Crestone Domes

If you make a tight monolithic dome in a cold place, you’ll have a condensation problem in the winter time. When it is super cold outside at night, the air inside the dome will hit the cold windows and create condensation that has to be wiped away in the morning. This problem can be solved by installing insulated curtains and also by using a de-humidifier after taking baths and showers. But the very best solution is to buy windows with a bigger than normal gap between them.

The bigger the air gap, the less the amount of condensation you will get. We have tried wooden windows as well as vinyl ones, and even though the wooden ones look nice, they require a lot of up keep in harsh temperatures. The vinyl windows are light weight, affordable and requires no up keep.

Don’t buy tinted windows – they don’t let through any sun light or heat, and your house will be dark and dingy inside. You should even be careful when buying low-e windows. Low-e protects your furniture and curtains, and it reduces heat loss at night, but it doesn’t let you take advantage of the heat from the sun coming through your windows. The ideal would be directional low-e, something that lets the heat in and keeps it in the house.
Previous Post

Tags: Dome, dome planning tips, Monolithic Dome

Now that you know some electrical code basics, it is time to plan out what electrical lines that go through the walls of your dome shell. Basically, you only have one shot at getting this right, so plan it well and don’t make mistakes!!!

When we made our first dome, we used smurf tubing because it is very easy to work with. NOTE: This blue, flexible tubing doesn’t fit normal blue plastic boxes. It either needs plastic boxes specially made for smurf tubing, or you can fit it into metal boxes. We used 1/2″ smurf tubing.

If you wish, you can use regular gray electrical conduit in metal or plastic, but unless you have a bender of some sort, you are just going to get yourself in trouble.

After the foam has been sprayed on the inside of the balloon, all the walls, floors and windows have to be marked, and the electrical boxes for lights and receptacles has to be screwed into the foam. If you use metal boxes, make sure you put a ground screw into each box. Then, you have to plan out the run for every circuit on paper. You have to know exactly where the wires are coming from, and going to, and that every box has power to it.

We made the dome with a 3′ crawlspace, so all the wires were coming from under the floors, and then going up the walls. Make sure you connect the switch boxes by the exterior doors with smurf tubing that goes to the outside lights, and don’t forget your outside receptacles!

Once you are done putting all the boxes and smurf tubes on your wall, you need the inspector to have a look at it, even though you have to pay for an extra inspection. He won’t like the fact that you haven’t pulled your wires through, but if you explain that the concrete will mess up the wires, and that you just want him to see what is in the walls before you shoot the concrete, he’ll probably reluctantly agree. So this is not a rough in inspection – it is a pre-rough in. Keep your drawings and electrical plans handy, so he can go over it in detail – you’ll most likely be glad you did.

After the domeshell is finished and the other walls are in place, you’ll be happy if you invest in a good fishing tape. Pushing wire through the smurf tubing is a nightmare without one.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: electrical layout, Monolithic Dome, Monolithic Dome Planning Tips

Your monolithic dome’s electrical system has to be planned out accurately even before making the domeshell. The most important thing is to know the electrical code basics well. (If in doubt, call your inspector and ask before it is “set in stone.”)

According to the Colorado Electrical Code, you need to have an outside light above each of your entrance doors. You are also required to have two GFCI protected receptacles with waterproof covers on the outside walls, preferably one on each side of the house.

On the inside, you must have light switches by the doors. You must also have a receptacle every 12 feet (no further than 6 feet from any given point on the wall), starting no further than 2′ from any door. This is really a minimum requirement, so I usually put the receptacles a bit closer together than that.

All the bedrooms have to be protected by a special breaker called an ARC breaker. These are extremely sensitive to changes in the current, and they are also unbelievably expensive, unfortunately. The receptacles in the bathrooms have to be on separate circuits and be protected with GFCI. If you have a whirl tub, you need to run a separate circuit to the bath, too. Make sure you know which side the motor is on, before you put the wire in!

In the kitchen there are lots of circuits. If you have an electric stove, you need to run a 10 guage 3 wire on a separate 240 v circuit. Or, if you are going to use a gas stove, you just need a regular 110v 12 guage wire. The last time we built a house, the inspector also wanted a separate circuit for the fan above the stove. This is because some people like to put a microwave there instead, which does need a separate circuit.

In addition, you also need 2-3 small appliance circuits on your kitchen counters. You can put 2-3 receptacles on each circuit, and they have to be no more than 4′ apart (2′ from any given point on the wall). Small appliance circuits also need to be protected by GFCI. Don’t forget to run circuits to your dishwasher and garbage disposal as well.

The fridge also needs a separate circuit, but it should never be GFCI protected! This is because you don’t want the switch to flip off the electricity unnessesarily because that can cause all your food to go bad.

In the laundry room, you need one circuit for the washer and one for the drier.

In the boiler room, don’t forget to run a separate circuit to a box for the boiler switch.

If you have electricity in a garage or wet room (green house), the circuit needs GFCI protection.

If you have a kitchen table that is attached to the floor or wall, you need to have at least one receptacle close to that table.

This should give you at least a clue what you have to put on your dome plans.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: Colorado electrical code, electrical code, electrical code basics, Monolithic Dome Planning Tips

Do you love beautiful faucet and shower fixtures? Do you have your eye on that really awesome $600.00 kitchen sink? After all, if your monolithic dome is going to be your dream house, you want what you want, it is as simple as that. But what if it is going to cost way more money than you can really afford? What do you do? Take out another mortgage, or surrender your standards to a more affordable level?

You may not have to do either, because there is another option. It is called ebay! You may not have thought about searching ebay for plumbing supplies, but if you do, the prices you can actually get things for will blow you away.

You might find that gorgeous $600.00 sink for $250.00, or that $139.00 delta faucet for $52.00 including shipping! By searching ebay for all the plumbing fixtures you need for your house, you might end up with a house that looks like a million dollars, but didn’t cost you more than the framed house with walmart fixtures next door.

Now that we have discovered that taking out another mortgage is not the solution to our problems, we have to start shopping in a different way to get what we want. Don’t spend more than you can afford, just find new ways to streeeeeetch the dollars you already have!
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: Dome, dome planning tips, Monolithic Dome

Why make a post about holes in the walls? Because when you make a monolithic dome, it is easier to plan out where you need holes in the walls before you spray the concrete, than after, when it is all “set in stone.” So, let’s go through one room at a time, starting with the kitchen.

When building a dome, it is highly recommended to have a fan above your stove that is vented to the outside. Cooking can create a lot of moisture, and because the dome is very tight, there has to be a way to take that moisture out of the dome. A fan vent usually requires a 7″ hole, and if you don’t want it to be visible, it needs to go through the little cabinet right above the fan. If you are lucky, you might be able to find a piece of stovepipe in the right size, and all you have to do is cut a piece and stick it into the foam wherever you want the hole.

In the utility room, you need a hole for your dryer vent. You might want to measure a dryer, or look on google to figure out how many inches across, how high it has to be, and how many inches from the back corner. Then stick a piece of pipe in place to block it off from the concrete.

In the boiler room, you need a hole for your boiler vent, and also a hole for your overflow pipe. In Colorado, the code requires a two inch hole for the overflow pipe. The hole for the boiler has to be calculated after studying the technical info for the boiler you are planning to buy.

In the bathrooms you have a choice. You can either install a vent that takes moisture outside, or simply use a dehumidifier. The advantage of using a dehumidifier is that it takes the moisture out of the air so you can take advantage of the heated air. If you install a fan, you pump all your warm air out, which is basically just a waste of energy. We used dehumidifiers in our first dome and were very happy with them.

In the bathroom walls, you need to plan for plumbing vents. The radon pipe needs to go through the ceiling, and so does your 3″ toilet vent. If the kitchen sink isn’t too far away from your toilet, you might be able to hook the two together, but if not, the kitchen sink vent needs a two inch hole as well.

If you are making a dome with two floors, it is best to put both bathrooms on top of each other, so all the plumbing pipes can go through the same walls, and you end up with less holes in your walls.

If you are having a woodstove, you definitely need to know where the chimney goes out, and mark it, because that is usually a very big hole.

And last, but not least, don’t forget about your skylight, if you choose to have one. This hole has to be the right size for your buck, so we usually buy the skylight, make the buck and then mark off the size of the hole on the foam before spraying the concrete. When it comes to skylights, you can’t afford to get it wrong, so it pays to be as accurate as possible.

Small holes for electrical wires, a gas pipe or an outside faucet can be drilled later.
Previous post
Next Post

Tags: Construction of a Monolithic Dome, design tips, dome construction, How to Make a Monolithic Dome, Monolithic Dome, monolithic dome layout, Monolithic Dome Planning Tips

According to Monolithic Dome Institute’s calculations, a monolithic dome only needs about 1/4 of the normal heating requirements for a regular stick framed house. To calculate how many BTUs a normal stick framed house needs, you multiply each of the rooms and add them up like this:

length x width x height x 4,
and this gives you the amounts of BTUs needed.

In a monolithic dome, you only need one quarter of that, so basically
length x width x height of all the rooms.

Although we didn’t think it sounded like enough heat, Monolithic Dome Institute had done so much research done about it, that we ended up trusting the numbers, crossing our fingers and putting the amount of heating in that they recommended. The winters here in Colorado can be harsh and long, so we were actually pretty worried about wether the tiny hot water radiators we put in was going to be enough to heat the dome.

When the winter came and we turned the heating on, the boiler ran almost constantly for the first two weeks. And although the dome was perfectly warm and comfortable inside, our second worry was what the heating bill was going to be. It didn’t seem very energy efficient to us, and we were biting our nails!

However, we had no reason to worry. We discovered that there were two reasons why the boiler ran so much the first two weeks. One reason was the fact that the concrete had to be charged with heat. This is the case any time you need to heat a large amount of heatmass the first time. The other reason was the fact that the concrete still contained quite a bit of moisture, which had to be dried out. For the first year, the concrete kept releasing moisture, so we ended up having to buy two de-humidifiers to help dry it out.

After the first two weeks, the boiler stopped running so much. In addition, we had a thermostatic timer that turned off the boiler at 10pm and back on at 7am, and it only lost 3 degrees overnight, even in the coldest part of winter! The reason why it held the temperature so well overnight, has to do with having heatmass on the inside of the dome. We have tried living in an ICF house (isolated concrete form), which is supposed to have the same performance R-value of 60, but it didn’t hold the heat as well overnight as the dome did. That is why I say “nothing compares to a dome!”

After the first month, the amount of propane we used to heat the dome was so low that the gas delivery guy asked if we only used the house as a holiday home, since we were using so little gas. (We only used about 50 gallons per month in the winter, and kept the dome at 72 degrees! Not bad for heating 1871 sq ft!)

After the heatmass on the inside of the dome had been charged, it took less than half the amount of propane that a normal stick frame house requires to keep it warm through the winter. As an example, we can compare the propane use with the house we are renting now. The rental, which has radiant floor heat, takes 100 gallons of propane per month just to heat the first floor to 64 degrees in the winter, and the second floor is heated with a wood stove (and this is supposed to be a well insulated house!) Well, like I said before, radiant floor heat is useless, or perhaps I should be diplomatic enough to call it “highly inefficient,” and basically, nothing beats the energy efficiency and comfort levels in a monolithic dome!

In the new dome that we are going to make this summer, we also want to add a sunroom on the south side for passive solar heat and a fireplace in the living room. That way, we’ll probably use hardly any propane to heat the dome through the winter.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: BTU, BTU calculations, BTU calculator, Construction of a Monolithic Dome, energy efficient homes, heating systems, How to Make a Monolithic Dome, layout tips, Monolithic Dome

Radiant floor heat seems to have become a fad that is here to stay. In my opinion, radiant floor heat is like the emperor’s new clothes, basically useless. Why? For many different reasons:

1) Radiant floor heat is 40% less efficient than for example hot water radiators. It takes enormous amounts of hot water to heat a huge slab, and the boiler will run for maybe 2-3 hours to fully charge it with heat.
2) Radiant floor heat has lag time. If you feel cold, it can take several hours before the temperature in the room gets up to a comfortable level.
3) Huge heating bills every month.
4) You have to put up with hard, uncomfortable floors.
5) If you decide to cover the floors with carpets and rugs, you get even less heat out of the floor and have to pay even higher bills.

The only way radiant floor heat makes sense, is if you can hook it up to a solar water collector with a small circulating pump, or you can hook it up to a system that is heated by a wood stove. Otherwise, if you use propane to heat your floors, you just need to know that it is a highly inefficient and expensive way to heat your dome, and that there are better alternatives out there, such as hot water radiators.
More about that tomorrow.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: Construction of a Monolithic Dome, heating systems, Monolithic Dome, monolithic domes, radiant floor heat

Living in Colorado, we have to deal with the radon issue. Radon is a radioactive gas with no smell. Some places in Colorado the radon levels are much higher than the recommended levels. Dealing with radon before the house is built is much easier than trying to remedy the problem later, so it is a good idea to consider putting in a passive radon system under the slab.

In the other dome we made, we first made the forms for the foundation. Then we spread out a thick layer of potato rocks. This will allow the gas coming out of the ground to move freely under the house. Since radon gas wants to move up and out, we also added a pipe that the gas can escape through. We used a 4″ plumbing pipe with an elbow on the bottom. We stuck one end into the potato rock and the other end went through the bathroom wall, all the way up and out the roof. (When you are about to pour the foundation, you just need a little piece of pipe sticking up, and you can add the rest later).

The next thing we did was to add a thick membrane of plastic on top of the potato rock. This is to prevent the gas from coming into the house. Then we lay the mesh and poured the slab.

This system works incredibly well. The radon levels in the first dome were almost non-existent. If you do this and you find that the radon levels are still too high for some reason, you can easily add a fan to the pipe that sticks out of the roof, so putting in a passive radon system like this makes it very easy to remedy radon problems later if necessary. When we did it, however, that never became necessary.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: Dome, Monolithic Dome, monolithic domes, passive radon system, planning tips, radon

Once you figure out which rooms you want the sun to enter at which time of day, it is time to talk a bit about the layout of the rooms inside your monolithic dome. The first thing you have to decide is whether you are going to have one or two floors. Some people argue that if you make two floors, you are going to lose a lot of square footage where the stairs go up. This, of course, is pure nonsense. The square footage you gain upstairs more than makes up for the space that is taken up by the stairs. Besides, it doesn’t really have to be a loss of square footage at all, because the space under the stairs is still usable space. You can put your TV and stereo under the stairs, or you can enclose the space and use it for storage.

The next thing that has to be decided is where your utility and laundry room is going to be, as well as your electrical panel. When designing your own dome, it is easy to forget about utility room, laundry room and even closets. Everything has to be remembered and drawn on paper because a dome is literally “set in stone.” You don’t want to change your mind, or start cutting through reinforced concret walls later because you didn’t think it through properly before you started. Nigell’s philosophy has always been that “if it works on paper, it will work in real life, too.” And so far, his philosophy has never let us down.

The placement of the electrical panel also has to be considered, since the code requires that it can’t be inside a closet or hidden in any way. It has to be easily accessible, and you can’t cover it with a picture or put a table in front of it. So consider the placement carefully and put it on your drawings.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions, if you have any.
Previous Post
Next Post

Tags: design tips, dome construction, How to Make a Monolithic Dome, layout tips, Monolithic Dome