| Items Not Included in the Ai Dome Building Kit |
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Ai's dome shell kit price is at least one half less in cost than the shell materials cost for a wood dome, monolithic dome or conventional house (exterior walls, roof trusses, plywood, tar paper, shingles, 3 1/2" thick insulation, siding, soffits, gutters, shell and ceiling/exterior wall - wall board, etc). Besides saving at least half on your shell materials cost versus the materials for the shell of a conventional house....you get more with the Ai Dome Home....greater energy efficiency (insulation comparable to 11" of fiberglass batting), greater strength (hurricane, earthquake and tornado gaurantee) and lower maintenance because the exterior of your dome home is concrete with no wood in it or on it to rot, to burn or for termites to eat. Why is the Ai Dome Kit so reasonable in price? Mainly it is because of the simplicity of our component panel, the panel being manufactured in a factory and the philosophy of our company where each client pays for only what they need; i.e. building plans engineer seal cost is paid by only those who need it. To learn more about our beliefs, click on Philosophy. To learn more about our panel composition, click on Composition. Ai's Building Kit and Option Pricing does not include the costs for the Building Plans, Engineer Seal on the building plans (if needed), Energy Audit (if needed in Florida, New York or California), 2x4's for the temporary wooden rib system (if you build a 34' or larger dome), Semi-truck Shipping, Fork Lift rental to unload the truck at your site or the cost for a hoisting mechanism to lift the panels into place. Please click on Kit Assembly Consultant to view charts showing estimated labor costs, hoisting mechanism costs, etc. The money you save by purchasing Ai's Building Kit can pay for all of the above costs. For example if you purchase a $30,000 building kit from American Ingenuity, the shell materials for a conventional house will cost at least $15,000 more. We ask you to make a comparison chart to see that this is true. Remember if you do not want to asemble the dome building kit yourself with family and friends, you can hire a Kit Assembly Consultant who can supervise your laborers or your Contractor's workers and get the dome shell assembled. Then you or your local contractor hires local subs to finish the conventional jobs of plumbing, electrical, framing, flooring, cabinetry, window and door assembly, etc. To learn more about the Consultant, click on Consultant. To learn more click on: Shipping Rib Support System The following are items not provided with the Ai dome building kit that are needed on site to assemble the panels, finish the seam concrete between the panels and finish the building options concrete (entryways and dormers), etc.
For each additional entryway, add these cubic yards of sand: 22' - 2.6, 27' - 0.4, 30' - 0.4, 34' - 0.4, 36' - 0.5, 40' - 0.5, 45' - 0.5, 48' - 0.6. For a cupola, add these cubic yards of sand: 22' NA, 27' NA, 30' - 0.4, 34' - 0.5, 36' - 0.5, 40' - 0.5, 45'- 0.6, 48' - 0.6. For additional door dormers on any size dome 0.3 cubic yards of sand. CEMENT DOME SIZE bags of Portland cement The following is based on each dome having two entryways, four window dormers, one door dormer and no cupola
For each additional entryway add these bags of cement: 22' - 2.6, 27' - 3.5, 30' - 3.7, 34' - 4, 36' - 4.1, 40' - 4.5, 45'- 4.8, 48' - 5.1 For a cupola add these bags of cement: 22' NA, 27' NA, 30' - 3.9, 34' - 4.3, 36' - 4.4, 40' - 4.8, 45' - 5.2, 48' - 5.4. For an additional door dormer on any size dome add 2.5 bags of cement.
The methods used for lifting the panels includes: Small cranes, Highlifts (all terrain scissors forklifts often used by roofers), and a steel scaffold rigged with wheels and winch. Other lifting devices successfully employed by our dome owners include: a boom added to a tractor, a block and tackle, and a hoist fastened to the top of the framework with wood ramps up the side of the dome. Monthly rentals on transverse lifts also called Boom Lifts, Horizontal Boom Fork Lifts, Roofing Lifts, Shooters are available from National Rental Chains like US Rentals, Hertz Equipment Rentals, United Rentals, etc. The companies can be found in the telephone book. The panels of our smaller domes (22', 27' and 30' ) can be placed using a steel scaffold on rollers. The panel is then held in place with a prop support until the seam concrete cures. The panels for the larger domes (34', 36', 40', 45' 48' and 60') may be best placed using a crane that is capable of lifting 300-400 pounds, 25 feet up and 25 feet out. With a four-person work crew, use of a temporary wooden rib system and proper bracing of the panels, a row of panels of a 40' dome can be placed in about a day of crane time. Cranes can be rented by the day, week or month. Sometimes larger domes with three to five entryways, the rental of a crane for one month maybe most cost effective. Besides lifting the panels, the crane can be used to lift buckets of cement. Cement is used to fill the seams between the panels and to stucco the entryways, dormers, link and or cupola.
A Wooden Rib System Or A Radial SystemIs Needed As Temporary Support
During The Dome Kit AssemblyAmerican Ingenuity's Dome Building Kits are erected using a system to temporarily hold the panels in place until the seam concrete and concrete on the entryways, dormers, cupola and link has cured. The systems (Rib used in the assemble of the 34' or larger domes or the Radial method) are dismantled upon completion of the dome and the 2x4’s are recycled as part of the interior framing. For example, around the perimeter of the second floor a two foot tall knee wall is built. 2x4's not tall enough for interior framing can be used for the knee wall. Behind this knee wall, electrical, plumbing or ducting can be run or the space can be used for storage.The Rib System consists of using your own 2x4’s (that have been cut to length, holes drilled and the ends painted red, white or blue (or you can purchase them cut, drilled and painted from Ai...call 321-639-8777 for pricing) and the steel hubs on loan from America Ingenuity to assemble a free standing framework which matches the geometry of the dome.
Tools and Materials needed to assemble the Rib System:
The American Ingenuity dome building kit does not include doors and windows. There is such a variety and varying price points possible, we leave their selection and local purchase up to each client. The floor plan you select will determine how many entryways or dormers you will have. Within the entryways and dormers {eye brows}, you or your framing subcontractor installs a vertical wall to frame in what ever standard doors or windows you have purchased locally. No interior items are included except for the dome shell wall board. A.I. believes you should not pay shipping on conventional items that you can purchase locally such as: foundations, basement wall kits, second floor joists, stairs, plumbing, electrical, framing, flooring, kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures, lighting fixtures, etc. The component panels do not come with any paint on them. We do not add any color to the concrete. On site you concrete the seams so if we painted the panels or added color to the concrete it would not match your painted seam concrete. The concrete shell is painted after the entire building kit is assembled. The painting should include a concrete primer and two coats of good quality latex paint. The dome can be painted any color, tan, blue, green, etc. preferably a light to medium color to reflect the sunlight. The following gallon calculation is for each coat of sealer or paint. PAINT: APPROXIMATE GALLONS REQUIRED FOR EACH COAT
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