withstand cold climates
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I'm looking to move to northern Maine and build my own house, saw your website considering to host a workshop however our concerns are if the domes would be warm enough for the hard winters of Maine?
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What would a 1 foot thick dome being just AC alone, what would the R value be? Also what thickness would = 90, I just wondered because of a dome creation video I saw a long time ago.
I forgot what the main supports was but they had chicken fence wire over that and spray it with a foam that greatly expands and hardens , sure some goes through the holes, but it did the job, they said it's R-value is 90
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I have been looking into building my own dome home for many years now, my wife is finally retiring and we can go ahead. I have a daughter that lives in upper Minnesota where it is not uncommon for -40 degree days and even lower at night. My wife and I were invited to one of her friend's home. It was a geodesic dome with very thick and heavily insulated wall panels. It was a 36 foot dia dome heated by a single wood fireplace. It was 75 degrees no matter where you were in the dome.
Now that I have that out of the way, I would say no, not as they have built the one in the video. Looking at the data provide AC has a R-value of about 1.8 per/in. Your walls would need to be extremely thick with AC alone.
What I am considering doing is build a wood frame geodesic home frame using 2 x 8's and cladding it with AC, then using a 4 pound spray foam insulation, all covered with green board. I will end up with 6" thick walls and exposed wood beams accents with a R-value about 40.