Life on the Hill

Dome of a home

We bought this property when we moved here to Prattville Al 1 1/2 years ago. It is beautiful land, on a hillside about 100 ft high overlooking trees, untouched woodlands to the back.  We cleared an area about 70 ft up and proceded to try to build our dream home,  a geodesic dome home. We had only the money we had been able to save over the past 5 years so were attempting to build it ourselves with the help from the church family.  Last summer, my husband had to have surgery so building was suspended for 6 weeks, not to mention that heavy labor in 100 degree temp with tropical humidity is almost impossible...at least for middle agers.  Then, just after he recovered, I became sick and was out of work for 14 weeks ...and there went the savings.  Anyway, we proceded to try to get a loan to continue and ran into the problem of getting an engineer to stamp the plans my husband made.  The only problem is,   they all want several thousand dollars to stamp the drawings. We try to live by faith though, so I am trusting the delays are of the Lord and that when it is right, he will make the way clear for us.  So if anyone knows a Christian structural engineer who would like to help us stamp our drawings and feels a calling to do so....let me know. We now live in a 10x70 ft trailer on our property.  It is crowded, no doubt, with 6 people, but it is ours and it is paid for.  I am practicing contentment for what God has given us and patience to wait on him to improve our living space.

Why a dome home you say?

Geodesic domes are some of the most cost effective structures to build.  Their overall design means you can put up walls anywhere you want, or none at all because there are no load bearing walls in the interior.

They are the absolute strongest structure you can build.  In all the devistation from last years hurricanes, you can see domes standing when all structures around them are rubble.

They are the most energy effecient structures made.  They use about 1/4 of the energy of a "normal" home.

Our design is 2 connected domes, one for main living space and master bedroom and one for the boys.  Ours is a 40ft diameter dome on 8 ft riser walls making it 38 ft walls. The boys is a 32 ft 2 story home with the lower level bermed for energy effeciency and tornado shelter.  The bottom floor contains bedrooms and top floor is open floor plan for school./playroom. My dh is a structural steel drafter and drew up the plans himself.

I have included some links to a friend's site if you want more information on domes.

http://www.albatadomes.com/

http://domebuilder.wecre8.com/about.htm

Al is a great guy and knows bunches about domes.  He does good quality work if you are interested in a dome home of your own. (Wow sound Seussian doesn't it)

Cool!

1:32 PM, Sep. 18, 2006 .. Posted by MamaDuke

First, thanks for the message you left me on 9/16/06 about quilting. It's so nice to hear from other people!! I really enjoy quilting, but I've never had the luxury of a sewing machine (no space and until recently, no inclination!). I've done my by hand and it's been a great experience.

I must applaud you and your husband for your dome home! That's great! We are also looking at building our own home at some point in time. We have most of the material to do so, but with hubby starting real estate soon, we've kind of put our new home on the back burner - at least for now. We're also trying to do it with cash only as we've been down the debt route and we're trying to get out of it completely. More power to you and yours! I'll keep you in our prayers!

God's blessings!