Hello! We bought a dome!

[AdMaven]

My husband will be retiring from teaching in '14 and I always wanted to live on a lake, so we started looking for homes last year. I found a dome house on 5.6 acreas of lakefront in SWMO (Table Rock Lake) and flew back to see it. I have family in the area and Table Rock is my favorite lake so it was a win-win! I made an offer on it and we closed escrow in January.

This dome was owner-built and sat vacant for at least a year. The owner was elderly and his son was handling the sale long-distance with a local RE agent. Nobody wanted this house. My husband and I are in love with it!!

I started lurking here last year and learned alot about domes, even though ours was not a monolithic built structure, there are many things in common and I wanted to educate myself. Here are a few pictures. We just spent two weeks in July having the house power washed and coated with Benjamin Moore elastomeric.





The house has a 2-car attached dome with the kitchen between the garage dome and main dome. It is approximately 2300 SF of living space. 3 bedrooms, loft, 2 1/2 bath.

[GreginAlaska]

Is it steel reinforced concrete?

[AdMaven]

Is it steel reinforced concrete?

Yes it is. The inside perimeter walls are thick concrete.

[mkrepel]

Congratulations! It looks like a nice place.

Mike

[GreginAlaska]

Cool. I wonder how they built it?

[timbau]

Congrats on your buy.

I too would be interested in the homes background. How it was built; it's insulation, how energy efficient it is, etc.

Thanks for showing us your new home. Hope all goes well.

[AdMaven]

It was built in 2000 and I don't know alot about it because the man who built it has dementia and his son handled the sale of the house to us. I do know the interior is cement as all the perimeter walls are rock solid and very thick. I have talked to a few people who were around when it was being built and they confirmed the rebar. The exterior is actually foam blocks and the man who built it has a patent on the machine he built to cut the blocks into the dome shape. (Patent # 5,590,512 September 14, 1999). I know the only issue is whatever he used to cover the exterior originally didn't work and he had to have it redone. It was spray foamed over the entire house. I had a spray foam roof here in the desert so am very familiar with them. We had it power washed and covered with Benjamin Moore elastomeric coating in July.

The main dome is 40' diameter and the living room is open to the ceiling and it's about 20' high or so. As you enter there is a stairway on the right that goes up to an open loft, full bath and guest bedroom. Downstairs there is a wall that has a hallway and two bedrooms and bath directly under the upstairs rooms and a half bath near the kitchen door leading to the garage. The other half of the dome is open and the kitchen is between the main dome and the 2 car attached garage dome.

We don't live there yet but have spent time in the summer and it stays very cool. It has central air/heat (heat pump) and ceiling fans that keep it comfortable. The acoustics take a little getting used to...sounds travel and can fool you into thinking someone is behind you when they are in another room. LOL!

[AdMaven]

View from the living room to the backyard/lake area.


Living room looking towards front door--kitchen on the right.


Having the living room fan installed


Looking up from the lake to the back of the house before we had it washed and coated.

[mkrepel]

It sounds like the builder was a true innovator and somewhat of a visionary. It is too bad about his dementia. He probably could have told you some really interesting stories about the building of the dome.

I really like the pics. Very sharp looking place, inside and out.

Mike

[AdMaven]

Yes, I wish I had more information. I am thinking of asking the seller's real estate agent if she would mind contacting the son to see if there is a scrapbook or pictures of the build.

He really made sure all the rooms including the garage and exterior had plenty of outlets. He had phone jacks put in all the bedrooms, loft and living room. My only issue is that there is no water on the side of the kitchen where the fridge is ... so no ice maker, etc. The only option I have is to run a small water line from the half bath but that would have to come over an exterior door and down through the cabinets. Not sure I want to do that.

[timbau]

It would be nice to know about the history. I find that when I purchased a home in the past if I didn't have all the info it would come back & bite me later. You know you find a knob or switch that you don't know what does. Or were the lines run to the septic tank; were the leech field is; etc.

Looks like you have a nice home. CONGRATS

[Mountain View]

Check with your local building department. The builder may have had to submit engineered drawings and getting a copy of that would be a big help to you.
Now if he never files with the county it may also stir up a bog of worms.

[digital1234]

This is clearly a win-win for you. Can you state at what price did you buy this beautiful your-so-called-retirement destination? As you said it's not monolithic, how well is the insulation and energy parameters inside?

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solano county property management

[AdMaven]

This is clearly a win-win for you. Can you state at what price did you buy this beautiful your-so-called-retirement destination? As you said it's not monolithic, how well is the insulation and energy parameters inside?

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solano county property management

Well, we don't live there yet so hard to say what the utilities will run when we do. It's all-electric and my highest electric bill was $87.00 for July when we were there and using the A/C, laundry, microwave, dishwasher, etc. We do run a de-humidifier 24/7 365 and have a security light and water softner, fridge that needs power all year. My lowest bill was $28. Compared to my utilities here in the desert it is very energy effecient. We purchased the property for $126K---a real bargain for 5.6 acre lake property.