Terra-Dome Earth Shelter Build

SamWalton · Nov 7, 2009

gregkabob said:
Sam, the whole system installed was around 5K. The grass sure is green were it waters the lawn

I am glad our perc test went well. It will save us some bucks.

We went to the castle for Halloween night and I got many great pictures.

Today we banged out a few filler pips in the footings to replace with usable pipe. We installed a rigid Schedule 40 French drain with custom holes and sock in the great room.

woodlandfarms · Nov 8, 2009

I am about to show my complete ignorance here... Are you putting french drain material inside the house (underneath the floor?)

SamWalton · Nov 8, 2009

woodlandfarms said:
I am about to show my complete ignorance here... Are you putting french drain material inside the house (underneath the floor?)

Yes, We are doing the inside of the footings on walls facing outside and also the outside footings on bermed walls.

sajurcaju · Nov 16, 2009

Waterproofing the roof
Terra Dome house being built in Maine

We're getting closer, looks like we may move in the end of next month. We're still working out details on the waterproofing. The roof has a couple of layers of black rubbery stuff (spray on), then bentonite sheeting (Paraseal) in key locations, along cold joints. Above that drain pipe was laid in all valleys between modules.

Above all that, some dirt (sandy Maine soil) was put on top to even out the topography, then insulation board, then more dirt on top.

We just had a big rain, and have some leaks. It looks like the insulation board is forcing the water to flow to the edges of the roof. Currently you cannot walk anywhere near the edge--you'd sink. The water seems to be being held by the insulation, so it can't get to the drain system (well, it is probably trickling through). The plan is to put perimeter roof drains *above* the insulation.

I'll let you know how it works, next time it rains. That might be April if the cold shows up.

Steve

camelialong · Nov 16, 2009

If you use real fieldstone and not the cultured stuff, you'll need to dig a trench and pour a footer to support the weight. If you don't you are looking at redoing the job in 8 to 10 years.

If you are going to use the cultured stuff, I'd put down a scratch coat with a mesh backing then apply the product.

SamWalton · Nov 18, 2009

camelialong said:
If you use real fieldstone and not the cultured stuff, you'll need to dig a trench and pour a footer to support the weight. If you don't you are looking at redoing the job in 8 to 10 years.

If you are going to use the cultured stuff, I'd put down a scratch coat with a mesh backing then apply the product.

Both of our Terra Dome homes have footings and already support a massive load. The outside wall footings on our home are 24 to 36 inches wide and much wider around the inside wall module openings. We could do stone brick of stucco.

SamWalton · Nov 28, 2009

My wife has completed grinding the high spots off all interior surfaces and I have completed power washing all interior surfaces as well. We also removed all eight conduit penetrations from our footings and installed usable lengths as well as seal them with fiber reinforced Quikwall surface bonding cement to water proof these areas.

I spoke with Ralph Smoot (Terra-Dome Builder) and he told me it would be best to seal all exposed concrete surfaces before ice can be given the chance to expand and cause cracking in the concrete structure. So we have begun brushing and rolling on the ECOLINE-R and ECOLINE-T. The garage roof has soaked up much more of the waterproofing because Terra-Dome did such a poor job on this surface. The other modules turned out much smoother. I guess they just wanted to go home. We previously sealed all cold joints and stopped the water leaks on the structure using about eight gallons of the ECOLINE-T. So far I have used ten gallons covering the kitchen flat roof and half of the garage. I have fifteen gallons left and I am sure we will run out before completing the roof so I will order more on Monday.

Since we passed our Perc test we have been busy clearing trees and rocks where we will be installing our two hundred and seventy feet of subsurface drainage fields.

SamWalton · Nov 29, 2009

Yesterday we waterproofed until we ran out. We were short a module and a half. My son Kyle found a Black Widow spider.

sajurcaju · Nov 29, 2009

Sam, that looks like pretty good progress. You got holes through the footings for electric etc.--we didn't. There have been a bunch of holes drilled (at $250 each) in the footings, plus our extra work trying to make the low spots on the roof not collect water...the concrete work could have been better. Your waterproofing looks pretty nicely applied.

Nice view of the house in 007. Hope you get tons more done this year.

We're getting an update from our contractor tomorrow on schedule; hopefully it will still be happening in December. I'd really like to refinance this year...

Steve