Posts made by ach2oman

Anything that has the word Ghana and millions of dollars in it throws up a red flag for me. Go scam somewhere else.

I think pvc would have to much sag I believe. It would not be rigid enough.

www.domerama.com . sorry forgot the e..jeez. With using EMT you do not need to use hubs.

My plan in the future is to build a geodesic frame dome out of EMT conduit (domarama.com) Once the frame is built, lay some type of very rigid mesh of some type or wire fence material on the outside of the frame. This material would have to be strong enough to support the aircrete blocks from sagging. Some of the spans on the frame are almost 3-4ft which it would have to not sag once the blocks are laid on top. Once the blocks are laid complete on the whole dome, then disassemble the frame on the inside which may be a little tricky but I think could be done with some good planning. Any thoughts?

Looking myself, If I find anything, I will let you know. I've seen it on some vids on some of the workshops. You would think someone on here would help a couple of poor fellows out. Unless you have to attend a workshop to get the information. Just sayin.

Anyone have blueprints on the plunger/injector for the use of injecting the mortar for the block joints. Looks pretty simple to make, just need a material list. Thanks

Sounds like a lot of dangerous work, 14 mole caustic is very strong solution, I'll stick with my Portland, thank you.

Hi KatherineAirDoug, I am in the same situation that you are. Our HOA requires us to build a min 1500 sq ft home. No other restrictions other than that so I can pretty much do what I want. The wife and I are hip on the geodesic style type home and really like the simplicity of the aircrete system. I was doing some research and came across a website called Domearama.com. This site has a section, (calculators) that you can input any different parameters and it will give all the information automatically. In our case though we want the geodesic type style, and on this site it instructs you at what lenghts to cut conduit, and what angles to bend the ends before assembly to create a open shell if you will on any size or V frequency that you desire. Once the shell is completed the we are going to attach a rigid mesh on the outside of the conduit frame then heat shrink plastic on top of that. Then we will commense the standard aircrete block laying procedure that these fine folks do at the workshops, however there will be angles to cut but still same process. Once the dome is complete, and the skin is on the outside, then begin dismantling the frame inside, and lay the skin on the inside walls. Our plans is to reuse the conduit frame to build the other domes that will connect to each other. Our home needs to be 1500 sq ft so we plan to construct (3) 500 sq ft domes to satisfy the HOA's request. The property we have is similar to what you are describing, a lot of trees, so we will build around, next too, the trees how ever we want, but the trees stay. They where there before we where. I do not think that strait wall will work, but I am not an expert, or claim to have knowledge in this area, but some on this forum could prolly guide you whether or not is is feesable to do that. I hope I was some help. I want to use aircrete for the foundation, but I myself need to know how much hard concrete on top I need to apply to make it stable when one walks on it to keep it from collasping. I hope I was some help, this is the wife and I's plans on how we are going forward, it is a little different from the norm the way the domes are constructed on this site, we are always up for a challenge.

https://www.absolutewaterpumps.com/amt-gorman-rupp-gas-diaphragm-pump-335a-96-3-90-gpm-briggs-power
They are a little pricey but I have seen them on craigslist used much cheaper. I have never used one for aircrete application, but do know their capability working in the water and wastewater industry for 35 yrs. They can pump some pretty solid sludge. Aircrete is not as thick as some sludge that I have pumped. These pumps are bid workhorse.

Gasoline powered diaphragm pump will work, has positive displacement, a sure fire way to pump aircrete. I would definitely put a bypass on it , because any flow stoppage or deadheading the pump will pop a hose or connection. Those pumps are very strong and can almost pump peanut butter. Good luck.

I have a question about the batch calculator, in the column in ingredients, there an abbreviation DE, is that Diatomaious Earth?

@Joe I design my own foam generator and it doesn't even need a pump, just use the the pressure from the air compressor works great.

@mundane9 I am using Drexall 160. The directions call for a 160:1 mix however I did go to a 120:1 mix @ 3.0 oz per qt. but noticed a rapid separation of soap and water in the 1 qt weigh container. I think I may have a water quality problem to be honest.

@Davy-Oneness Hello my friend, last weekend I made a test block, and had a few problems from the start. First when I weighed out my foam at 3oz/qt, I noticed right away that the soap and water started separating, within about 1 min I had about an 1/8 inch of water in the bottom of my clear container. So I went ahead with my test block. My block size 9.25"x 9.25"x 20.0" approx (1 cu ft) for simplicity. Using 2x10 lumber. I used plastic under the form and wrapped it up to top ridge of the form and stapled it down. After about 15-20 mins after the pour, I noticed the plastic was bulging on the outside of the form and after about an hour the pour collapsed about 2 inches and water was leaking out from the plastic. I really think I have a problem with the water quality. So this weekend I am going to use some deionized water for my next soap solution and aircrete mix then see what happens and try to seal up the form a little better. Oh by the way I used Drexel for my foam solution. I will keep you posted.

@Joe I will have to build 5 domes (20ft dia) that would be just over 314 ft2 ea. HOA's do not count garage area as living area.

I want to try to figure something out, it is just me and the wife doing the work, and we are both hitting 60 so we need to work smarter not harder, Im not going to spare no expense on the forms and if this works out OK i will surely share it with everyone. Got to get my water well drilled first but just planning ahead. I have to build a 1500ft2 due to HOA laws, they are pretty laxed and don't even need a building permit. But i will on the septic. Anyway so I digress.. I will keep all interested informed.

Thanks kimo, the angle of the trapezoid is what I am looking for. My plan is to build a form which will make about 50 blocks at a time but I need the angles first in order to build the forms. I could prolly get away with building a form for every other row because there is not much variance from one row to the next. Maybe every other row but that is yet to be determined. I want to start a strait up block on first row to make a 1/2 sphere exactly, So I will have to have my swivel almost or at ground level. I am going to do some math and some dry experiments with the swivel pole, angle square ad a laser level and see what I come up with. I will keep you posted. Sorry for over analyzing this but I am an Engineer, it's what we do. lol thanks again my friend.

I plan to build a 1500 sq ft dome(s) and what I would like to do is make forms for each row of blocks as the build goes up. I need the angles to build the forms and not have to worry about cutting each block. Does anyone have the math or geometrical formulas for a 20ft dome? Since I will building more than 1 dome I think this would help in speeding up the build process. Any thoughts on this? I can understand any level of math and not skeered...lol All you folks have a good day.