earth-sheltered home | Convergence

Building these domes- like building anything- involves constant coordination and creative problem solving. Every material (and human laborer) has unique properties that bend, fit, or revolt before our efforts. For example, how do we raise 18 200-lb curved steel beams that kick like stubborn mules to the 17-foot apex of the domes and bolt them in to form the basic support for our structure? (The answer: Zach learned to drive an articulated boom, we invented a pulley system using an ancient rope from my dad’s shed, and four sets of muscles guided each into place.) When physics, respect, and careful oversight converge, our project slowly grows skyward. At this stage, we have built front walls out of insulated concrete forms (“ICF block”), filled them with a concrete core, created a massive rebar mesh surrounding the steel beams that has become the skeleton of our domes, and begun to lay electrical circuits.

Each friend-visitor to our site has shaped this process in distinct ways. Bryan, a traveling nurse and filmmaker, transformed ladders into stilts and danced at the top of our domes. Dan, an artist based in Washington, D.C. who is accustomed to working with diverse materials (he once made a giant Cheeto out of insulating expansion foam), is a rebar whisperer- everything he touches seems to move into place. Jenevive brought an art historian’s visualization skills to the construction site, Jeremy the sure hands of a surgeon, Alex a model of quiet persistence, etc. The extraordinary progress you see below was not possible without the sweat and generosity of our friends and family.

Raising the beams:

The beam team; Zach on boom

Laying in the first pieces of horizontal rebar after locking in the beams

Rebar, endless rebar, every intersection tied twice:

Zach placing the first layer of rebar

Bryan testing the curvature

Jenevive

Jenevive and Jess, filthy and satisfied

The mesh grows with the help of Jeremy and Gabe.

Megan’s hat, caught in a rebar shadow web

Zach cutting rebar

Jeremy holding rebar for Zach to cut

Alex tying rebar at the apex of the monkey gym

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Job boss!

Building the front walls out of insulated concrete forms (“ICF block”):

Jess and Zach, pausing to admire the view through the picture window frames in Dome 1

The wall for the bedroom and office, Dome 2

Each individual ICF block has plastic webbing inside 2″ foam sides, which holds rebar and eventually, a 6″ concrete core.

The blocks have rows of interlocking teeth- picture a front wall made of enormous foam Legos.

The wall grows

We inserted vent tubes into big circular holes in the wall, along with electrical penetrations.

The final challenge was cutting the curves into the top of the foam to create the contour of our dome front walls. Zach did this with a reciprocating saw while I held onto his belt loops! Then tons of bracing to make sure the walls don’t shift or bulge during the concrete pour, and disgusting yellow insulating foam to fill in all the cracks.