Construction of our Geodesic Dome 1987-1989

Needing a home for ourselves and our 3 children my wife and I decided to build our own home.

The Geodesic Dome idea intrigued insofar as the enegy eficiency and ease of build was concerned plus the added benefit of a very strong building in earthquake country.

We put a deposit down on a kit that Monterey Domes was selling and proceeded to find a location to build it upon.

A year later after looking at every available lot in LA County all of which seemed to be on hillsides so steep so as to require mounting the foundation on an anti-gravity pad we came upon a property in Riverside County that was big enough to hold the dome's 35 foot diameter footprint. At 75 feet the lot was wide enough but what really impressed us was that it was about 675 feet long, almost a full acre of property, so we worked out a deal with the owner and bought it.

It was an old horse property in an area zoned for agriculture ( we can keep as many as 20 horses on our property), There were even horses on it he first day we took possesion of it.

Here's a shot from the back fence.

There were horse stalls and a small barn which had to be removed from the property because they were located where the dome would be located. My daughter thought they were fine just as they were because they had fun gates to play on

Plus it had a garage we could convert into temporary living quarters while we built the dome.

After the property was cleared I had a construction company pour the foundation. This is the only part of the project I didn't perform in a hands-on manner.

The Dome exterior is delivered in a premarked colorcoded kit form. Just like a big Erector set. The basic frame wood is bolted to steel hubs.

First day of construction

Exterior construction.

The big yellow panels in the background are rigid insulation that is cut to fit the framing.

This my dad and me putting the basic frame together.

The next step is to nail in the rest of the framing

An interior view. The open space at the top is where one of two skylights will go.

We came up with the idea to use the frame as a sort of ladder to carry the plywood to the top and work out way down the sides.

The view of the interior with the plywood skin on.

Then you cut the insulation to fit and insert it in the spaces between the framing. This has an R-30 rating so we almost never need to use the funace.

This is a shot of Jane doing some interior construction. The inside walls are built the same as conventional walls and you can use any interior floorplan you choose without it affecting the exterior dome construction.

This is the rim joist for the second floor

After the construction is done the drywalling starts. The drywall has to be cut to fit the triangular shapes of the frame but this makes it easier to carry up the scaffold and hold in place while you mount it to the frame.

View from the upstairs window.

Roofing took forever since the Dome is almost completely roof. I rented a cherrypicker and became quite good at maneuvering it from 20 feet in the air.

Applying the exterior stucco.

Interior cabinets for the kitchen. The marble counter top was a 1 inch thick piece we found on the property. The cabinets were custom built to Jane's height.

Who let them in here?

We built the kitchen door from scratch with opening sidelights to help cool the place without opening the door. No one was selling this faetiure at the time so we built it ourselves.

And...break.