Hello all my permie friends, I have been researching earth bermed housing for quite some time, about 5 years, I am now settling on a design which balances price,
sustainability, time to construct, and aesthetics. I have decided on a monolithic dome made of geopolymer and geopolymer air-crete for insulation with arches for windows doors and straight furniture. I would like some input on my design ideas from all you walking, talking, parallel processing, pattern recognizing super computers.
I have looked at the
WOFATI design that Paul likes but I would prefer a round domed structure for aesthetic reasons and because of the fact that it is the strongest possible structure in nature. WOFATIs also have a limited life span as they are a wooden structure. I know that life span is probably 80 years or more but I would like something that could last centuries and house generations of people.
Pros: cheap to build; strong structure; very
local sourced materials; fast to build
Cons: limited life span; requires an impermeable layer to prevent
water infiltration;
wood posts require protection where in ground; not round or domed
Next I looked at earth bag and super Adobe building methods. These methods are cheap, easy to learn and provide very strong structures that can bermed. However it does take a lot of labor to fill bags and I am not a big fan of using synthetic materials for the bag. That is of
course a personal choice.
Pros: cheap to build; can be built into a circular domed structure; very strong structure; fire proof; flood proof; earth quake proof
Cons: uses synthetic materials; lots of time and labor; difficult to build a "perfect" dome; requires a synthetic impermeable membrane
Monolithic domes are real super structures. They are fire proof; flood proof; earthquake proof; tornado proof; hurricane proof; and bullet proof. They will last centuries if not longer and are the strongest structures we know of. They can be built in a single day by using inflatable air forms and shot-crete and insulation can be made by mixing in a foaming agent. Arch ways provide flat surfaces on the otherwise rounded dome for windows, doors and to connect more than one dome.
Traditionally monolithic domes are made of cement but as cement tends to crack, is hydrophilic and produces a lot of
co2 in its production I wanted to find another material to use. Geopolymers are cement like substances made from a variety of rock dusts, fly
ash, or iron blast furnace slag and a strong base like lye or sodium carbonate. All of these materials are either waste materials form industrial processes or are very inexpensive. Geopolymer are essentially man made rock. Recent research suggest that the pyramids in Egypt were made from artificially made lime stone blocks instead of blocks being mined from quarry. These man made stones are almost indistinguishable from real lime stone and they last of course for 1000s of years. Geopolymer shave up to twice the compressive strength of cement and up to three times the flexibility. I have also read that they are self healing if cracked but I have not a confirmed that.
A monolithic dome made of geopolymer would potentially not require a impermeable layer when bermed as it is one solid piece of rock.
Pros: everything proof; relatively inexpensive; lasts potentially for 1000s of years; can be built in days; aesthetically beautiful; very modular (easy to add additional domes)
Cons: needs some experimentation to create the proper mix of geopolymer precursors; permitting; need inflatable air form and
pump.
I will post some videos and links to some of the stuff listed above. I will also work on a drawing of the house perhaps in google sketch up. In the mean time I would appreciate any input, critiques, ideas, or perhaps you can tell me how crazy I am.
