geo domes

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:23 pm

Robotland, that's exactly what I was thinking!! I have no local seller of bamboo and websites I've looked at want at least $1 per foot!!
I think I'll go with the conduit. I plan to pay once and reuse the conduit over and over.
I think I'll look for a salvage yard around here for pipe. I also want to call Lamar (billboard sign co) and see what they do with their old billboard signs for the dome cover.

Thanks all!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:43 pm

If you are so foolish as to grow your own bamboo--do it in pots. Some of that stuff is very invasive and tenaciousl.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:39 pm

Sorry Robo — didn't see your locus. I take it bamboo doesn't grow in Michigan, then.

Elucidations: I said "cheap" because I get my bamboo through Freecycle. Someone posts, "Hi, my bamboo patch is taking over my garden, I cut a bunch, come get it." You're going through a retail outlet and World Market marks up scandalously — <b>Never</b> get your bamboo from them! Try to find a wholesaler or at least a gardening supplier if you don't have neighbours with bamboo patches, you'll still come out ahead.

When I said "bottomless supply" I meant that bamboo is a self-renewing building material, whereas steel has to be mined or salvaged and processed in order to be workable for your application. There are less steps to prepare bamboo to build with and none of those steps involve heavy industry or specialties more advanced than a handheld miter saw.

Bamboo is lashed. The Desert Domes site has instructions for making the vortices for a bamboo dome, but I believe it's a star configuration. Not sure if it'd be strong enough to hold up a hammock or be clumb on, but like all wood roundhouses it will flex slightly in the wind.

BTW — I'm giving to the tsunami relief effort too and I'd still choose bamboo over steel struts for a dome.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:02 pm

intro to hardy bamboos wrote:It’s midwinter as I write this, and outside my window stands a grove of bamboo - tall, green, and swaying gently in the breeze. Ten years old, its straight, strong culms are 25 ft. high and the largest are 1 1/2 in. thick. From it, each spring I enjoy a feast of succulent bamboo shoots to eat, and each winter I cut strong poles for building gates and fences. Most American gardeners would not think it possible to grow bamboo here in New England, where the winter temperatures drop below 0°F and the ground freezes solid. But there the bamboo stands - elegant, serene and useful.

Bamboo is a rare plant in American gardens, particularly northern ones. There were not native bamboos in Europe or in early European landscapes, which is where American landscape design draws much of it inspiration from. And, as most of the bamboo species grown in the United States today originated in Asia, many gardeners assume that all bamboos need warm climates. (The two native North American bamboos, canebrake and the smaller switch cane, were eradicated by early farmers because they grew in the richest soils best suited for crops.) What’s more, many introduced species are rapid spreaders and have been stigmatized as invasive pests.

http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralIn ... Intro.html

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:11 pm

I know that bamboo of some sort grows here in MN, but it only gets about 1/2" diameter and about 6 feet tall. Which is all good but forget about controlling it as it goes EVERYWHERE!! I saw someone dig it out, hack it down....no luck. It was back in force the next year! AND....it isn't the kind that gets hard and brown so you can use it for building anything. Oh, NNOOO.......... In the winter it dies and falls over like a thin reed. No strength to it.
For bamboo being such a "renewable" resource it's a shame they jack the prices up on it. I'd love to have bamboo flooring but it costs more then hardboard laminate flooring!

When I was in Guam you should've seen the bamboo! 20-30 feet tall and 6+ inches in diameter! Beautiful!

I'm going with the conduit......reuseable.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:16 pm

Oh believe me I know how hard it can be to erradicate bamboo.

And I'm not trying to 2nd guess anyone's choices.

I'm guessing that there may be usable bamboos that would grow there. When you think of how big China is and how far north and how many mountains--there must me many types of bamboo. And if you're planting them in the states, make sure they are properly contained.

(I guess I'm okay wiht the prices on bamboo if the 3rd worlders get it and keep the environment somewhat intact. If it's middle man mark up--POOF!)

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:23 pm

Crypto wrote:

And if you're planting them in the states, make sure they are properly contained.

Yeah! 6 foot(+) deep concrete, sticking above the ground at least a foot and a foot thick! Maybe plant it in an unused swimming pool!

I personnally have no room to grow it.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:26 pm

I don't like invasives. Even the chinese have trouble containing in, according to that website I found. Definately not for the feint of heart.

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:01 pm

Bob wrote:

Bamboo leaf litter was one of the problems w/ Lush Camp, along with palm fronds, tree bark and assorted raverer droppings

Not to mention those bamboo shoots that get under your fingernails and...........
Oh, sorry!

I didn't think about bamboo litter or splinters. Not good.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:22 pm

One of my neighbours has bamboo in her garden; she grows it in a buried bathtub. She says it's been there for 15 years and behaves itself, hasn't taken over anything. And yes, it's the running kind.

I was giving someone else some advice on gardening bamboo. I told him "Make that patch tell horror stories about you! Eat the babies, hack down the adults, get in touch with your inner Herod the Great, Ivan the Terrible and Vlad Tepes and don't let up on it for a second. Pretend you're a vegetarian werewolf."

1/2" and 6' long bamboo should work fine for dome struts. It turns brown once it's cut down, but that takes awhile; I got some 1.5" bamboo last spring from the Portland Freecycle and by Burning Man it was nicely dried.

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:43 pm

I've got little bamboos in a planter in my bathroom. That's enough bamboo for me!

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 6:36 am

We had bamboo in our yard in Yokosuka, the humongous hearty stuff. Whoof! Every spring we had to crawl under the house to be sure none had run under, threatening to grow up through the tatami.

I love bamboo, but hate it if I'm the one tending it. It is not a well behaved garden denizen.

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:01 am

Check out this dome....
http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi? ... _year=1999
Someone was BRILLIANT when they built this thing! I love it. I do wonder how well it held up against the wind though.

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:43 pm

I just went to menards and longingly gazed at conduit for a while........
OH, Sorry!

Then I bought some wood dowels and clear tubing from which I will attempt to make a mini dome. Hopefully I will understand from building the mini-dome what to do when building a bigger one.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:22 pm

Martiansky wrote:Check out this dome....

That's Oregon Country Fair Embassy. Brilliant, yes, and exceptionally cool during Sunstorm. Basically it's four Quonset huts in a cruciform pattern with a dome in the middle connecting them. They've been using it for years so I think that's testimony as to its windproofness enough

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:26 pm

I wonder how many pieces of PVC they used?
I like how HUGE it is! And is that a stove they have in the corner?
BRILLIANT!!

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:51 pm

Oh wow! I just found the Oregon Country Fair Embassys' website! It has a list of all the parts needed to make the domes! EXCELLENT!

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:18 am

For the record, I am PRO-BAMBOO: I have a potted clump that I cherish as I would a pet. My wife had to drag me out of a bamboo forest on the Hana Road in Maui. It WILL grow in Michigan, and can even reach blight proportions, but it will never produce material that I'd make a three-storied playhouse from.
While steel isn't a RENEWABLE resource in the traditional sense, it is certainly a REUSABLE one. My recycling dream is to create some form of durable material from OAK LEAVES, which we here in Michigan are up to our eyelids in every Autumn. Maybe something like Cheech and Chong's "fiberweed" that the van in that movie was made of....Turn that into dome coverings! Perhaps layered with crabgrass!
M-Sky, I made a little dome model from snippets of coathanger wire held together with duct tape, about 18" across....very helpful for visualizing deck plans and door configurations.

Post by **AntiM** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 7:50 am

robotland wrote:

M-Sky, I made a little dome model from snippets of coathanger wire held together with duct tape, about 18" across....very helpful for visualizing deck plans and door configurations.

That sounds like a very cool piece of art ...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:28 am

My next dome-project involves using as many (hopefully recycled) materials as possible- I'm not sure I can find 65 different tubular objects to turn into struts, but maybe I can cheat and decorate recycled conduit for some....finding enough diverse materials to cover the beast should be a little easier.
Before I made the little model dome, I actually made a SIX FOOT model to test the dynamics of a 2V geosphere....It ended up becoming the head of The Snowman. That's a very cozy size of dome for one or two folks to nap in, sitting on a woven pentagonal web of rope!