@claudettn said
So I want to build a dome house (in a tropical climate), where sun, lots of rain, humidity, insects and earthquakes are to be considered.
Regarding sun: Aircrete is very insulative, ferrocement is not insulative. Most ferrocement domes are coated with a thick layer of spray foam insulation.
Regarding rain, humidity, and insects: Aircrete and ferrocement perform the same in this arena. Both are cementitious materials that are not affected by water, moisture, or insects and do not support the growth of molds.
Regarding earthquakes: My personal vote goes toward aircrete, though there may be room for some debate. Aircrete is well known for it's inherent flexibility. An aircrete dome wrapped with a polyesther fabric shell has amazing resilience to seismic movement. The dome complex I am most familiar with is near the epicenter of Hawaii's recent 6.9 earthquake, which was preceded and followed by literally hundreds of smaller quakes in the surrounding few weeks. During that period 4 and 5 degree quakes were considered normal daily occurrences, with 2 and 3 degree quakes being experienced up to several times per hour. As a result, some cracks (up to 1mm wide and up to 24 inches long) can be observed in the dome structure above the raw cutouts for the planned windows and doors. To be precise, I observed one such crack above each of these raw cutouts. The one window that was finished has no cracks whatsoever. Regardless of how earthquake proof a structure may be, there are no rules on how strong an earthquake may be. In a catastrophic event where a structure is overcome by an earthquake, I'd rather be in an aircrete structure because chunks of falling aircrete will hurt, like ouch!, but falling chunks of concrete sever, crush, and splatter.
