Geodesic domes

First wow. First look at this forum, layout is serious ADHD. Take some learning to get through pages. Been looking at lots of geodesic greenhouse styles. Plastic, wood, metal conduit. I want to build a geodesic lean too style greenhouse on to a brick wall. Can someone direct me to a good location to understand the process on this? I've see the dome calculators, but 3v 4v really? The calculators I found didn't explain or educate the neophyte before they expected numbers dropped into a formula. Any help appreciated on this. I really want and need to build an excellent dome. Thanks

Michael Scarboro wrote:First wow. First look at this forum, layout is serious ADHD. Take some learning to get through pages. Been looking at lots of geodesic greenhouse styles. Plastic, wood, metal conduit. I want to build a geodesic lean too style greenhouse on to a brick wall. Can someone direct me to a good location to understand the process on this? I've see the dome calculators, but 3v 4v really? The calculators I found didn't explain or educate the neophyte before they expected numbers dropped into a formula. Any help appreciated on this. I really want and need to build an excellent dome. Thanks

Michael,
I have a huge file on domes (I love them) and keep adding new ones, but since you are a newbie to dome building, these might be good ones to start with. Look through these and if you still have need of more info, let me know. I could give you reading material to last several months at least.

How to Build a 20-Foot Functional Geodesic Dome Out of PVC
It requires manufactured hubs (which you can easily find here http://www.sonostarhub.com/)


This one explains everything a beginner needs to know about building a 3V icosa geodesic dome. Building a 3-frequecy icosahedral geosdesic dome
Includes a link to the best online dome calculator (in my opinion)... the one at Desert Domes http://www.desertdomes.com/domecalc.html


Speaking of which, this is the page you want to really read to figure out how to make a dome from electrical conduit. This takes you step-by-step and includes buying lists and other helpful tips about tools, measurements, etc.
Desert Domes: Conduit Dome Tips


Finally, here is a commercial site with a clever hub system you might look at too. It sells the hubs, whole kits or just lets you use its calculators. (Double check the math though - I've found a few mistakes here and there. I like desert domes calculators a lot better though they do not include quite as much information as this web page's calculators do.)

ZipTie Domes

Have fun! Oh, and welcome to Permies!

Thank you Deb. I'll get busy reading.

Nice links!!

Here are some pics of what we managed to do at my place in Spain -

https://boodaville.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/build-your-future-youth-exchange/

Come and visit if you're interested!

Anna

Wow, Looking at the desert domes site where they have the instructions for making a dome with bamboo and string. It make me think of those weird braided bamboos that are sold in floral shops. I wonder if it would be possible to train a bamboo thicket to grow into a dome?  Sorry, my minds on an extra artistic bent right now.

I love domes, but they seem to have a lot of hard to use space.
Wedding a geodesic dome to a conventional structure has its own challenges.
I suggest a hoop house lean-to,easier to build,more usable space.
But if your heart is set on a dome,maybe consider setting it onto a strait walled foundation, for more useable space and an easier time mating it to the other structure.

Hi there,
I'm Fred, new to permies.com, living in the South of France. We'd like to add a geodesic dome (general purpose garden room) on a field next to our farmhouse (edible forest growing ...). BUT in this region we get regular high winds (70-80 km/h), sometimes very high (up to 120 km/h). Do you know if the structure is likely to withstand these?
Thanks!
Fred

A dome is probably more likely to survive than another structure built with parts of the same strength, but it would require a real structural analysis of a particular design to say what that dome could stand.

Frederic Constant wrote:Hi there,
I'm Fred, new to permies.com, living in the South of France. We'd like to add a geodesic dome (general purpose garden room) on a field next to our farmhouse (edible forest growing ...). BUT in this region we get regular high winds (70-80 km/h), sometimes very high (up to 120 km/h). Do you know if the structure is likely to withstand these?
Thanks!
Fred

Fred-

I live in southern Colorado and we get winds over 80 mph at times. We built a geodesic dome on our farm and it is holding up great, having already experienced these high winds. We have polycarbonate panels on ours and we have lost panels only because we hadn't finished the outside sealing yet. We decided to go with aluminum sealing over the seams for extra support. Seems to be working great.

Best
Kelsey

Thanks Glenn and Kelsey, that's useful information. I wonder if anyone has experience of glass instead of polycarbonate, in a hot, dry and windy climate?
Fred