Build a beautiful dome home for under $10,000 using Air-crete

in #offgrid7 years ago (edited)

or you can buy a dilapidated house in Vancouver for over $1 Million dollars...

I recently attended a Dome Home building workshop to learn the concepts on how to build something similar to "Steve's Dome Home" as pictured below for under $10,000.

I love dome homes but my wife can't stand them. The point is for us to consider alternative more affordable housing so we are not trapping ourselves in a system of debt. Constantly running on that hamster wheel just to keep paying those mortgage payments to the banks. Maybe its a dome home, earthship, a tiny home, moving to a more affordable part of the world, etc...

No one said living outside the matrix will be easy, but is it worth it? I am sure of it.


120319-161.jpg



Check out this Dome Home that Steve in Thailand built

http://www.steveareen.com/domehome

and here is the YouTube video



The real estate market has officially gone mad in B.C (And Toronto for that matter) ! An 86-year-old, 2,000 square-foot house was list in Vancouver for $2.4 million! Check out this "beauty".

c22961c23c27450a3647a3aef1042650-900x598.jpeg



When I flew to Vancouver in 2017 I could not believe the insanity that is taking place. A lot has to do with Chinese money pouring in and other factors. But many Canadians are putting themselves into debt slavery by taking on mortgages they can barely afford. What will happen when mortgage rates go up by a couple of points? It will be a bloodbath....

I for one, refuse to participate in this madness and prefer to live without the shackles of debt around my ankles. There are far better values in other parts of the world if you are open to change and creating a Freedom mindset.

But sometimes we replace the feeling of security for freedom and adventure. The illusion of security and familiarity can hold us prisoner and fear of the unknown can be a big challenge for many. Or for under $10,000 you can build a beautiful dome home and not be a debt slave to the system...


steveareen_domehouse_db_03.jpg


                                  BENEFITS OF A DOME HOME:


ENERGY EFFICIENT dome home:

The net annual energy cost for a dome home owner is far less then a traditional house. There is less surface area per unit of volume, so more space is enclosed with the least amount of material... The concave shape creates a more efficient and natural airflow. External winds that might contribute to heat loss are going around the home with less resistance, due to the more aerodynamic shape. Which means its less likely to force its way to the interior of the home.

40% of the energy loss in conventional structures is around the thermal bridges where studs, floors and roof meet the exterior walls. There are no thermal bridges in a dome home. The seamless integration of floor, walls and roof eliminates outside air penetration and allows the natural flow of interior convection currents that make it easier to heat and cool. It takes a lot less energy to heat or cool a dome home which will equal a great long term energy savings.

BEAUTY of a dome home :

Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you cannot deny having high ceilings, a very open space, without obstruction of interior supports makes them incredibly unique and appealing.


steve-areen-dome-night.jpg


FAST & EASY TO BUILD dome home:

I attended a Dome Home workshop from https://www.DomeGaia.com in 2017, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We built the main dome for a local school in under 2 weeks (in this case they were going to use it as an office.) Most of us at this workshop were newbies in building a home and not handymen by any stretch of the imagination. But we learned how to build a dome home, mix cement / aircrete, make a form, use powertools, etc... in under 2 weeks!

Many any of us will spend the best years of our lives in debt to the mortgage on our homes. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Building an Air-crete dome home is easily achievable for many people. The information, tools and techniques are available to help with this process.

This video about the DomeGaia workshop experience of building a dome home with a community of like minded individuals. That experience in itself was inspiring and magical.

LOW COST dome homes:

If you have never seen how beautiful a dome home can be, I strongly recommend you check out this YouTube video "Steve's Dome Home" which has millions of views. It was built in Thailand for under $10,000 USD!

STRENGTH of a dome home:

A dome homes lifespan if built well, is measured in centuries, not decades... The shape is much stronger then a conventional square / rectangular house. To test the strength of an arch shape or double curve, take an egg at its longest length and try to squeeze it as hard as you can between the palm of your hands by interlocking your thumbs / fingers. Now squeeze as hard as you can. Even if you are the strongest dude in the gym, you CANNOT break an egg this way.

DISASTER PROOF dome homes:

Dome home survives Tornado.jpg

Aerial photo of the devastation of the aftermath of a Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. Notice the only structure still standing... Where would you want to be if this happened in your city / town?

Dome homes can be PEST PROOF:

Insects and rodents are another annoying threat. They find every nook, crack and cranny. Conventional homes are riddled with seams, joints and layers that invite pests. Regardless of the initial quality, as your home ages it becomes more accommodating to pests. Many houses are fumigated with toxic chemicals to control termites, cockroaches & other pests.

WHAT IS AIR-CRETE? And why should I care?

Hajjar Gibran has created THE "Little Dragon" to help produce "Air-crete". Basically you are adding foam to a cement mixture rather then traditional aggregate. Other names for it are cellular concrete, foam concrete, light weight concrete, aerated concrete and so on. But you can also add sand and other additives to increase its strength. Can see more details here

The early stages our putting up the forms for the arches of the Air-crete dome home.

IMG_0948.JPG


INNOVATIVE AIR-CRETE use for dome home:

Hajjar Gibran has created THE "Little Dragon" to help produce "Air-crete". Basically you are adding foam to a cement mixture rather then traditional aggregate. Other names for it are cellular concrete, foam concrete, light weight concrete, aerated concrete and so on. But you can also add sand and other additives to increase its strength.


IMG_1230.JPG


MAIN BENEFITS OF AIR-CRETE:

AirCrete is a lightweight non-toxic masonry material that is easy and inexpensive to make yourself with the "Little Dragon". It is waterproof, fireproof, and insect proof. It offers good thermal and acoustic insulation. It will not rot, warp, or corrode. Unlike concrete which is hard, heavy, cold and difficult to work with, Air-crete is easy to work with.

1 - Low cost: The foam expands the concrete by a factor of 5 to 7 times! It also eliminates the need for aggregates, gravel, sand, or rock which are costly, take space on site and require heavy equipment to deliver and hard labor. For example a 1000 square foot dome 4 inches thick will cost about $4000. (not inc. electrical, plumbing, doors, windows, etc...) AirCrete can cut cost of conventional methods of construction by a factor of 10 for several reasons.

2 - Fire proof: A small flame can become an inferno very quickly in a conventional wooden home. Once the fire penetrates the thin walls, the spaces between the stubs act like chimneys that allow the fire to easily spreads to the entire structure. And if the fire doesn’t destroy your stick frame house, the fire department likely will in the process of trying to extinguish the fire.
Air-crete is fireproof. You can build a furnace with it. It will not burn.

3 - Waterproof: Water damage is a constant threat to wood, adobe, cob, straw bale, compressed earth and even metal buildings. Air-crete is waterproof, you can build a boat with it. It will not rot, rust or decompose in water.

Thermalite-Aircrete-Blocks-cutting-blocks.jpg


4 - Easy to work with: It dries quickly and you can easily sand, drill, carved or even cut air-crete blocks with a saw. It is amazingly light weight and easy to work with. It accepts nails and screws and is easily repaired. It had good compression strength to make excellent foundations, sub-floors, building blocks, poured walls, domes, etc.... It can be molded or formed into practically any shape.

5 - Other Air-crete properties: There are many benefits to Air-crete. It is inexpensive to produce, it has good comprehensive strength, it bonds well, is easy to work with, self-compacting, self-leveling, uses less material and offers superior sound and heat insulating properties.

Check out https://www.Domegaia.com for more details or check out their upcoming workshops.

And check out our website https://www.FreedomFool.com

100pixelsHeight.png

Sort:  

I have a question, would it not be a stronger build, if instead of blocks, which from what I understand, loses strength, to have preformed dome shapes that are put together to make the building? Sort of like the Japanese company only with the aircrete instead of foam shapes like they make, they are almost the same idea, aren't they? And has this aircrete been actually tested in all the above situations?
Aircrete appeals to me more than the earthbag for simple reasons, it's physically more appealing to look at and if less labor intensive and quicker to put up? Yeah, that's a sale.

And if these structures were built alot, I'd seriously consider them. Because you won't be able to be in any town or city and build one without a huge amount of hoops to jump thru because of zoning, in the USA, but outside of a town you could do it. Anyway, thanks for this post!

Hi Grasswind,

Sorry for the late response.

Even if using blocks for an aircrete dome home, you are still building it in the shape of a dome and also adding an exterior fabric afterwards which acts like a rib cage bringing it all together in terms of structural integrity. I have built one of these and was amazed at how strong and solid structure was. But it looks like can also do a form build that would cut down construction time. But you are then adding cost into buying the form of course...

Check out what this guy did using an airform


and I also recommend you visit Alosha's progress on his dome home project

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzHlI4B6iBHbaw7a9j4ZgLA/videos

Yes would need to be out of the city for sure in USA or Canada so as not to get by-lawed to death...

Best of luck!

FreedomFool

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.17
TRX 0.13
JST 0.029
BTC 56373.71
ETH 2972.37
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.12