Mr. Rawles
For the do it yourselfers, I have built several safe shelters (used until needed as storage) based on the sandbag construction to make small domes. A great link to the concept is http://www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm. The construction is quite simple (easy would be the wrong word because the dirt work is just that WORK, but we all need to drop a few fat pounds. I used as a cover outside the method called papercrete and a little heaver crete mixture (for fire proofing) on the inside with concrete support wire (the larger net like wire used to replace “re-bar” in cement slabs) and mixed it all in a small cement mixer using shredded paper I recycled from office shreddings (many many bags of shreddings and newspapers) and hand trough it all on. Paper crete web locations are: www.livinginpaper.com and www.papercrete.com. Rourke is correct the spouse/significant other is often an issue with building any shelter not just a dome, in my case the spouse noted that the domes look like “large breasts sticking out of the ground” any hope of a dome house ended there! With “standard” house secured and “off grid” solar (dual system with up/down safe control) up, the “storage buildings / tornado shelters” were constructed, waterproofed and then covered with earth (with a rented earth mover) and grass seed, now they are small “hills” and do not resemble breasts and are even home to a few spouse controlled rose bushes. And just to revisit a theme, the construction is inexpensive. Have a great new year. – Wotan
Letter Re: Dome Homes as Survival Retreats
