Building a new house and shop (10 Viewers)

[1911]

I'd reckon there's more progress going on over there! Good to catch up on the project. Very cool. How are you planning to finish the ceilings? Leaving them bare concrete or framing out more traditional hard lids with drywall? I'd assume the main rooms are open vaults, but what about bedrooms and hallways?

Thanks!

Nothing more has happened since my last post; the builders are off on vacation for 2-1/2 weeks, as one of the partners is getting married. Just before that, there was a mix-up in the scheduling of the concrete pump truck, so the second module did not get poured yet. It is supposed to happen on August the 11th now.

The ceilings (and exposed concrete walls) will be plastered over with a synthetic (epoxy) stucco product. The larger rooms (kitchen, living area, etc.) will be open as you surmise. The more you can leave the domes open, the more light will reflect and the better air will circulate. But there will be some interior walls for bathrooms, the guest suite, the home gym, a hallway, and etc. Those will be conventional framed walls, but we have the option of making them only eight feet tall, and no ceilings, so that you get light reflection and air circulation in all rooms. Mrs. 1911 is not inclined that way however, so many of the interior walls will go all the way to the dome ceiling for sound insulation purposes if nothing else. We'll see when we get there - there is still a lot of flexibility in the interior room design.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Very cool!

 

[1911]

Well, the builders are back from vacation as of yesterday, and work continues once more.

The second module was poured today, and went smooth enough except for one cement truck that had to be refused because the slump was too high for the pump truck. It's a problem because of our remote location in a not-populous county; the cement company is 45 minutes away (for a loaded cement truck). There is another cement company slightly closer, but with a bad reputation and their bid was higher anyway.

Photos from today:

2nd module pour began at dawn

• 1911
• Aug 11, 2017

2nd module pour #2

• 1911
• Aug 11, 2017

2nd module pour finished

• 1911
• Aug 11, 2017

 

[PAToyota]

How many yards are going into a room?

 

[1911]

How many yards are going into a room?

Each dome module is +/- 50 yards, depending on extras like the kick-outs for the water cistern, office, mechanical room, and pantry. Yesterday's pour was 49 yards, with very little left over.

 

[GeoRoss]

I would have killed for that size pumper last summer. We were so remote and the road was so rough we could only get a 12 yards at a go and no pump. Three runs and I still ended up doing about 15 yards by hand just to keep things moving.


Things are looking great.

 

[1911]

I would have killed for that size pumper last summer. We were so remote and the road was so rough we could only get a 12 yards at a go and no pump. Three runs and I still ended up doing about 15 yards by hand just to keep things moving.


Things are looking great.

Thanks Ross!

That was a 34-meter pump truck; it costs $185/hour plus $3/yard pumped, and priming and fuel surcharges. The total pump charges were 1/3 the cost of all the concrete! Construction is booming in several nearby counties here, and prices for everything have gone up. You have to schedule a pump truck two weeks in advance to get one.

We'll have to to use a big 34-meter truck one more time, for the next dome module, because we can't get a pump truck any closer to that far end of the house. After that, we can go back to smaller trucks that are a bit cheaper to do the rest of the modules.

Can't imagine doing 15 yards of concrete by hand, in the desert or mountains, in Arizona in the summer no less! You're either younger or in way better shape than I am.

BTW, did you notice the outcrop in the hill cut? Early Cretaceous Walnut Clay Formation, with tons of Gryphea and Ceratostreon-type oysters, Turritella gastropods, the odd echinoid, and pieces of ammonite shells.

 

[1911]

Another delay; the fiberglass dome form would not release from the concrete after the last pour a week ago. It took them several days to get it loose without damaging it. That made the next scheduled pour date for yesterday untenable. They did eventually get the dome form down and moved, and now the next pour date for the 3rd module is this coming Tuesday.

Here, you can see the forms for the 3rd module all up, including the southern parapet wall and the retaining wall for the hill on the west side:

forms up for 3rd module pour

• 1911
• Aug 19, 2017

 

[GeoRoss]

Thanks Ross!

That was a 34-meter pump truck; it costs $185/hour plus $3/yard pumped, and priming and fuel surcharges. The total pump charges were 1/3 the cost of all the concrete! Construction is booming in several nearby counties here, and prices for everything have gone up. You have to schedule a pump truck two weeks in advance to get one.

We'll have to to use a big 34-meter truck one more time, for the next dome module, because we can't get a pump truck any closer to that far end of the house. After that, we can go back to smaller trucks that are a bit cheaper to do the rest of the modules.

Can't imagine doing 15 yards of concrete by hand, in the desert or mountains, in Arizona in the summer no less! You're either younger or in way better shape than I am.

BTW, did you notice the outcrop in the hill cut? Early Cretaceous Walnut Clay Formation, with tons of Gryphea and Ceratostreon-type oysters, Turritella gastropods, the odd echinoid, and pieces of ammonite shells.

I was dead tired at the end. I did have help. One guy manning the mixer, the other pouring. We traded off every so often.

The outcrop is awesome!

 

[1911]

The third dome module, and a large kick-out for my office, and the southern retaining wall all poured today, 80 cubic yards of concrete total. Went very smoothly. We're buying so much concrete for the house that the concrete company sent out their sales rep to see if we were happy; a nice young woman in a lifted white heep with ugly mag wheels.

This is the most southernmost pour, and the last one that we will need a pump truck this big (34 meters). Almost half-way done with the exterior concrete, four more dome modules to go. All of the remaining ones will be on the north end now.

3rd module pour, from the north

• 1911
• Aug 22, 2017

3rd module pour, view from the south

• 1911
• Aug 22, 2017

pouring the southern retaining wall

• 1911
• Aug 22, 2017

Pouring the 3rd dome

• 1911
• Aug 22, 2017

 

[tstepp920]

fascinating....I enjoy seeing the progress. How long will the concrete set before backfilling begins? I assume the backfill is done in lifts over an extended period of time?

 

[1911]

fascinating....I enjoy seeing the progress. How long will the concrete set before backfilling begins?

Thanks. I don't know the answer to that yet. The concrete can hold its own weight and the forms can come down after 11 hours. Most of the modules will have cured for weeks before the last one is poured, and then they'll all have to be waterproofed before burial. Not sure how long that will take. More stuff to learn as I go.

I assume the backfill is done in lifts over an extended period of time?

Actually, the builder says you can back fill pretty much all at one time, as long as you dampen and compact as you go, but I don't see any reason to rush the job. It's going to take some care to bury the top and back and restore the original slope of the hill we excavated anyway, so I imagine it will take some time. Since we're already living here on the property, there's no deadlines to meet, we can take as long as we want/need.

 

[1911]

Progress this week:

South end of the house; big window on the left will be my office, the others will be one side of the master bedroom:

south end

• 1911
• Aug 27, 2017

View from inside the master bedroom. It overlooks a creek (can't see it for the trees in the photo).

master bedroom

• 1911
• Aug 27, 2017

Inside view of the first three dome modules:

3 dome modules view

• 1911
• Aug 27, 2017

Outside view of the first three dome modules, plus the forms for the fourth. Should pour it on Tuesday, if the rain holds off. It's been an unseasonably wet summer already, and now Hurricane Harvey is pushing rain this far north (300 miles north of Houston).

4th module forms

• 1911
• Aug 27, 2017

 

[davegonz]

Looking good!

Don't forget to add one of these.

 

[Steve83]

I'm trying not to drool on the keyboard... I just built & moved into a house (planned to be my last) with a workshop, but I didn't get to put any of it below-ground like I wanted. I couldn't find a builder with any experience doing it, so they all told me it would be too expensive. I read back to p.5 where you posted the floorplan, but I was hoping you had an architect's concept of what it will look like finished. Any chance of that?

Also - I saw you mentioned a few times that the cost was up & down due to some changes & delays. Did you post your budget? If not - I'm not suggesting you should. But I'm naturally curious, and I thought I might have missed it.

Anyway, it looks great so far, and I'm looking forward to more pics!

 

[1911]

I'm trying not to drool on the keyboard... I just built & moved into a house (planned to be my last) with a workshop, but I didn't get to put any of it below-ground like I wanted. I couldn't find a builder with any experience doing it, so they all told me it would be too expensive. I read back to p.5 where you posted the floorplan, but I was hoping you had an architect's concept of what it will look like finished. Any chance of that?

Thanks. I actually don't have a concept drawing or even a front elevation - once we settled on the earth-sheltered design built into the side of a hill, I have been able to visualize the way I want it to look in my mind's eye. We never did have an architect draw it up. The domes are modular, and you can put them together any way you want. The shape of the hill we built in dictated a long relatively narrow design, and we just went back and forth on floor plans with the builder until we had the rooms and space that we wanted.

Once we start to bury the domes, it will be a lot more clear how it will eventually look. There are going to be a lot of floor-to-ceiling windows on the front (east) and south sides, and all the concrete spaces in between will be covered with native stone. With the exception of the parapet wall, which will be covered with (natural colored) stucco, I want the house to look like it just grew out of the hill.

Also - I saw you mentioned a few times that the cost was up & down due to some changes & delays. Did you post your budget? If not - I'm not suggesting you should. But I'm naturally curious, and I thought I might have missed it.

I didn't post a budget, but I will say that the original contract for just the basic structure of the seven dome modules (~5,000 sq. ft. including the garage) was about $200K, but that doesn't include the windows, stone, waterproofing, burial dirt work, interior walls, flooring, appliances, and all the finish work inside. The biggest change to that now is the cost of concrete, steel, and pump trucks - the contract was based on the builder's prices for those things local to him (200 miles away), but where we live there is a house-building boom in the neighboring county and for example the price of concrete is 50% more than the contract allowed for. And we need a commercial-grade 4,000 PSI concrete, not your average home slab stuff.

Anyway, it looks great so far, and I'm looking forward to more pics!

Thanks!

 

[1911]

How long will the concrete set before backfilling begins?

I did find out that the concrete needs to cure for 28 days to achieve full strength, so burial won't start until at least that long after the last module is poured - but during that time, we can be pouring the interior floors, external patios/porches, and waterproofing the domes.

 

[gator25]

Wow man, that's cool as hell! Have y'all looked in to acid staining the concrete, that looks pretty good?

 

[1911]

Wow man, that's cool as hell! Have y'all looked in to acid staining the concrete, that looks pretty good?

Thanks Nolan.

Yeah, we're looking at lots of options for flooring but Mrs. 1911 is leaning towards some kind of stained or epoxy-coated concrete.

 

[PAToyota]

Concrete reaches about 75% of its 28 strength in 7 days - but then also continues to gain strength after 28 days. So, typically, if you get 4000psi (or whatever) concrete, it will reach that 4000psi at 28 days. But you could also specify a concrete to reach a strength at a certain point - such as 4000psi at 7 days or 24 hours or whatever.

The main thing is to allow the concrete to properly cure - keeping it hydrated for whatever period of time required. So, actually, backfilling and keeping the soil moist would help with the curing process.