MB. It you could receive a large email I will send to all how are interested.

[MarkV]

Wow Sam the project is looking great. The way they form the roof is really something. It looks like it will take a good amount of dirt to cover that much structure. Will you be bringing it in or using soil from your property?

MarkV

[SamWalton]

Wow Sam the project is looking great. The way they form the roof is really something. It looks like it will take a good amount of dirt to cover that much structure. Will you be bringing it in or using soil from your property?

MarkV

We hope to use what we have at the home site but have about 30 acres to work with.

[hogi]

Sam, Thanks for taking the time to document for us this fascinating project. I know this may be a taboo subject but how much do you expect this whole project will cost minus governmental fees and the initial cost of the land. And if that isn't too personal already, how much is just the building envelope, i.e. structure, w/ doors, windows but minus interior finish?

[patrick_g]

Sam, I was pleased to read you are installing in-slab heat. Just a couple comments regarding personal luxury etc. Our master bath shower has no door nor curtains and does not splash water out into the rest of the bathroom. Very little cleaning required (yeah, maybe I am lazy.) There is closer spaced PEX in the shower floor AND in the tile walls of the shower. If I had it to do over I would override my HVAC contractors input and continue the PEX in the shower walls all the way to the ceiling (not just 5 ft) and I'd do the ceiling too. My shower is pretty luxurious but the changes noted would have make it superb.

The towel rack next to the shower is hollow tubing and the hot water flows through it on the way to the shower walls. Towels are warm and dry (I don't always use a fresh towel every time I shower.)

If you haven't got an ERV or HRV in your HVAC plan please consider it. A really tight house needs something like that. Mine runs 24-7 on well under an amp and keeps us economically supplied with fresh air. The integral heat exchanger really saves on conditioned air (heated or cooled) and keeps ventilation costs very low.

Pat

[SamWalton]

The forms are coming off and it is nice to finally see from plans to reality. The large opening on the north facing side is going to be a window identical to the ones on either side of it.

The footings are missing there because this is where the sewer line will leave and also the fresh air intake for the wood stove in the great room module. We will have a second fresh air intake for our Greenwood wood boiler Model 100.

This greenwood is a great deal for anyone who is looking for the best design in Hydronic Wood Furnaces and since the company is closing the prices will never be better.

Greenwood Furnace Series Indoor Wood Boiler and Wood Furnace

[SamWalton]

We pour the second dome.

[hobie]

Wow! Great to see your updates! Please keep em coming.

[SamWalton]

It was way cool watching them and listening to them lower the mother ship of all domes. The hydraulics made a resonating sound during the lower.

I drove our Kubota into our bedroom to lift and drag the dome form trailer to get it in position to pull out the small opening.

After aligning the dome trailer they towed it away.

My son Travis spreads the 3/4" chip in the remaining areas of our home to be. What fun!