Dome Houses: A Review

Last week, we got to spend the night in a dome house in Marietta, South Carolina. We met these folks at the Home, Garden, and Green Living Show in Asheville, NC a few weeks ago. Scroll down to the bottom for a video tour.




 We were interested in alternatives to the options we had seen so far. One option is building tiny houses out of conventional materials (usually on a trailer, to get around building codes). Another is building them out of 100% natural materials (the most green option, but labor intensive and difficult to navigate with building codes).

These dome homes claimed to be tornado proof, low maintenance, and highly efficient. But most importantly, they are more affordable than conventional structures of similar size. An often-ignored aspect of sustainability is living within your means.

 These homes are built by US Dome Builders (their facebook page). If you browse around, you can see MUCH larger structures are possible, as are structures of various building materials and multiple stories. The design aspect is quite customizable.



The domes are made of two layers of concrete, with a layer of foam insulation in between. I am aware of the environmental concerns with concrete so I asked them about limecrete. You could use limecrete instead of stucco inside and out as a finishing material, but building codes will not allow the structural part of the dome to be made of anything but concrete. As for alternatives for insulation, I'm unsure about any replacements that would work with the curve of the dome. However, there is a type of spray foam insulation available which is made of soy instead of artificial materials.

The doors, windows, and interior walls of this structure were done conventionally (with wood, dry wall, etc) but this could be replaced with cob, straw bale, light clay straw, wattle and daub, etc. This would make the domes 100% fire and termite proof (the dome itself is fire and termite proof, but not the conventional materials). With more natural materials, they would need bigger overhangs over the doors and windows than is seen here to protect from water damage.




There was space for a full size fridge and full size stove in the kitchen. The stove vent is a real one which doesn't recirculate the air, and there was a proper vent in the bathroom, too.




There were few windows, but it didn't feel dark since the room sizes were so small. You can put dome skylights in for more light, without losing your R value.

Side note: because of the interior walls, there are plenty of places to hang your artwork!






 PROS:

• Tornado/hurricane proof 
• Just make sure you've done a good job with your drainage! 
• Seriously, why do we all live in houses that don't protect our very lives?? I would never pay money for a home that could squash me in my sleep. 
• Meets or exceeds all FEMA standards. 
• Termite/rot proof 
• The window, door, and interior framing is still done with wood, but that's not structural and is easily replaced if need be... or you can use the natural materials I suggested above.
• Low Maintenance 
• If you want, you can repaint it about as often as you would give a conventional home a new roof, but even that's not necessary.
• Fairly quick 
• Can build a 1-2 bedroom house in about 2 months
• Can bury underground 
• This could add protection from radiation
• Careful of radon! Digging down could release it from certain types of rock.
• Long lasting 
• Will stand for many centuries, hypothetically.
• Completely sound proof 
• Cannot hear most exterior noises with windows/doors shut.
• Ideal for those cheap lots, next to the busy roads and highways. 
• Energy efficient 
• Insulation is R-30... with all the thermal mass, it behaves more like R-60+.
• High ceilings make small spaces feel BIG!
• This is why they make good tiny houses; for example, the curved wall pushes the toilet out into the middle of the room, which means it feels like you have tons of space when you're sitting on it, even though the bathroom is tiny (fits a full-size shower, though!)
• Fairly affordable 
• This one bedroom, 453 sq. ft. model would be about $45,000.
• Lower insurance costs
• Can't confirm this personally, but their website slideshow claims this is true with some staggering examples.
• Playing music in there sounds awesome!
• Can be hooked up to electric, sewer, septic, solar, AC/heat, whatever you want!

 CONS:

• Concrete and foam insulation are not very environmentally friendly in their manufacturing... and in the post-300 year period when the house will hypothetically need to come down.
• Indoor echo 
• Sort of like what you hear in a new house void of furniture... only the furniture is all there. 
• Might be possible to get rid of this... any sound engineers reading?
• Even the carpeted bedroom had a weird echo affect going on, if you were facing the curved wall.
• Might be awkward for the super-tall or super clumsy 
• My 6'2'' husband did not feel he was in danger of hitting his head, but I hit mine one time when backing up to take a photo.
• The curve of the wall starts at about 6 feet, so most people would be under that, no problem.
• Challenging floor plans
• This one was cut in half, but diagonally to the door, which I thought was not ideal... but there are many ways to slice a pie!
• Completely sound proof 
• This depends on your perspective... if you like listening to rain on your roof, you might want to build a porch with metal roofing to get your fix. You can't hear your neighbor's shotgun, but you also can't hear the bugs and birds.

Click the photos above to see more photos.

Oh, and if you decide to talk to these guys about building a house... make sure you tell them Giovanna sent you!