Yes, but we do not recommend it. A basement is an uninsulated, concrete structure built using an expensive “forms” process. Then you build an insulated, concrete dome on top using a very efficient construction process. This is redundant and wasteful. It is easier, less expensive, and usually much better to build a larger dome.
Yes, but carefully consider your options. In a Monolithic Dome a second floor will probably not save any money. A series of low-profile domes connected together and using only one floor can have the same floor area at a similar cost. A second floor may be appropriate because of the cost of land or the purpose of the building, or you may simply prefer a multi-story building.
No, you do not have to build the dome yourself. Approximately 2500 prospective builders have attended our training classes and there are others who learned to build from our Training Pak. Many are now in the dome building business. We have names of several builders that would gladly help you build anywhere. We may also direct all work for you.
Yes, you can learn how to be your own Monolithic Dome builder! Training workshops are held at Monolithic Dome Institute headquarters just 50 miles south of Dallas at Italy, Texas.
David South, President of Monolithic Dome Institute, Inc., says, people who are just thinking about building a Monolithic Dome home, but don’t know if they can afford to, need some convenient stopping points. So, MDI has initiated two different programs to do just that.
Monolithic Domes can be built quite quickly. In general it takes about six to eight weeks to get the Airform ready. Then about two to four weeks to build a house sized dome shell. Large buildings require about six to ten weeks.
The Airform, used to form the shape of the dome during construction, is left on as an outer covering and first line of defense for a Monolithic Dome. It protects the polyurethane foam from the UV radiation of the sun and repels rain, snow, and more. The Airform takes a lot of abuse and requires care. It needs to be coated within five to ten years after a dome home is finished.
Yes! From north of the arctic circle and down to the equator, in deserts and the tropics, the Monolithic Dome has excelled in all environments. In fact, the less hospitable the environment, the more you need a Monolithic Dome.
There is so much variety in sizes, shapes, and uses of the Monolithic Dome that developing a general price sheet is impossible. Even within a single category such as homes, costs can vary drastically. A small, one bedroom home may cost only $45,000 where a three bedroom home, complete with chandeliers and gold plated faucets, could cost $500,000. What you put in your home is as important to its cost as whether you build a dome or a conventional structure. In an effort give a general idea of how much domes usually cost we have compiled the following guidelines. But just like your home, one size does not fit all. Click here to read more about the True Cost of a Dome Home.
When you call for insurance on a Monolithic Dome, you have to remember the agent will not have a page in his book for Monolithic Domes. He will have a page for an “all masonry constructed” building. The buildings are constructed with reinforced concrete walls and roof.
“Living Round” is a research project that earned an “A” for Julie Brown, who compared some popular residential construction methods and concluded that none surpassed the Monolithic Dome.
Al Fin, who lives in the Cayman Islands, has been a blogger since 2005 - long before the blogosphere was as popular as it is today. His primary interest: seeing that the best of humanity survives long enough to reach the next level.
Can a Monolithic Dome home have a loft? A stairway? An elevator? A basement? My answer is an emphatic yes to each, followed by an equally emphatic reservation: Carefully analyze your need and/or desire for any of these features and consider the alternatives.
Since April, British Petroleum has been trying to stem the flow of oil from a leaking deep-water well in the Gulf of Mexico. After a series of failed high-profile efforts, the company is currently trying to siphon off oil using a containment cap system and drilling relief wells aimed at stopping the flow by August. But with an estimated 60,000 barrels a day still gushing out of the well, the search is on for better solutions.
One day in 1979 (we had been building Monolithic Domes for about three years) a US Steel Company salesman showed up selling steel fibers. He told me if I used steel fibers I would not have to use rebar in my Monolithic Domes anymore.
A second floor can be designed in a Monolithic Dome home. But we suggest you consider some important factors when deciding whether or not to put in a second floor in your Monolithic Dome home.
In the construction of a Monolithic Dome, it’s best to follow time-tested, basic steps when spraying shotcrete.
The town of Jay, in northwest Florida, has less than 600 residents in its 1.6 square miles. But this farming community, known for its peanuts, cotton, soybeans and hay, has a history of more than 100 years and an annual Peanut Festival. It’s got something else too: a technologically sophisticated Monolithic Dome home!
Referring to his 40-year teaching career as a Professor of Civil Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU) and his more than 30 years as Monolithic’s Senior Consulting Engineer, Dr. Arnold Wilson said, “It’s just been a wonderful trip for me. It’s been exciting. I have done things that I had never even dreamed that I would do.”
Dorothy dreamed of going back home to Kansas after losing her home to a tornado. Kay and Ernie Mudd never have to worry about their dream home because they built a super safe Monolithic Dome, which meets the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards for near-absolute protection.
Anthony (Tony) Clarke is one busy Aussie. He runs a migration office that helps immigrants to his country with their necessary, complex paperwork, is involved with industrial hemp, markets music videos and DVDs and serves his community as Justice of the Peace and a Knight of the Order of St. John Hospitalier. Nevertheless in April 2001, he found the time to travel to Italy, Texas and take one of Monolithic’s dome-building Workshops.
Structural Engineer C.V. Surendran of Surendran Consulting, LLC, Lubbock, Texas attended National Engineers Week, February 16-18 in Washington, DC. He sent us an email saying that several of the Future City entries featured domes. He thought it was interesting that students “came up with the idea that dome housing be the best, (although) they had never heard about Monolithic.”
For most Americans going to see a movie is no big deal! But what if you had to leave the country to do it? And what if you had to make sure you had valid, picture ID with you so you could re-enter the US? Believe it or not, that’s exactly what going to a movie entails for Dianne and Bryan Bremner, two sixty-something retirees who built a Monolithic Dome home in Republic, Washington, 25 miles south of a border crossing into Canada.
About ten years ago, the Pembers decided to build a new home, and, after investigating alternatives, decided to make that new home a Monolithic Dome. So Dale, a professional plumbing contractor, enrolled in the Spring 2001 Monolithic Workshop. What he learned, coupled with his years of experience in construction, convinced Dale that he and Ida – occasionally with help from friends – could build their dome home.
At Monolithic, we think fire stations should be indestructible. They house emergency response teams – the firefighters and paramedics a community needs when natural or man-made disasters strike.
Caledonia’s website proudly says that it has 33 homes on the National Historic Register, and its mayor states that visiting this “village” is like “stepping back in time – a 100 years back in time.” While all that is true, Caledonia also has five of the most modern structures available today: five Monolithic Domes.
How long are you planning to stay in your dream-dome? Probably decades and well into your elder years. With this in mind and a need for some practical, low- or no-cost universal design elements to handle physical needs, we offer these practical ideas that we incorporated into our dome.
When it comes to building a Monolithic Dome’s foundation, do-it-yourselfers have a choice: they can contract the concrete work, or with able-bodied help they can tackle the job themselves.
David Smith first learned about Monolithic Dome construction 13 years ago, and has been a fan every since. In fact, he has been so impressed with the buildings that he started a dome-building business called Smith Family Dome Home Builders.
Robert L. Duffy High School, which will open its doors this fall in Phoenix, is a different kind of school. While it does offer core curriculum classes in English, math, social studies and science, it also has career-focused classes designed to help students get an entry-level job in the field of their choice. It’s fitting, therefore, that this innovative curriculum will be housed in innovative buildings—three monolithic dome school buildings to be exact.
If you’re a regular visitor to this web site, you’ve no doubt noticed the growing number of school districts that are thinking outside the box and going round. This week, you will have a chance to find out more about the trends in Monolithic Dome school construction as well as the many reasons why domes are the greenest of all building alternatives.
At Monolithic, we have developed a simple structure to provide for the basic needs of a family. It’s a Monolithic EcoShell dome, designed specifically to answer the needs of shelterless people worldwide.
With hurricane season just around the corner, there’s a renewed focus on the Monolithic Dome’s ability to meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards for near-absolute protection. Or as one blogger recently put it, people are interested in dome homes partly because they are the “most comfortable storm shelter you could ever live in.” But the article posted on the site, ForcedGreen.com, went on to recount the many other advantages offered by these so-called ”super structures,” and there are many.
It took four bond elections and more than six years, but the small Kansas town of Leoti is finally getting a new Monolithic Dome school to replace its 85-year-old elementary school building. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for May 19 on the first of three dome structures that are under construction.
Using EcoShell I technology, our Vice President and Operations Director, Mike South, recently designed a dome-shaped gazebo that has a 20-foot diameter, is not only quick and easy to build, but is long-lasting, low maintenance and very versatile.
The Xanadu Resort in Belize was the first Monolithic Dome resort in Central America and the Caribbean when it opened in 1998. Now it can lay claim to another first. The property recently became the first Green Globe Certified Island Resort in the town of Ambergis Caye, according to The San Pedro Sun.
Texans tend to be independent minded, and for a small but growing group, that sense of independence extends to their choice of home. There are 169 Monolithic Dome homes in the Lone Star State, and more than half of them were built in the last six or seven years.
As the name implies, LowCostGreenHome.com is a new web site dedicated to helping consumers choose low-cost, environmentally friendly homes. It features a variety of green building systems that are proven to save from 30 to 90 percent on heating and cooling bills. Not surprisingly, Monolithic Dome homes made the cut.
Metro News is Canada’s largest free national newspaper reaching about 1.1 million readers from coast to coast. This week, the paper’s environmental columnist put the focus on Monolithic Domes, proclaiming that dome-shaped schools just may spark a building revolution.
For more than a dozen years, Freda (Grones) Parker has been Monolithic Inc.’s head writer, reporter and historian. Most of the articles in the Roundup Magazine and Monolithic’s website were written by her, along with several of our books. This month, Freda celebrates two major milestones: her 10th wedding anniversary and her 75th birthday. In appreciation for all of her efforts on our behalf over the years, we wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to her many accomplishments.
What’s one of the first things people need right after a hurricane? According to Peter Fedele, the answer is cash. That’s why he is building a Monolithic Dome outside of Houston to store ATMs, mobile banks, satellite communication equipment, and back up generators for financial institutions.
Since earthquakes struck Haiti and Chile earlier this year, interest in EcoShells has been at an an all-time high. Relief agencies from all over the world have been calling Monolithic to find out more about this unique type of building that has been proven to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes and yet can be built entirely by hand using local labor.
A one-of-a-kind, ultra-green Digital Studio and Entertainment Centre is planned for a five-acre site in Palm Springs, at Cathedral City, California. In this desert location, Monolithic Domes are the ideal “green” construction to oppose the severe desert conditions of extreme summer heat, the intense desert winds and earthquakes.
The Simmons’ new dome home in Jay, Florida is making news again. This time it is the subject of a feature story in the Pensacola News Journal. Charlie Simmons, an engineer, told the newspaper that he wanted to build a dome home because of its many advantages including its resistance to hurricanes and fire. “Engineers like that,” Charlie told the newspaper. “Function over form.”
El Dorado Chemical Company now has two new Monolithic Domes. The smaller dome, that has a 40-foot diameter, will warehouse various bagged chemicals. The larger dome has a 95-foot diameter, eight storage bins and state-of-the-art equipment for the blending of various fertilizers. A giant, metal, patio cover connects the two.
Starting and operating a Monolithic Dome construction company is a challenge. It is not for the faint of heart. But how else can you have the sense of accomplishment you get from building such fine structures, using your own skills? Your efforts will benefit others, and you will leave a legacy of buildings that will be used throughout the next millennium.
Like many Americans, Charlie and Margaret Simmons opted to retire in Florida. Unlike most other retirees, they decided to make their retirement home a Monolithic Dome. The online newspaper, NorthEscambia.com recently profiled the Simmons’ new dome home in a feature story, touting its many benefits that range from energy efficiency to durability.
So you’re nested in the mountains and up comes a cold spell. What to do? Maddy and I decided to turn our dome-in-progress into a controlled laboratory with the goal of putting the thermodynamics of thin shell concrete domes to the test.
In a special section on the 21st century school, The Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minnesota highlighted a number of innovations ranging from new teaching methods to state-of-the-art building styles. There’s Gibbs Elementary, set to open later this year, which features interactive white boards that can display videos and other high-tech material. There are the 5,000 Minnesota students who are taking all of their classes online. And then there’s arguably the most innovative school of all, and it’s Grand Meadow School, which opted to build five Monolithic Dome buildings in 2002. Eight years after it opened, the school is still making news. And it’s not just the shape that makes the school noteworthy. Superintendent Joe Brown reports that the school saves 25 percent per year on maintenance and energy costs.
Check out this video describing the Monolithic Ecoshell and why it is the choice for housing in developing nations. They are strong structures that can withstand natural disasters, fire, termites and rot. In underdeveloped areas with hot climates, EcoShells make affordable, low maintenance, sturdy housing.