Cody Gillespie

Im thinking the acoustics off a ferrocement dome are going to be killer, and that light bro... what...  

This thing is practically designing itself at this point, just riding the wave now!  Ok check out this setup i come up with.  The living room and kitchen have these exposed timbers, probably will have wood plank on top.  The living room area is bumped up sitting on these 4 pillars,  Im imagining having hanging chairs and plants hanging from the big beams going between them.  In the center of the living room bumped up cieling im going to put one of those solar tube lights which will light up a bottle wall dome light diffuser thing i got in mind to make.  You know the bottle walls with the colored bottles, that but on a big domed light diffuser ceiling light powered by the sun.  Freaking cool!  And i got that compass planned into the floor design, not sure if im going to keep those colors or go more earth tones, but it will have the glowing colored bottles above so either way im thinking. Guess it would be concrete and epoxy to do that.  I wanted the room to have good views, very communal, and good acoustics and a smooth floor as i like playing music and dancing.  Going to be amazing

Hey Will it is occurring to me that i might have come off sounding like i was putting your idea down in my above post 46.  Not at all.  To clarify i was just saying that the vertical orientated insulation will outperform the sloped orientated insulation due to simple mechanics of what direction the settling is occurring, that is all.  Dispite that drawback of the sloped insulation, im still planning on using it due to its other benefits.  Sorry i should have worded it better the first time, wasnt trying to be a jerk.

To be honest, I didnt completely understand what the bar was doing in the fence idea (why i was suggesting a visual) but i think i grasp the rest of it and it sounds like a good idea.  Im interested in compiling all thoughts and ideas, heck ive already posted 3 or 4 different variations of how i might attach the insulation and ill probably still be modifying and fine tuning them up until i finally make it and even then it will no doubt still need fine tuning after the wall starts settling.  That is just the nature of doing something that has never been done, we can make our best guess, but its going to do whatever its going to do.  I enjoy inventing things, i do lots of experiments on all kinds of stuff so all this is right up my ally and im having fun with it all.  

My excitement has had me losing sleep, so many ideas racing.  Bloodshot eyes from staring at the computer designing the house. But i love it!

Ok here is the design im currently working on.  Im thinking its looking pretty freaking cool!  And i came up with this idea to use my gabion wire cages for these crazy obelisks set in my stone pillars, never seen anyone do that with a gabion cage.  Look at that crazy stuff, its like we making a  whole new world (or maybe remaking an old one).   I got something cool planned for the inside too.

Hey William, what are we going to call this building style?  Im thinking, you know how people call pole barn houses barndominiums, we could call it a BERMdominium... get it.. pole barn house.. and berm.. bermdo

Sounds like an interesting idea William.  Would be easier to visualize if you had a drawing of some kind.  As far as settling is concerned, I think this is where the insulation in a vertical orientation would out outpreform.  Everything you do has its pros and cons.  As i believe the earth would just slide straight down the vertical insulation and still maintain its contact just at a slightly lower elevation.  I would anticipate the interior wall would also be moving slightly down over time causing an increasing gap between it and the brace boards but that shouldnt really matter as long as you dont try to connect your finish to the braceboard or figure out something else.  Im not really sure it would even be a problem for the sloped insulation as long as you had enough maybe peagravel landscaping gravel up to it, it would probably just fall in the gap as it forms.  At least the insulation is pretty accessible at the top of the berm, so i would think no matter what you do it would be pretty easy to remedy any settling issues causing gaps with it.

Exactly Jay, you could wrap it around the house, you could have it taper down to half height in sections with windows across them and things like this too.  Im currently playing with an octagonal building design with it wrapping around.  

Yea we are basically making the modern updated version of a pit house.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit-house

Here is another configuration i came up with.  I think this one is the cleanest of them all.  I like how it gets the foam completely secured so its not just dangeling in the dirt.  Also, some variation of this design has the potential to eliminate the need for retaining walls, saving another time consuming expense.  However, since the foam isnt vertical, you would probably have to keep an eye on the gravel pushed up to it at the top as the berm settles and keep pushing the gravel in the gap as it settles.  

Ok here is what it might look like configured more like the earthships.  You could extent the foam all the way down and be achieving the exact same thing as an earthship if you want.  

https://sailingtheearth.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/globalmodel_section.jpg

Hey got to give credit and thanks where it is due  I may have come up with the overall concept but you and that brace made it easy.  Next we will take over the world......

Yea im excited too, I dont want to speak too soon but ive been busy designing.  This thing is probably going to go a whole different direction for me, i really wasnt thrilled with what i was building before.  I might have to start a different thread...  Yes, house, barn, greenhouse, garage, you could do whatever really.  It takes a little bit to really start wrapping your head around it though since its so different.  Im sure there are numerous ways to make the connections and the details, Im still cleaning it up even further from what i posted above but if anyone has any ideas for improvements on the details please share.  Yea i like the aluminum flashing, its cheap and should be long lasting and effective.  Im not interested in spending too much, i want this to be very affordable and efficient.  For instance im not going all the way down with the insulation because from my understanding you get the most bang for your buck just with perimeter insulation, no under slab or earthship thermal mass wall.  There already is tons of thermal mass in this building, no need to spend thousands more for foam but you could if desired.  That foam has went up a lot $$$.  I got the heart of the berm covered with plastic to keep it dry which will also act as thermal mass and insulation itself since its such a huge mass of dry dirt.  Actually, in my build, i really want that wall to preform as an airconditioner.  The earthship earthtubes are cool and all, but again its another expens$e.  Earth homes can cool themselves if you dont insulate the wall.  I should just have to add a dehumidifier for my location.  Im posting the earthship details pic since we are basicly doing different versions of the same thing.  You can see their large overhang and how they waterproof and do the foam.   The thing about the earthships is though, they are so labor intensive with those tire walls, and they end up spending just as much if not more than conventional construction.  The structure im planning on building is going to be pole barn cheap and still extremely efficient.  Even cheaper since im getting my lumber from the land as well as a lot of the other materials for flooring, cabinets and so on.  
https://youtu.be/ybBXr7xlX7o?si=UurbvJyAT1YD9ocK
https://youtu.be/DJMiNi06VuM?si=FYrI7lALwvuxsX-c