Home Sweet Dome

Builder Says dome-style homes are roomy, use little energy

BY WINNIE PRATT
Special to the News-Herald

"Build the Future now" is Bryce Eckhaus' motto. President and chief executive officer of Thunder Ridge Industries, Inc., Eckhaus, a new building contractor in Lake Havasu, feels Airform concrete dome homes are on the cutting edge of home construction.

Eckhaus is building 50-foot diameter home on Enduro Drive. "Construction starts soon. I'm going to be taking the dome and insetting it into the side of the hill." The top floor of 1,708 square feet is the main entrance.
The bottom floor will be 1,964 square feet. A 450-square-foot loft is also planned. In addition, the home will have the latest in-home automated products. "I'm the first Arizona builder to install HAI smart systems in our dome homes."

One advantage of a dome-shaped home is getting more living space with using fewer materials, Eckhaus said.

"Traditionally, we live in boxes with high ceilings. It takes a lot of wood to get these buildings square," he said. It also takes more energy to heat and cool corners and wasted headspace. For a homeowner, the greatest savings is in energy efficiency. Because of the thickness of the foam and concrete, other dome homes have tested R-value vs. actual temperatures and those rates were R-60 value and above as compared to conventional homes, Eckhaus said.

According to a spokesman at Gale Insulation, most building Contractors are installing R-19 to R-23 in walls and R-38-R50 in Ceilings.

Homeowners will realize a 50 to 75 percent reduction on heating and cooling energy usage, Eckhaus said. Besides that, the domes are practically "Fire Proof, earthquake proof, flood proof, high wind proof." Domes have withstood up to force 5 tornado winds without a problem, Eckhaus said. "And it cannot be eaten by bugs."

Airform concrete dome homes start with a concrete ring foundation reinforced with steel rebar. The Airform bag, a rubbery fabric much like a pond liner, is then laid over the foundation, attached to the foundation and inflated. "This gives the structure its shape," Eckhaus said, and becomes the outer layer of the structure.

Polyurethane foam is then sprayed to the inside surface of the Airform bag and rebar is set against the foam in a pre-engineered pattern. "The entire structure is steel rebar reinforced," Eckhaus said.

Shotcrete, a special spray mix of concrete , is the final interior layer of the shell. "Shotcrete and rebar is what gives the structural integrity," Eckhaus said. "Large construction projects like tunnels and bridges are done (in Shotcrete) nowadays."
The reinforced concrete slab is poured after the dome is complete, or can be pre-poured for smaller domes.

"What you have when your done is concrete with steel imbedded three or four inches. "Outside of that is three or four inches of foam and the bag remains as a membrane for the foam, Eckhaus said.

Elastomeric paint with silica sand is applied to weatherproof the Airform bag. "The paint is like a rubber paint that gives a nice stucco like appearance. The coating will last up to 20 years." Increasing the square footage lessens the cost.

"There are so many variables in building any home," Eckhaus said. The dome home is no different "This is a highly customized process and the cost is relevant to the situation."

According to the Monolithic Dome Institute, there are currently three dome homes in Arizona.
In the Red Rock country of Sedona, one home has nine domes totaling 6,000 square feet.

A two-story Mesa home, designed and owned by architect Rick Crandall, affords 1,900 square feet of living space.

The Yumadome, as it's called was designed by the home owners themselves, and is a three-story, 84-foot diameter home with 11,000 square feet of living space

Although Eckhaus is not affiliated with Monolithic Dome Institute, he attended it's instructional program in September, 2001.

Thunder Ridge industries, Inc. is located at 2704 N. Smoketree Ave, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403; phone is 928-680-8002 and more information can be found on-line at www.domehomedepot.com