Monolithic dome home tour
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- Опубликовано: 22 апр 2022
- Welcome to Laura's country dream home: a 900 square foot concrete Monolithic dome home built in East Texas. Her property also includes a metal garage with an off-grid solar system, a vegetable garden, young fruit trees, and abundant local wildlife.
About our channel - Over the River and Through the Woods - We left behind our careers in Dallas Texas for life off the grid in the woods of Vermont. Here, we experience new rewards and challenges, living in a travel trailer while setting up water, power, and a yurt on the side of a mountain. Charles plans and executes our DIY projects. Jill is our RUclips videographer.
You can purchase a dehumidifier, that will dry out the air in your dome. 🦋🌿
I am so glad for you !!!! I am 71, my wife died of cancer, I am living in apartment in Texas, but I want a homestead off grid.....Every thing is so high, I cannot find a place so far, I am praying GOD will open the door, and help me to be able to afford acreage in the country, so far nothing has opened up.......I desire to live off grid.....In champion mobile home..
You are almost there. I'm almost 72. A few years ago, I bought 10 acres in west Texas. I'm about to move there and start building my dream home. You are never too old to get started. I have a complete plan to build a dome home made out of lightweight cellular concrete. (aircrete). You can have a basic place to live in a year and be completely off grid. I will have a basic shelter up in a week. Then build as I can This is no scam. My place is about 25 miles east of Van Horn. Lots of cheap land still out there. Let me know if you want to know more.
I would take this over any suburban stick built house in a second.
Here in Germany we have a low-energy solution to humidity in homes. Every single morning (no matter if it is winter or summer) we open all the windows for 10 minutes to get a full air exchange in the house. That should work for you as well, but a new house should not have humidity problems unless it never had the chance to dry completely during construction.
Exactly!
She has such a lovely home! I’m retired now and want to build something similar as a “less maintenance and less worry” retirement home for myself. 😍🏆
This may be the nicest dome home I've seen yet. Most of the domes I've seen are too large to feel cozy, but this one has rooms that are exactly the right size.
Even better, it's very nicely decorated. I think I could see this dome as a "forever" home.
If you get humidity inside of a basement or concrete wouldn't it be easier to use a dehumidifier just an idea you want a lottery have a wonderful year
I am so envy at this point one day I will definitely use this as my inspiration here in Philippines we need it for the storm
Yes dome is almost cyclone proof , maybe with salvaged portholes from a boat or something. Hard to find windows to withstand storms .
@@acquasanta6676 I hope to see your project come to fruition here.
Owner is a conscientious person, respectful of nature.
I live in etx piney woods as well and accidentally stumbled upon this. so cool
Love the rotating mirror
Well insulated homes need about half the cooling. My SIPS home 1700 square feet has 1.5 ton Trane unit. The ac contractors wanted to install 3-3.5 tons. I had to sign a waiver saying they would not be responsible. 12 years zero issues with mold .
Could you explain this more? Less ac means less mold?
AC dries the air so it reduces the mold.
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods too large an ac will cause mold problems. My home 1700 square feet at least has a one ton ac , code the building requirement three ton - to three and a half ton. The ac has to run long enough to de humidify , to large a unit will not do the job . House will get cold fast , just high humidity . Had I let my contractor, building inspector , and the code prevail through home would has been destroyed by mold ! Sometimes you must stand your ground, I was just about to hire a lawyer when they agreed .
@@ytSuns26 I see what you mean. Yikes.
For humidity run a dehumidifier, it does 2 things it gets rid of the humidity and makes useable water
This would be better with a black, or dark colored exterior with cheery trim colors.
The way to make a kitchen and buildings to work is to avoid using the exterior walls for placement. Having taller walls would mean more headroom before the walls curve.
Great little place!
Love your home thanks for video
Love it
beautiful. this house goes well with its green environment too.
Wonderful!
Such a cute home
The ONLY thing I would have changed in the interior wood framing. Should be metal frame for fire proofing
Its a cement based home. Outside fires would not combust interior frames. Some of these dome houses have aircrete interior walls.
Research about a family who lives in a monolithic dome home in California, and when the wildfires were going on, they even took in so e firefighters who needed a safe place because of getting trapped. The only thing that the family had to do to the outside of their home was to was off the soot from the fires, and the family along with the firefighters were safe inside. There is a family in Florida whose ho.e was safe, but their neighbors homes were destroyed in hurricanes, and it was because the family had a monolithic dome home. So there is no need for metal framing inside, because concrete is extremely good for protection. It was the ancient Romans who invented concrete, and look how well a lot of their buildings have held up over the centuries.
@@nicalonso8268 INSIDE fires are the threat there.
@@fredachildress3728 WRONG! The metal framing (as RECOMMENDED by the inventor of the monolithic dome, is to prevent fires from INSIDE sources. Which is responsible for MOST home fires.
This is what I want this is what I've been praying for thank you for this video I will follow this 😊
Thanks! If you enjoyed the frog, you may be interested in our wildlife playlist 😊
Very nice 👍
awesome dome home!thank for video
Thank you for saying hi!
Really neat! Get some damp-rid bags for the closet, they work great!
Need to paint the roof like a turtle shell , awesome place and beautiful scenery 🙏
That would be cool, wouldn't it!
I could be very happy in a home like this. The energy efficiency of it is particularly attractive to me. I notice she has a small wood burning stove - I wish she had discussed the heating of the house more.
She's in Texas... not much to discuss I don't think.
Our county bldg department required us to have at least 30,000 btu heat source for 1200 sq feet even though the engineer doing our energy calcs said 1500 btu would be plenty-the dome engineers rated the dome at r68 but the building department did not agree with those calcs. We lived just at the snow line so several snowfalls a year. I put radiant heat in the floor before the inspector saw it and ran it off the household water heater with no problems at all. (25 years ago...)
Very,nice
Very efficient home.
My wife and I LOVE her home! We have been entertaining the idea of selling our house and building a dome home. Thank you very much for sharing!
Thanks and good luck!
Did you end up doing it?
Buy a dehumidifier.
The size of a 2 drawer filing cabinet.
Wow, such a nice home and property. So many projects to dream up
2 dehumidifiers and let them run connect drain hose instead of the bucket that you empty makes them care free minus cleaning the air filter about every 2 weeks. They just slide out wash in kitchen sink and slide back in. Solar will run them just fine during the day none stop. The one I have when it can’t pull anymore water out of the air you will notice your toilet bowel will start to disappear. No joke.
That is excellent info to know
We built and lived in a 40 dome for 15 years. It was a blast! The airform deteriorated on the sunny side after about 5 years-I waited too long to cover it. Humidity is a real problem. We left a window cracked and our skylight open ALL THE TIME. These buildings are extremely airtight so be careful with interior flame sources such as stoves lp fridge woodstove. etc.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
What do you cover the air form with, paint?
@@user-ty2uz4gb7v we used several different kinds of exterior paint. Elastomeric paint worked well.
We need thous in FL now with the passing of Ian
And tree-free lots... for when the big storms come.
Check out the Sigler Dome in FL...
I would add a dehumidifier.
There's a song by Michelle shocked called memories of East texas
I never saw what it looked like before
the house is interesting
I found this video per casualty and I loved it, I subscribed to see more, lovely all the wild animals you showed on it.
Welcome aboard! Plenty of wildlife coming up on our own property up here in Vermont, this time of year :)
iLife that she’s got 3 dogs and they sleep on the bed. Good person for sure. Sending you lots of love. I totally understand she wants safety more than anything. So do I. I think it’s very important for women. Dom shaped houses are the most resistant of storms. This is such a wonderful idea. More people needs to do this. It’s such a brilliant idea. God bless her and the whole world. ❤️👍🌎😘🙏🏻💕☮️💓🍀🌍🥰😍🇺🇦🇺🇸💚❤️
One of the neatest, coolest homes I’ve seen. Thank you for sharing!
i used a dehumidifier and a small heater. the perfect mix for a humid, cool issue.
Good job
Thanks!
I like the 🐕
🐕🐾❤️
Peaceful...
A dehumidifier would be a better option than running your air conditioning to control humidity in the dome. With the thermal mass of the dome, it will take a long time to change the inside temperature.
A nice video. I would have preferred more detail on the construction, such as what happened to the foam? Is it the outside of the house now? How long did it take to build? What was the cost?
Hi DigitalRanger, Laura was living several hours away from the build site during construction, and we didn't have a RUclips channel yet, so there isn't any footage or first hand description... But to answer your question about the layers, the airform is now the outer membrane, the cement is now the inside of the home, and the foam insulation is sandwiched between them. (To learn more, you can visit www.monolithic.org). Laura recently checked on the price for someone who asked about that, so let me look it up and post it in another reply below.
Updated cost estimate (April 2022) $85-$95 per square foot for the shell, plus the same amount as a normal home to finish the interior.
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods Thank you for your replies!
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods not sure what is 'normal ' any more so is it possible to give some idea of cost for that size for the entire cost for HER home...and then we have something to relate that cost to for size and what we saw? And when you say the interior ..did you mean the appliances and lighting and shelves, etc. or the interior empty and not including those but the plumbing and electric jobs finshed including in the cost. That's what i would like ...to know. for that size and for what it is.
@@marianl3447 "
@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods
10 months ago
Updated cost estimate (April 2022) $85-$95 per square foot for the shell, plus the same amount as a normal home to finish the interior." so for just the shell of her 900 sq ft house it's $76k-$85k just for the insulated shell and this took 2 yrs??? a 900 sq ft metal garage with many suppliers works much better for her regular rooms within the dome and would be $20k and take a day or 2 to put up and about $5k for closed cell insulation. the factory applied paint on mtl blg siding/roof lasts for 30+ yrs with about 15 colors to choose from. what she did is nuts.
Perfect! I enjoyed this! I am building a small home, about this size in Apache County AZ. I love the shape; the uniqueness and it is perfect construction for the desert where I will be! Definitely going to do more research. The kitchen came out lovely, too. I love everything, great decor and space. Thank you for a wonderful tour and explanation of the build!
That's excellent, what type of home did you decide to build?
Brilliant and beautiful 🇺🇦💚❤️💕🙏🏻🌎🥰😍☮️🍀🇺🇸🌷👍💓
I need a house like that.
Great dome! And I love the board game collection! 😍
Yes! Laura introduces us to a new boardgame every time we visit :)
Get a dehumidifier; they are absolutely brilliant and are low cost to buy and run. I've got a big house that is freezing and has huge windows that would be running with water over night. The dehumidifier has fixed it all; can't tell you just how good it is.
We love your home! The murphy bed is one of those features we’ve always wanted in our home. Question please, how is your kitchen light secured to the ceiling in the kitchen?
Thank you for sharing your home
Thank you, although it is our friend's home and not ours. Charles did hang the light fixture for her, so he knows how it was done. Since the interior is concrete, he used a concrete wedge anchor with a ring on the end. He had to carefully drill holes with a masonry bit, then install the anchors from which to hang the fixture chains.
Anchors are similar to these: www.amazon.com/Preamer-Eyebolt-Stainless-Concrete-Expansion/dp/B075491B68/ref=sr_1_3?crid=DZI84DHD5E8R&keywords=wedge+anchor+hangers+loop&qid=1688049029&sprefix=wedge+anchor+hangers+loop%2Caps%2C261&sr=8-3
The metal outbuilding possibly cost more than the house. Thanks for sharing! It's really great. 😊
To clear hudmidity turn the mini split on heat and then back to cold a few times.
Beautiful home. I bet b its. Ice and toasty in winter. Especially when fhe polar vortexes and att8c blasts end up that far south. Along with some wicked snow storms. I belive it was right before covid or during the shut down Texas was hit with that major blizzard that just rocked the state, power outages every where, roads closed, businesses snowed in. No one could get any where for a dfew days. How ever fhe power Fook weeks to be turned back on. I live in New Jersey and seen aĺ of that in the news. I felt so bad for every one.
Yes! People laughed at Laura when she put in that little wood stove, but it sure kept her warm during the polar vortex when there was no electricity for days.
pro tip: get a dehumidifier for your house
I think the low humidity (which can be achieved by the a/c) is part of what makes it feel cold.
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods exactly, thats why you rely more on the dehumidifier so you dont have to make the house cold to get rid of the humidity
Might be worth a try.
You got me with the frog
Check out monolithic domes out of Italy Texas.
Cute
Good feng shui🙏
buy a portable dehumidifier
I would like to know who you hired to build this home, we would like to build one.
Sure, here is the company she hired. They are based in Italy, Texas. www.monolithic.org
Lol it says monolithic come home right in the video title!
Look into earthbag homes.
That's mighty nice , there, but i am betwixt about your' humidity prx. Did they lay out a berrier after the footer form was complete & before the rebar ties etc... were prepped for for the concrete trucks pour of the slab. And before the laying of that barrier/membrane, the surface of the ground must be properly prepared w/ a gravel > pea rock > dry sand > tamped down > level it all out & smoothed as you work it all down to a well packed sand surface & all level checked before a laying-out of your base barrier. The barrier has to be a very thick grade of Visqueen/base-tarp 1 layer w/ no openings & gorilla taped any inner & exterior seems. ...and squared gently up against interior wooden form wall. The total space of layout size needs the extra excess to extend outward spared to @ least 3' from where the exterior forms the wall's round. After the ground is prepped & absolutely clean of any type of sharp or other than just sand only then do you place the unrolled/unfurled visqueens tape & that's it ... only feet with 100% cotton socks may step into the arena for barrier placement, VERY IMPORTANT... don't let dogs anywhere near this part of project from start to finish the layout > taping at seams > full-run tape all the lengths way ~ even the continuance to that extra 3'+ extending beyond the wall.>trim the corners of the visqueen to continue To Keeping the extra 3' + on the complete rounding.
The rest is really explanatory as to properly & very carefully walk upon the visqueen ONLY with Cotton White clean socks on feet so not to puncture as you follow the securing the barrier flush & free of any debris. >>> then a layer of clean fresh weatherproof insulated foam 8X4 1/4" thick @ max . starting from center out, and then taped where joined & taped up ... full lengths after it has been laid out & curved & flush against the inner wall, snugly. then you should have a 1 more later layer of visqueen to repeat the same as the base. Then, the rebare & poured pad & base of floor to be your choice after DOME is done on inside & outside. Then It shall remain dry .
THE MORE WATER/moistened content of pre prepped dirt ground B4 step 1... when finished BELOW REMAINS SEALED OFF PERMANENTLY then humidity of finished dome should never have a humidity problem if there is adequate air exhaust in normal sunny fresh air days in spring & summer. So if they missed doing all this above @ MINIMUM. then i haven't a clue as to any real corrective surgery would help... But build one next to that 1 at same interior floor plan and.... transfer all kitchen cabs & all belongings into a truly dry & consistent moderate temps. THEN TuRN THE 1 you are presently inside of , into a car garage or your workshop! take good care. ^j^
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Cool video and a nice home. How did you insulate the Dome? Who built it for you? Thanks for sharing your story & video. Stay well & safe always.
Hi Thomas, the company that built Laura's dome is called Monolithic www.monolithic.org
The dome is not insulated. It is just thick enough to retain its temperature more than ordinary walls.
An air to air heat exchanger might solve the indoor humidity issue. I don't know if it would help the whole house, I think it would depend on how good the ventilation is inside the house.
The ERV is basically what you're referring to... I think the issue is that dealing with the humidity results in the indoor temperature feeling colder than it actually is.
Must be nice to have a family with land. That’s half the battle of doing this kind of build
Well, it's certainly nice to have the family place next door (and access to the lake that way) but Laura had to buy her own parcels next door (at different times, on both sides of the road) to do this project. So between saving up, construction, and getting permission to work remotely it took many years to bring this dream to life!
A dehumidifier would solve your problem. An AC without cold air
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I am buying mine at Burleson factory when I find acreage to put it on...
those chemical OFF gassing concerns.. I like hemp wool and hempcreate, but still pretty cool concept
Nice to see this video, it’s not the first I’ve seen featuring the building technique. Each time the steps have been the same: The membrane in inflated, spray foam is applied to the inside, rebar is shaped/installed inside the foam layer, followed by concrete applied/growled/sprayed a certain thickness which ensconces the rebar. The burning question in my mind has been: Is anything in addition applied to the exterior surface? It would seem the original inflated membrane covering the spray foam outer surface wouldn’t offer enough barrier protection against the elements, eventually deteriorate, expose the spray foam which in turn would also fall apart. Thanks!
Teo, I don't recall if it was absolutely necessary, however Laura did have it painted with a special heavy-duty paint (two-part I think). I know it was really thick. So, it is quite possible that it is actually required in order to protect the membrane from UV deterioration.
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods thank you for detailing this!
Here is Laura's response: "Yes- you do need to add something to the exterior membrane to protect it from the elements, but not right away. The exterior membrane will be fine on its own for a year or two. In my case, I added a special emulsion paint which helps to block UV radiation, reduces cracking, and protects against driving rain. Other options would be stucco, flagstone, rock, etc."
@@carrtb @marianl3447 "
@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods
10 months ago
Updated cost estimate (April 2022) $85-$95 per square foot for the shell, plus the same amount as a normal home to finish the interior." so for just the shell of her 900 sq ft house it's $76k-$85k just for the insulated shell and this took 2 yrs??? a 900 sq ft metal garage with many suppliers works much better for her regular rooms within the dome and would be $20k and take a day or 2 to put up and about $5k for closed cell insulation. the factory applied paint on mtl blg siding/roof lasts for 30+ yrs with about 15 colors to choose from. what she did is nuts.
Something odd .
Wire/lathe cement.
I may build one myself.
Save on power costs and do the Australian thing..an outdoor clothes line to dry clothes when weather is good. Here i have never owned an electric dryer..also in colder you could hang the laundry in your garage and it might dry.
Buy a dehumidifier, I had the same problem in a below grade room and the humidifier fixed it.
As a semi custom boat builder of 30 years, I find it funny when someone says things don't fit in a dome home. You just need to adjust your thinking to make it work with the curved surfaces of the walls. For instance, in the kitchen, she rightly set the cabinets to fit the space. Putting a deeper countertop over those home store prebuilt cabinets and nobody knows that it wasn't all custom. Bonus is that you have more counterspace.
Sounds like she needs a dehumidifier to pull out moisture so she isn't so cold trying to remove it with the A/C. I'd also want to find out why there is so much to begin with.
👍😎
You just need carpets to section off zones. Lovely home!
One thing I don't miss from Texas: copperheads and rattlesnakes. No, I did not ever live in the country, I lived in the burbs.
Where in East Texas is this? I have been researching dome structures for a while now and plan to start building soon! I also am in East Texas .
Hi Rick, if you go to our “about” page and find the business inquiries email, you can send us a note and we’ll pass on your contact info to Laura.
lg dehumidifier.. 300 bucks problem solved
Would love to have one of these built. Though now I am being told that the Monolithic Dome company in Italy TX will no longer do anything other than the shell (no foundation other than the outer ring the dome sits on, no doors/windows/etc...).
Was this the same for when that dome was built?
Hi, I ran your question by Laura and here is her response: This is essentially correct! Monolithic contract included the basic shell only and then I worked with a local contractor to finish out the home. I think at the time mine was built Monolithic was still offering the option of serving as the general contractor. However, it was highly discouraged as cost prohibitive (due to staff availability, travel time, etc.). Finishing out the home is pretty similar to a standard home (with some obvious quirks). You may have to do a little research to find a general contractor willing to “think outside the box” but having someone familiar with the local area and an already established network was very helpful!
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods
THANK YOU for the reply!
Had a feeling it was going to be that way but doesn't hurt to check.
Eventually having a place built at my parent's land in Venus, TX (about 30 from Monolithic Domes Co) so hopefully I can find a few contractors that have worked with them.
The outer ring is all you need from the shell contractor. Most any concrete contractor can pour the slab and finish it for you. After all the foundation is the important thing.
@@rwthunder4143 @marianl3447 "
@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods
10 months ago
Updated cost estimate (April 2022) $85-$95 per square foot for the shell, plus the same amount as a normal home to finish the interior." so for just the shell of her 900 sq ft house it's $76k-$85k just for the insulated shell and this took 2 yrs??? a 900 sq ft metal garage with many suppliers works much better for her regular rooms within the dome and would be $20k and take a day or 2 to put up and about $5k for closed cell insulation. the factory applied paint on mtl blg siding/roof lasts for 30+ yrs with about 15 colors to choose from. what she did is nuts.
Seen one of these in VA Beach VA in the mid 70s. Almost ordered one until I discovered cracks and warps on the interior plastic layer. Builder quit demonstrating sample home and disappeared.
How about putting solar to the dome, too?
It might be possible (if your dome is located in the sun) but this one is in the shade so fortunately the property across the street works much better for that.
I would get a dehumidifier. They produce heat not cold.
How long did your dorm take to build? from laying the ring beam foundation to the point where you where ready to move in?
lovely place you have
It took longer because she had trouble getting contractors to come out to her rural property, maybe two years. She also was living two hours away while it was being built.
Here is a note from Laura herself in response to your question: I spent a lot of time on the design phase. I visited actual dome homes in Italy, TX (Monolithic headquarters). They have an open house each year where you can tour homes and ask questions of the owners. I played around with floorplan designs on the computer on my own. At the time I lived in a larger house and I knew that I wanted to go as small as possible with the dome. I thought about what parts of the large house I actually used and built my design around that. My goal was to make the floorplan as open as possible to help the smaller space feel larger. After I was happy with the floorplan, I worked with Monolithic to fine tune the design and create the actual plans. My home is in a rural area of East Texas and the building permit was not difficult to obtain. Obviously, this would vary depending on where you are wanting to build. Monolithic built the dome shell and I worked with a local general contractor to finish the inside. It is important that you find a contractor willing to “think outside the box” (pun intended) as there will be some challenges and creative problem solving needed.
Why is mold a problem?
What about a dehumidifier?
Love the floor, is it Epoxy?
Stained concrete. Yes, it turned out nicely didn't it!
Could you share more information about how your home was built? For instance, how the design came about, how you got the building permit, etc.?
Laura studied a bunch of books the manufacturer has put out, with floor plans and photos. She also regularly attended the annual open house where you can tour dome homes (both demo models and ones that are lived in) at the Monolithic community in Italy, Texas... An architect in her family helped tweak the floor plan she came up with. She's in a rural community where there was a permit process but it was kind of low key.
To get to actual home at 6:55 in video….
@marianl3447 "
@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods
10 months ago
Updated cost estimate (April 2022) $85-$95 per square foot for the shell, plus the same amount as a normal home to finish the interior." so for just the shell of her 900 sq ft house it's $76k-$85k just for the insulated shell and this took 2 yrs??? a 900 sq ft metal garage with many suppliers works much better for her regular rooms within the dome and would be $20k and take a day or 2 to put up and about $5k for closed cell insulation. the factory applied paint on mtl blg siding/roof lasts for 30+ yrs with about 15 colors to choose from. what she did is nuts.
Love it!! Who built the home? Cost?
monolithicdome.com
Please scroll down in comments for the cost per square foot (it's in the range of $95).
I like the atypical design. I wonder if you had a _mega_ lithic one
I really don't understand why commercial places have difficulty with irregular layout. This explained the computer thing but unless a "bespoke" thing, it shouldn't be a problem. Even then, kitchens are never ever bespoke because it's the installer who does everything except drawing the plans ordinarily. They're very capable though. Cabinetry has a set dimension with a variety of depths and widths which can be placed in any orientation and distance; it's the worktop which hides gaps and such, makes it custom and hygienic-normal designs have too many gaps which accumulate grease and dust, so not having upper cabinets helps-only exposed surface is the one used every day-said worktop. Even if cabinets were intended to have obtuse angles to conform with the curve, they would be wasted spaces because drawers won't work using that "optimised" space and surface area is usually for uniform items like flat things or pots/pans which have a relatively square/parallel shape. I don't understand the foam thing mentioned as the structure material, unless shot-crete was meant? :S it's interesting either way, as it doesn't seem to have a cavity as is in standard construction :o
I wished she’d have said what size it is, like is it a 30’ or 40’ dome?
We did the math and came up with 39 feet.
3:40 - You may as well be living in a Petri dish for black mold medium. The Geodesic Dome with the Green House effect allows light, and Air in an atmospheric vapor barrier created in its own bio - sphere. These hydro concrete canvas formed geodesic designs need corrugated baffles on the inside keeping the barrier ventilation between a dried in wall and the concrete in an upward flow toward the Dome vent. A baseboard heating and cooling system with ducts and waterline in the wall ( the way chimney builders incorporate conduit ) would be more effective in preventing black mold, and a ' Clean In Place ' wouldn't be a bad idea in such a confined space as well. Living in an underground foundation home, above ground, is all the comfort of a basement, customised to a sump pump water closet.I would be careful entering these when they've been dormant for over 3 months, with no air flow. In any case, with proper maintenance, the home is safe ,,,but if your looking for no maintenance, you may as well be looking for a nursing home, or an Air B & B .
How does the home do in this intense heat?
We have been in the home when it was pretty hot out. Being concrete on the inside, and a thick insulation layer outside of that, it feels a lot like walking into a cool cave. She cools the whole space with a small mini-split AC unit (she has two installed, but one can do the job). EXTREMELY efficient!
Does anyone know what the solution to the humidity problem is? is it how they did the set up inside? it seems that not building right up to the ceiling would improve airflow. I would think each room needs multiple airflow paths both at the floor and the ceiling.
Actually, the air flow is pretty great inside a round building. It's just the airtight nature of the construction that limits the airflow from indoors to outdoors (which is true of other modern homes as well, especially energy efficient ones). There are a lot of people suggesting "open your windows" in these comments, but they're not from Texas where it's above body temperature and humid for months at a time!
(The short answer is that A/C and/or a dehumidifier and the ERV are the solution to the humidity and air exchange issues. But a lot of people suggesting a dehumidifier are not quite understanding that it isn't really the temperature at issue, but the strange fact that dry air "feels" colder to people than air with more moisture in it.
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods Interesting. well I for sure dont know about what texas air is like. I have seen "Earth ships" that had a similar problem. the solution was to run large pipes a distance underground to the inside floor of the house. the hot air in the house drew air from the pipes that was cooled by the earth. then there were vents in the roof. yet you are saying that you cant vent air out the top? what about a "swamp cooler" stye exit at the top of the house? Ha! never mind im just thinking out loud about a problem I know very little about. I really like your house and I instantly thought "that looks like a house to feel safe in!"
@@bikemessenger7 Actually, I (Jill) once lived in an apartment in West Texas, where you can use a swamp cooler. They're built for warm but dry climates since they work by evaporative cooling and you need drier air for the evaporation to work.
If I may ask. What floor plan was this one built. I’m seriously considering building one bedroom but looking for a bigger SQ ft plan.
Hi, Laura made a custom floor plan with the help of an architect in the family. But the builder has a lot of information, including, I think, some books with floor plan examples. www.monolithic.com
@@OvertheRiverandThroughtheWoods is there anyway you could tell me who your builder was? I’ve heard of southern industries but idk if they do residential homes and only do public buildings.
Also if possible a price estimate of this build. You can DM the information if at all possible. Thanks either way.
@@xxtoptankxx6873 www.monolithic.com