Earth-sheltered "hobbit" Houses?

[John-b-gone]

Watch the video here: http://www.monolithic.org/homes some of the things that Jeff Bowlsby brings up are addressed.

 

[NSTG8R]

You want an in ground home? Come on out to Missouri, we've got huge caves everywhere [half dozen just in my town alone], and this guy in Festus, MO put one to use. Check it out.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/cave-house-for-sale-in-festus-mo-6509/

We actually have an underground Frisbee golf course here too. Open year round. I'll try to find the link later.

 

[Sethodine]

I'm too much in love with the Pacific Northwest to ever move away, but I have always loved the idea of a hidden cave/fortress house

 

[Coss]

I'm too much in love with the Pacific Northwest to ever move away, but I have always loved the idea of a hidden cave/fortress house

Hear hear, I feel exactly the same about leaving the area; I've been here 40 years and I have also traveled almost all of the rest of the country. I have found no place I would rather be.

 

[Lil4X]

Several years ago I talked with the folks in Italy, Texas and found that while their monolithic dome has a number of great advantages, there are a lot of impractical features to a hemispherical home. First of course is that the thing's round. There aren't conventional doors, windows, or even furniture that's designed to be used in a round home. Then there's that thing about it being a hemisphere . . . it's round in elevation too. Unless you inset doors and windows and have all your furniture and window treatments custom made, round is going to be an expensive shape to accommodate with conventional furnishings.

Maybe it's just me, living here on the Texas coast, but I'd think moisture control might be a problem in a concrete monolithic dome or a fiberglass hobbit home. I saw an underground bomb shelter built in the fifties in exceptionally dry Amarillo, and the floor was soaked with water and condensation was streaming from the Quonset hut-like walls. Particularly in a tropical climate, there's going to have to be a way to keep the humidity from condensing out on the walls and drowning you.

 

[NSTG8R]

Several years ago I talked with the folks in Italy, Texas and found that while their monolithic dome has a number of great advantages, there are a lot of impractical features to a hemispherical home. First of course is that the thing's round. There aren't conventional doors, windows, or even furniture that's designed to be used in a round home. Then there's that thing about it being a hemisphere . . . it's round in elevation too. Unless you inset doors and windows and have all your furniture and window treatments custom made, round is going to be an expensive shape to accommodate with conventional furnishings.

Maybe it's just me, living here on the Texas coast, but I'd think moisture control might be a problem in a concrete monolithic dome or a fiberglass hobbit home. I saw an underground bomb shelter built in the fifties in exceptionally dry Amarillo, and the floor was soaked with water and condensation was streaming from the Quonset hut-like walls. Particularly in a tropical climate, there's going to have to be a way to keep the humidity from condensing out on the walls and drowning you.

We call them sump pumps up here. Being originally from Colorado where the water table is not an issue, moving to MO I didn't even know I had one until it failed...what a friggin' mess!

We have a wooden 2 story geodesic home up the road. I does have one advantage over a smooth dome home as in it has 'flats' where standard windows and doors could be used.

 

[Sethodine]

Several years ago I talked with the folks in Italy, Texas and found that while their monolithic dome has a number of great advantages, there are a lot of impractical features to a hemispherical home. First of course is that the thing's round. There aren't conventional doors, windows, or even furniture that's designed to be used in a round home. Then there's that thing about it being a hemisphere . . . it's round in elevation too. Unless you inset doors and windows and have all your furniture and window treatments custom made, round is going to be an expensive shape to accommodate with conventional furnishings.

Maybe it's just me, living here on the Texas coast, but I'd think moisture control might be a problem in a concrete monolithic dome or a fiberglass hobbit home. I saw an underground bomb shelter built in the fifties in exceptionally dry Amarillo, and the floor was soaked with water and condensation was streaming from the Quonset hut-like walls. Particularly in a tropical climate, there's going to have to be a way to keep the humidity from condensing out on the walls and drowning you.

Doors and windows made to fit are included in the Green Magic Home kit, so that's not going to be an issue. And really, all the doors and many windows are standard sizes mounted in a custom-fit exterior wall section, so I can replace them down the road without any extra hardship. And as far as furniture and wall-hangings go, most of that will be against the flat interior walls. What furniture that does border an exterior wall won't suffer from a little extra room behind it.

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, moisture control is a strong concern, but since this is still technically an above-ground construction I don't think it will be as bad as, say, a basement or cave. The earthen construction is in the form of earthbag walls, a geotextile layer, and a dirt layer mounded over the building, not by digging down into the existing soil.

With all the recent concerns in this area over earthquakes (especially "the big one" that's supposed to wipe out half the west coast), I feel investing in a house that can survive a 10.0 magnitude will be worth the effort.

 

[outsydthebox]

I have a hard enough time keeping the grass *around* my house cut. Now I'd have to actually cut the crass *on* my house, too?

"Cut the grass?"....I was kind of thinking,....some nice, artificial Astro-turf! That's "green", right?

 

[outsydthebox]

Maybe it's just me, living here on the Texas coast, but I'd think moisture control might be a problem in a concrete monolithic dome or a fiberglass hobbit home. I saw an underground bomb shelter built in the fifties in exceptionally dry Amarillo, and the floor was soaked with water and condensation was streaming from the Quonset hut-like walls. Particularly in a tropical climate, there's going to have to be a way to keep the humidity from condensing out on the walls and drowning you.

You bring up a good point. Certainly worth asking any "kit" manufacturer. I think it would be a concern with 8" of soil on top??? I can envision a very cold winter with no snow cover. With an "r-value" of only 2, the ceiling might sweat and drip.
Interesting that even in such a "dry climate" as Texas, it was an issue. Because Concrete will always draw moisture from the ground, a dehumidifier will (probably)
always be in operation.
Here in E. Tenn humidity is usually pretty high so I have one on both the basement (40% below grade) and the garage (10% below grade & insulated to over R-50). The both run constantly in a feeble attempt at keeping humidity below 40%.

 

[John-b-gone]

What is a dehumidifier?