More dome information

The dome has a slab floor with radiant heater hose embedded in it (the hoses can be seen coming out of the floor in the image to the right). The underside of the slab is insulated from the surrounding earth so that the ground does not affect the temperature of the slab as much as it would otherwise. The radiant heater hose allows for hot water to be pumped through the slab to heat it or cool water to cool it as necessary.

The floor and walls of the dome are meant to not only be structural, but also to act as a thermal storage. To ensure that the temperature in the dome remains as constant as possible, the OUTSIDE of the dome will be insulated so that the thermal mass of the cement is isolated from the outside heat & cold. Unlike a standard stick built home that relies on heating and cooling the air inside a home to manage the temperature, a thermal mass home relies on the ability of the solid walls/floor to hold and slowly release heat energy. It takes much longer to heat or cool the inside, which is what makes it more stable than a standard home. In a standard house, if you open a window and turn off the heat in the winter time, all of the heated air in the house escapes and in only a few minutes there's not much difference between the outside and inside air temperature. With a thermal mass storage home even if a window is wide open and the heat source is off, it takes hours for the heat to be drawn out. Basically the idea is to store heat from the day and use it at night to warm the home in the winter months and to store cold air at night to cool the inside during the day over the summer months...

The dome is very simple design. It's a 12 foot hemisphere that is slightly elongated (taller). There is a door opening and 2 windows. The windows are directly across from each other. There is also a small skylight that can be opened to allow hot air to vent to the outside. AJ added a small 4 inch hole for a stove pipe and also embedded 3 sections of chain in the concrete to allow for a couple of hammocks to be hung inside the dome. Today I added one electrical outlet to the inside. The electrical outlet is just connected to a 2 foot section of heavy electrical (extension) cord. The idea is just to run an extension cord to the dome from the main house when electricity is needed. It also gives us the flexibility to use a generator or inverter located just outside the dome to power the outlet if necessary.

The image to the left shows the left window. Above and to the right of the window is the 4 inch hole for a stove pipe. AJ plans to add a very small "fish house" stove to the dome so that it can be slowly heated inside. AJ found a cute little electric fireplace that may find it's way into the dome in place of the fish house stove... I imagine that a lot of experimentation will go on over the next year as the seasons progress and theory gets a reality check.

The image to the right shows the same window from the outside. The bump just above and slightly to the left of the window is the exit hole for the stove pipe. The texture of the cement is very rough on the outside of the dome, but soon the insulation and rubber coating will cover all of that rough texture and smooth out the exterior. The rubber coating is a copper color, so we're thinking of painting all of the wood trim pieces a deep emerald green to go along with the copper color. The inside will be painted with a latex based paint. AJ wants to go from a white color along the floor to a deep blue sky color near the skylight in the center of the dome.