Discussion
I would love to hear about what it's like to live dome house life. I kinda envy minimalist people.
Its wonderful. Anything in particular you'd like to know about?
I have questions as well. Do you own the land you post up on? Are you just doing what you want with no regard for permits or permission? Sorry to cut in line here but I’ll forget if I don’t ask now.
We own the land we built on. We are on the frontier so no permits necessary where we are, I think they are just happy people are out here making a go of it.
That said, we have respected the natural limits of the river and built on higher ground. Septic is installed back against the hill side. Fully off grid with solar and starlink.
We went modular with the domes and built a big main dome for kitchen, living room, work offices, pantry and a chill space upstairs for relaxing. Then built smaller domes as bedrooms for us and friends/ family to have their own private spaces. These domes are close to the main dome but all tucked away in their own private nooks.
This piece is on the far side of a huge river so everything has been paddled into camp on a cataraft other than the drift wood, wood and rock that we used to build with.
After a few years of building we now have the base camp done with most of the creature comforts you would find in a modern house.
Domes make incredible homes and spaces to live and spend time in. Since a third of the building is windows you have a distinct sense of living close to nature.
Photo of the guest dome so you can see the vibe. 
Wow, very cool. Who manufactures the domes? They seem interesting. Look WAY better than a yurt.
I sourced them myself from a provider and made sure of the right fabric, liner, powder coated metal bars and accessories.
I like yurts too. Especially for bed rooms. Domes have huge windows on them and seemed like the move because of the views around us.
i always wanted to build some living roof, type structures, but, the companies making the shells were so weird. 'greenmagichomes'. badass tho if true
Working on a green roof for our sauna!
From an aesthetic standpoint I think they’re very cool. By far the most interesting modular domicile option I’ve seen.
i want to build a dome-based house but differently to most designs, i want it to be a full sphere, using a base of steel pipe and a pair of different joiners (hex and penta) and then grid mesh over each face, except for the truncated hexagon of the center row (think like football grid with each being a hexagon/pentagon made of triangles) , the "ground" level is then a nice neat flat shape to put a giant doorway into, and the triangles at the top around the top pentagon (iirc, if i point one hexagon as our "front" then at the top is a pentagon, the top pentagon then becomes a vertically closable cap that can be dropped down to seal the whole structure up water tight, with screw bolts and spring-based metal multi-layer seals. the whole thing would then, with concrete, and multiple layers of hydroisolation, likely handle handle full immersion for ~1 week without significantly leaking, and a "plug" in the base that once the water starts to drain back down, the "plug" can be opened.
the lower half, also, would be water storage, so when it's used as a refuge, the majority of the stored water underneath is drained out in order that the whole structure potentially has buoyancy, as well as keeping it vertically oriented and if made of a suitable ratio of weight, would even float, and for good measure, below the structure under the "plug" opening to the down drain, it has a long, heavy chain, and an anchor, which will keep it from moving.
that's my ultimate space survival disaster earth-ship design. probably also, it would use tensegrity in the structure so that there is heavy springs holding cables linked through the steel pipes at the core of the structure, making it resistant to fracturing by distributing the tension from impact equally so there is no loss of symmetry.
Would be sick to hang it from a tree!
ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀꜱɪᴄ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴ ɪꜱ ᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀɴᴅʟᴇ ꜱᴜꜱᴘᴇɴꜱɪᴏɴ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴘ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴘʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ꜰᴏʟᴅᴇʀ ᴜᴘ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏᴡɴ 5 ᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ (ꜱᴏ ɪᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇꜱ 10 ʟɪɴᴇꜱ, ᴇᴀᴄ029c ᴏɴᴇ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄʜᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ʜᴏᴏᴋ ʙᴇꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴛʜᴇ 5 ɴᴏᴅᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴘ ᴄᴀᴘ.
ʏᴇꜱ, ɪ ᴅᴇꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ꜱᴄᴀʟᴇ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟꜱ, ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴜɢɢᴇꜱᴛ ᴀɴ ɪᴅᴇᴀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ǫᴜɪᴛᴇ ᴘᴏᴘᴜʟᴀʀ ᴛʀᴇᴇʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ ᴀꜱꜱᴇᴍʙʟᴇ ʙʏ ʜᴀɴᴅ, ꜰᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀʙʟᴇꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴀᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴍᴏᴅᴇꜱ, ʜᴀɴɢɪɴɢ, ꜱɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴘʀɪɴɢ ʟᴏᴀᴅᴇᴅ ꜰᴇᴇᴛ, ᴏʀ ʙᴜʀɪᴇᴅ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ.
ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ
ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ 3ᴍ ᴅɪᴀᴍᴇᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ꜱᴜꜰꜰɪᴄɪᴇɴᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ɢᴀɴɢ ᴏꜰ 4 ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ
Did you build this yourself? Any guide or more info on this time for dome
Yes, we build it all ourselves. Lots of weekends and evenings spent tinkering and a few big pushes with friends for the heavier pieces.
I'll put a video guide together if you all are interested. Hit me with a 👍 if there is demand for a HodlHomestead dome build guide and resources for buying your own.
Honestly this is such #Goals.
Been strongly considering an off-grid style A-frame, but this looks better.
Would you say these are better insulated than A frames or just as much?
A traditional Aframe is great in snow and pretty energy efficient. Domes are also great in snow but they are still a tent in the end so they are harder to insulate.
Gotcha, that's what I thought, but I wondered if the dome was built of polyfibre or such.
Then might have to choose between A-frames, cork roofs or earthship builds instead.
nostr:npub1qvlerz2w5xjdegwqa072eme76lkerqu3yug3m2jmwqkc6lr2t8sqll9vte
Rugs always bring warmth and intimacy to a home.