Dome house?

Question

pros & cons, Good & bad

Answer 1

That is not much of a question.  What is good and what is bad about your dome house??  I don't no.  Because nobody told me what the problem is.

Answer 2

Pro - No square corners

Con - "

Pro - Not like everybody else's

Con - "

Pro - A very stable structure

Con - None

Answer 3

Well, it rather gets down to some basic factors... cost of construction, maintenance, cost of living, and one that is harder to quantitate - 'style'.

Cost of construction is usually at or above the cost of construction for a comtemporary 'walled' house.

Maintenance costs tend to be less, as does the cost of living, in a dome construction...which may be why you see so many large projects that incorporate dome aspects into their building  (sports arena's, etc)

The 'syle' aspect can be good or bad.... The method of construction can make it easier and cheaper to insure... but may actually make it harder to finance, because it is 'out of the norm'.  Same goes for 'property value'..... This could go either way, depending on the community's perception of 'dome construction' in general.  Communities that embrace 'new concepts', will be more accepting of a dome home, whereas strictly traditional areas may be less likely to accept it.. meaning property value may decrease with a dome home, as opposed to a more traditional structure.  With today's market though..... hehehe.... I'd think it would be an ideal time to build a dome in a more 'traditional' area.  The uniqueness might actually help it retain value, when other homes are decreasing in value.  As you can see, this aspect of a dome home can be hard to determine.

Its also important to recognize the different types of dome construction:

Fabric or textile (Where an air membrane is created, literally 'inflating' the structure)

Geodesic (metal or timber 'frames' in the shape of a triangle are assembled)

Monolithic (meaning 'one piece' - usually involves spraying layers of concrete and insulating foam, over a framework, which may or may not, include the typical geodesic framework, making the whole structure into a single 'piece')

Here are some interesting links you may wish to check on.

A link to some dome history -

http://www.domehomedepot.com/dome_histor...

(check out their home page too)

A site with some examples of dome homes -

http://www.i-domehouse.com/case.html

And some dome 'kits' and 'prefab homes' -

http://www.goodkarmadomes.com/

http://www.aidomes.com/

http://www.topsider.com/?k=YSMAD&OVRAW=D...

The search link which turned up these examples and many more -

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AuMv...

Also check out "dome house comparison" in Yahoo Search.

Have Fun