#5 How to Build a Geodesic Strawbale Dome - Placing the Bales

[SooTico]

Anyone with a pitchfork can break into these houses.

[universetechnique]

The next generation of house living. Magi Thai 1:31AM 2/25/2012

[Rozy2987]

great until it rains .... :/

[KibbutzLotan]

@Rozy2987 With a good roof buildings like this can last centuries. Unfortunately it doesn't rain much here.

[BrokenRRT]

Great video ...thanks for the info. I want to build a straw and mud garage/shop here in Arizona.

Sholem Aleichem!

[jackhammer8981]

sweet now you can live like a prehistoric savage.

[KibbutzLotan]

@jackhammer8981 Well, not exactly: the rooms have electricity and wifi...and the acoustics are really sweet when you play music - recorded or jamming.

[nokithecat]

For tough environments and if you want a stronger dome add steel mesh inside and out then spray cement shotcrete inside and out. Shotcrete is strong enough for keeping rock walls together and is used for other construction and concrete repairs.

[KibbutzLotan]

@nokithecat Our friends at Monolithic Domes in Texas do this with sprayed polyurethane foam. Check them out.

[jb0nd38372]

Wasn't this one of the three little piggies houses? Straw + Wind = Well air conditioned house eventually. Not to mention that if there was an invasion of hungry rabid cows your house would get ate.

[KibbutzLotan]

@jb0nd38372 We like to think of it as the good combo house: sticks (the steel pipes), straw (compacted bales) and bricks (thick mud coating inside and out). Put it all together and we'll leave the wolves and hungry cows at bay. Or better yet, we'll invite them for a yummy vegan meal cooked in the Eco-Campus solar ovens.

[lecagot2]

Hard to understand with that irritating bee-bop soundtrack. Get rid of it.

[RetroFishman]

Well said. That had occured to me as well and fire proofing with fluctuating humidity levels as the hay ages/ Mud covered straw, still wouldnt smoke in bed type of thing and keep good cheers with the neighbors or someone may poke a hole in your mud and insert a road flare. No chinks in the armour

[KibbutzLotan]

@RetroFishman We tested the walls at the Standards Institute facility. The straw-clay plaster is inflammable and the walls stood up to 3 hours at 1200 degrees C.

[discodenial]

@KibbutzLotan Impressive.

[nNorthWestern]

i seriously doubt you need to wet the straws to get the mud stay infact they should be bone dry. are you trying to make Stachybotrys (blackmold) incubator for your family? the straws have the mold spores allready in them and any moisture left behind will make the mold active, the bales need to be insulated from both sides extremely well or you might just kiss your health and lungs good bye

when you make halfass instructions ppl overlook the serious stuff you never mentioned and suffer for it

[KibbutzLotan]

@nNorthWestern The first coat of mud is really sticky/wet and wetting the bales does help but, you're right, is not always necessary. It depends on the experience of the worker and if the bales are dusty. We've seen no mold: we let each layer dry completely (in the summer it happens real fast) before applying the next.

[nNorthWestern]

why do you wet the bales D:  are you tying to make Stachybotrys icubator?

[KibbutzLotan]

@Ipissonfakes 'Full size' earthbag houses are made by connection earthbag domes. Our friend Kelly Hart lives in one: search for his website "earthbagbuilding" As for Cob - there's sooo many considering that this is the classic material used in Europe/UK for centuries. Start at Ianto Even's "cobcottage" website . Good fortune, Alex

[astrialkil]

@Ipissonfakes The only full sized domes I've seen are Monolithic domes (sprayed cement). For a square house try Rammed earth, mother earth news had an article on one made in the 1980's . their web site would have it as they have all back story's on web. There is a prepper who made a earth bag home maybe medium size, think his name was "southern prepper" on youtube.

[KibbutzLotan]

@astrialkil I visited Monolithic Domes in Italy, TX a few week's back and met David South, the founder - wow. Now that they've got their thermal mass/insulation worked out (mass inside, insulation outside) they are really worthwhile considering if you want all the passive advantages using conventional materials. Alex

[dusteroo]

@Ipissonfakes

I'm thinking some slight modifications and imagination applied to these structures here would actually make them pretty desirable and ... certainly interesting to live in.

Perhaps consider integrating them to natural buildings already built. 

[MrAnthonyRizzo]

The design, construction and innovative use of materials are beautiful. However I fail to see its overall practicality. I’m sure this type of building is prohibitive to very rural areas but some of the construction material doesn’t seem to be the type that could be locally acquired in such a case. Perhaps I am missing something. Can this type of construction be done in a more urbanized setting given the necessary permits and regulations needed?

[KibbutzLotan]

@MrAnthonyRizzo Good question. There are two messages for urban settings: a. natural materials can be safely used (modifications and pre-fab wall units have been developed by others in England, Germany and the US) and b. switch the earth with concrete and the above standard insulation layer of straw with some other insulation material (i.e. keep the thermo-dynamic standards we used) to get a super-efficient passive solar home that uses very little purchased energy for heating and cooling.

[MrAnthonyRizzo]

@KibbutzLotan Thank you for your response. I agree that with a little innovation it would be practical however I still have my doubts that given the building code restrictions and preference by municipalities to industrial standardization that it would be feasible. Permits, Lawyers and Contractor fees would all put the cost of such structures out of the reach of the very people that would benefit from it in urban areas. I would like to see this aspect change.

[tate47ful]

ok, where do you get the dome frames ?

[KibbutzLotan]

@tate47ful We manufacture the frames by ourselves. See the previous dome video for all the details.

Alex, Kibbutz Lotan Center for Creative Ecology

[KibbutzLotan]

@tate47ful Domes 1-3 have hand made doors and door frames. Domes 4-7 had purchased insulated steel doors [local producer - "Sharabani"] in galvanized steel frames with magnetic sealing strips for an air-tight close.

[sailorvenussun]

great info. how could you not like this?

[KibbutzLotan]

@sailorvenussun Thanks for the positive feedback!

[MrDogrose]

@sailorvenussun I like it a lot--watching the video, that is. Having built a straw bale building, I'd rather watch than do it.