Does anyone have any experience, first or second-hand, with the pre-fab dome homes made by American Ingenuity. The web site is www.aidomes.com. They sell prefabricated dome panels made of reinforced concrete that has EPS (expanded polystyrene) insulation attatched to it. For about $10,000 you can have an airtight, waterproof enclosed space of 647 sqaure feet that has an R value of 36. It does not appear that any special building skills are required, though some scaffolding may be needed. They are assembled by holding the panels in place as the exposed reinforcement from one panel is overlapped over the exposed reinforcement of the adjacent panel. This forms a beveled seam which is filled in with concrete. The concrete has fibers and admixtures to make it tougher, more durable, impervious to water, give it higher tensile and compressive strength, provide for elasticity and freeze protection. If any of you are interested in the monolithic domes but cannot afford them this may be a viable alternative. My only concern is that they may not be as strong as the monolithic domes. I plan to build in a forested area that is prone to tornadoes and am concerned about having megaton trees falling on my future house. If any of you have experience with American Ingenuity domes, and their strength, please post your experience.

-- John Fritz (aeon30@hotmail.com), February 14, 2001

Answers

I have been to their factory and have seen one of their houses up in SC. They have a good design. I don't know about a direct hit from a megaton tree though.

I have a company in Tijuana Mexico that builds all steel geodesic domes. Still, my domes are designed for dollar efficiency and not direct megaton tree hits. My design allows you to add heavy structural steel if desired. However, for what you are looking for I think the monolithic dome is the best answer. However, as you mention, they are expensive. You could transform my dome or the AI dome into a monolithic dome by adding concrete and steel to the outside. This would be much less expensive than the standard ML package and you could do it a little at a time as the money provided.

In fact, you could make the outside look like an amusement park "mountain" with fountains, plants, etc. Just keep adding steel rebar and concrete and shape it however you like.

Todd Miller

-- todd miller (todd@telnor.net), August 07, 2001.

I'm a builder, and let me tell you. Maybe you don't need any special building skills to put up the shell, but you will soon find out that doing the interior partitions and the roof require special skills. Nothing extraordinary, but domes are a pretty tough project for a first time builder.

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), August 07, 2001.