I want it all! Dome home, greenhouse, sauna adjacent animal housing?

Hi!


I'm thinking a dome home...anyone have thoughts...


Also, wondering if anyone has experience or designs for animal housing that is adjacent to either the main (human) house or maybe a greenhouse. The point is to create a thermal mass building where each structure contributes to the efficiency of the other in staying warm.

Like Solviva - https://www.amazon.com/Solviva-Learning-Solar-Dynamic-Bio-Benign-SOLVIVA/dp/B0029HW44C

I was thinking of a duck/chicken house or small barn adjacent to a sauna. And ideally the sauna adjacent to the greenhouse. Hmmm...maybe a circular structure with the greenhouse 1/2 the circle south facing, and the sauna and mini barn each 1/4 of the northside of the circle.

I want it all!

In Europe qnd North America, barns were built for humans up top and animals down below.
The heat from the animqls helped the humans.

From Wikipedia;  wikipedia /house barns
Housebarns were built beginning in prehistoric times after people discovered that the body heat of animals helps to warm human living areas.

It's true Andy, that is exactly what they used to do.  As a matter of fact, one of our farmer friends when we lived in the Pyrenees (France) had this exact set up, if on a more modern scale.  Let me tell you that the smell had been delt with fairly to moderately well, but the flies - oh man! I can't begin to describe to you the plague of them!!  I'd never seen so many of them in any one place.  Maybe something to consider before building an animal shelter next to the house, especially if you don't want to use chemical warfare against them??

In my region, I have encountered a couple of places where a large metal pole building was put up and a portion  was it was partitioned off for use as a home. If you consider start up costs, it makes sense.

Olga, I never thouight of flies being an issue.
But I can imagine what they would be like!!!

Hi John, I suppose you can guess all-right.  Is your corner of Oz plagued by them, I only know the East coast (around Brisbane and inland a bit) and never had much of a problem there,

You are quite right that animals used to live below for the heat they generated, but to be honest, with all the different ways we can heat ourselves these days, I am not sure I would want the inconvenience of bugs and smells.

Just a small anecdote: there is a US company making and selling camping stoves.  The company is called Four Dogs and they sell a stove called four dogs, of course.  It is so called because it will generate the same heat that four dogs cuddled up in your sleeping bag would!

Thanks!

I love "Dogs" stove but not gotten to use one.

Oh my! Flies...yikes, yes that would be a problem, even though this is at 9000 ft so winter would kill of some, but I know living in a wood heated cabin that they found ways to survive the winter, and plague me, and that was without farm animals...

My strategy (in planning) is south facing greenhouse attached to my home. Then separately, the barn and chicken coop share a wall where I would like to put a batch box heater. That way on the coldest days/nights I can warm up some thermal mass for the critters because I'm soft. So now you've got me wondering where to put the sauna!

I am in Bendigo, Victoria.
Mediterainean climate, and flies are an issue here.
I think if your are born with them you know no different.

We get 2 dog nights here! A 4 dog night must be very, very cold.

John C Daley wrote:Olga, I never thouight of flies being an issue.
But I can imagine what they would be like!!!

Ditto, absolutely GOOD Point! Lol I'm good with snakes, bears, mtn lions, pack rats, skunks, chipmunks/squirrels and most creepy crawlies....but NOT flies!

Here is some guidance from an experienced builder.

Fallow her blog and get access to he writing.mudhome building

John C Daley wrote:I am in Bendigo, Victoria.
Mediterainean climate, and flies are an issue here.
I think if your are born with them you know no different.

We get 2 dog nights here! A 4 dog night must be very, very cold.

What is a two dog night to you folks, John? My abode is anywhere from plus 2C to minus 1-2C come wake up time in the morning when we have -38C overnight. With no dogs. That can vary a wee bit either way depending on the wind chill and even wind direction.

Once when I was out of town an ice storm took out the power for about a week. My girlfriend, who was taking care of the house and pets, slept in the kitchen next to the wood stove with the dogs, cats and ferrets. She called it a three dog night. (Cage the ferrets if you want to get any rest.)

At CRMPI they have a sauna attached to one of their greenhouses and on nights that are going to get super cold they fire up the sauna and then enjoy it, and then afterwards leave the door open to the greenhouse. This is the only heat source for a greenhouse at 8,000 ft in the Rocky mountains.

roberta mccanse wrote:Once when I was out of town an ice storm took out the power for about a week. My girlfriend, who was taking care of the house and pets, slept in the kitchen next to the wood stove with the dogs, cats and ferrets. She called it a three dog night. (Cage the ferrets if you want to get any rest.)

How did your water pipes fair in that event, Roberta? Did the wood stove distribute enough heat to the rest of the house? What kind of temps occurred thru that event?

denise ra wrote:At CRMPI they have a sauna attached to one of their greenhouses and on nights that are going to get super cold they fire up the sauna and then enjoy it, and then afterwards leave the door open to the greenhouse. This is the only heat source for a greenhouse at 8,000 ft in the Rocky mountains.

Veeeeeeerrrrrrrry interesting, as Arty Johnson always said. That might be a good thing to add to my humble abode - enjoy the sauna and the sauna warms my shack too. Add a fan to move the heat efficiently into the living area.

Sadly we would lose our power for 5 days to 2 weeks each winter (freezing rain would take out the lines).  The moment the power went out, I would fill the containers for drinking water.  I would drain the hot water boiler, and fill the bath tub with water.  I then drained all the water from the lowest place in the house.  This precaution meant I never had damaged pipes, or burst hot water heater.  I didn't bother canning my produce because it was so cold that if the power went out frozen items would be put in the garage.  Glass jars have a tenducy to burst when too cold.  I saved money by having frozen stuff in the garage for the winter. The draining of the pipes didn't take too long, and when the power came back on I would turn on the water again right away.  The hot water heater running without water to heat is a bad thing. I used Swedish candles to keep one room warmish. Winter sleeping bags helped with the cold.  Putting bricks in the fire, and putting foil around them when we were ready for bed, kept our feet warm in the bottom of our sleeping bags.  Putting up a tent over your bed could be warmed quickly.  Cats and dogs kept us warm as well.

O.K., here is a good link to BEGIN a search about Monolithic Dome Homes:    https://www.monolithic.org/homes/homes-links
There are some fantastic designs of these homes from just a "bubble" to an absolutely fabulous looking mansion that looks like it was uprooted from the Mediterranean area to where ever it was built.

Notes about animals:
1.  Pigs are actually clean if given the chance to go outside. They keep their inside any building areas fairly clean, given the chance. Winter is the worst time but they still try to poop in one area only.

2.  Cattle go anywhere, anytime, but we had a "Tromp Shed", a fairly large pole barn, that actually kept the cattle pretty warm in winter and cool in summer. In winter, with continuing applications of fresh bedding the level of the tromp shed could rise 4 ft. over the winter months. During Spring clean out was when the smell really hit you.

3.  Chickens can be so dirty and smelly all the time that their coop odor can almost make you pass out. In fact, in any large containment operation I would recommend one wear a respirator.

4.  Turkeys must be worse than chickens. I was driving home one day and smelled something that actully smelled like a dead person or animal that had been decomposing for several days. It was so bad that I actually called the Police to have it investigated. A friend told me that smell happens yearly when the housing is cleaned out.

5. Horses are about the same as cattle - going any time any where. And the conditions are very similar. During winter the smell is offset by the manure pile being frozen on the outside, but all the while the interior is rotting away. I would assume that the same clean up operation would smell just as bad or worse. We were around the Clydesdales in the LA County Fair and it was a really hot day. The odor coming off of those horses downwind was really raunchy - and we were outside.

Free Heating INFO:
Quite a long time back I read an article on the Internet about using a UUUUGGE Compost Pile to supply heat for buildings during Winter. The idea was to bury large pipe to move the heat from underneath the pile to a building. I believe they used the 4" plastic drainage tile to run though the compost area before they began filling it up. Once filled and the composting cycle started quite a lot of heat could be captured in this way. But, again, their compost pile was HUGE!!!

I hope this helps you in determining the location of some of your buildings.    :-)

JG

use a fan and bug netting to catch the flies and feed them to livestock or as a soil amendment

How hard is it to keep a roof on a dome ? I've spent a few days hanging on a seat nailing shingles back on a geo with a friend as part of the yearly maintenance, that's why I ask...

tom brennan wrote:How hard is it to keep a roof on a dome ? I've spent a few days hanging on a seat nailing shingles back on a geo with a friend as part of the yearly maintenance, that's why I ask...

Consensus from quite a few sources is that it is very difficult. Anything but a continues membrane tends to leak. Adding any openings more potential leaks.  Many comments that this is the structures greatest flaw.

John F Dean wrote:John F Dean master gardener

You can't begin to imagine, John, just how much I wish I could say those last two words about myself. If you don't mind, would you tell me how long you have gardening and when do you figure you got to the master stage?

Terry

Sorry for typos please share on other forums : We have 35 kinds of edible Berries in our  7 yr old Classroom Food Forest here at UVPCGG www.permaculturedesignschool.org  Native favorites are NanKing Cherry, Black Elderberry, Sand Cherry , Josta Berry, Goji Berry and Choke Cherry we make great syrups with our honey. We also love  our 3 kinds  of Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts and Figs as well as Heirloom Native Potowami Plums that taste like Apricot Jam. We do livestream Permaculture design courses. and are looking for PDC experienced earthworks people this Summer to set up 80 acre new Institute in the country Hillside water catchment and transplant our Food Forest and propagate in the country. We will be having manufacturer of Kingdome greenhouse and  Hempcrete nonflammable and Thermal Earth shelters also so builders needed along ccx with ccx Rocket Mass Stoves. Call 801-808-4424