50-foot dome home in Vermont

[Gerry Toomey]

Winter in central Vermont, USA.... This is a recent pic from clients Alex & Laura who built a 50-foot dome home in 2013. It's a class I, 4v icosa, 7/12 truncation, with elastomeric roofing, & custom geometry for a flat base (it differs a little from the Fuller-Kruschke subdivision). The inset photo shows the owners atop the scissor lift putting in the final struts a few months ago. 

 

They have installed hydronic floor heating, but also have a ceramic wood-burning stove. They will soon start growing organic vegetables in their large, separate greenhouse, eventually for local sale.

 

- Gerry Toomey in frost-bitten West Quebec 

[Christopher Freitas]

Looks like its a double wall frame?  basically a dome inside of dome / envelope house? no thermal bridging.  wonder if they filled all that space with insulation of left part of it open?  

[Gerry in Quebec]

Yes, it's a double frame. The outer geodesic grid is 2x6 construction, with some double struts ("sister boarding") up top for snow load. The inner grid is 2x4. The struts are Douglas fir and the T-blocking within triangles (not seen in the photo) is mostly spruce. The  two frames were constructed separately, but are tied together with 12" x 12" x 5/8" gussets, with very little thermal bridging. The 14" gap between the frames will be filled with dense-pack cellulose insulation.

- Gerry in Quebec

[Tracy Larsen]

I am a brand new member of this group but harbor a lifelong interest in Geodesics and insulation envelopes. Gerry, how does this design provide for handling humidity from the interior that enters the insulation? One of your posts mentions the builders as clients of yours.I would like to know more about the services you might provide. I live in an area with 13,000 degree days and have a project in mind.

[Dick Fischbeck]

Hi Tracy

Just wondering- 13,000 degree days don't exist in New England that I know of. 8,000, yes. Where are you. In the Kingdom?

Dick

[Tracy Larsen]

Interior Alaska

---

From: Dick Fischbeck
Sent: ‎3/‎20/‎2016 11:40 AM
To: Geodesic Help
Subject: Re: 50-foot dome home in Vermont

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[Gerry in Quebec]

Welcome to the group, Tracy.

 

I don't know the final outcome of the insulation arrangements made by the dome-home owner-builders in Vermont. One of the early designs I worked on had ventilation from ground to cupola, under the outer framework. (The pic I posted doesn't show the cupola with operable windows, which was installed later.) The owners ended up working with a local company whose sealed-insulation method did not require venting between the roof and insulation. My role was geometric calculations, with some liaison with both the architect and the engineer, and lots of contact with the owners since various aspects of the design evolved over a period of a year or so. I also sourced, milled and packaged the cedar base plates for two domes, for export/shipping to Vermont from neighbouring Québec. Thankfully, the customers took care of the customs-related paperwork. To my knowledge, all other materials were sourced locally.

 

I will contact you privately about my services. Basically, it's doing detailed geometric calculations and materials inventory for the dome shell, with aim of adapting the geometry to the user's needs, not the other way round.  The information includes lengths and angles of components, simple shop drawings, and images from computer models of the dome.

 

Gerry Toomey

Consultant on dome design & geodesic math

Chelsea, Québec

(where we have 8,600 heating degree days per year at 65 degrees F base temperature)