Desert Capability?
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Hi! I am a college student in Ohio but I want to make my way out to Sedona. I'd really like to build a house like this and rent it out as an additional source of Income and think it would be really cool if I even built one for myself to live in. How well do these buildings fair in the desert and what about central heating and cooling? I know nothing about building houses really.
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Hi Jenny,
You have a great idea, and I think dome houses in Sedona are a perfect idea. For desert living, you will need very thick walls to get an “R” value high enough for the hot weather. You could also look into adding two inches of “closed cell spray foam insulation “ to the outside which will give the required moisture barrier as well as the needed insulation. Lastly, and this is the real problem....is most cities are not accepting Aircrete as a material worthy for construction even though it is used throughout the world with no problems. You would have to get a structural engineer to sign off on your plans when submitting them, and then you might have a chance. I’m going to try this in California, as soon as I can find a structural engineer that will do this. Anybody reading this post....do you know of one?