RAISED WOOD FLOOR
The American Ingenuity concrete domes can be built utilizing the same foundation choices as conventional housing: a) a monolithic slab; b) poured footing with a stem wall and then a poured slab on fill; c) poured footing with a stem wall and then a raised wood floor; d) basement; e) pilings & platform depending on which is more advantageous for your area and soil conditions.
American Ingenuity’s design team can design your foundation per your requests, your soil’s report & your building department requirements. Please call us at 321-639-8777 to discuss your foundation possibilities.
If your building site is in a cold climate, your building department will require the footers to be designed below the frost line. At no cost to you, Ai can call your building department and obtain this info & the other design criteria the building department requires. Ai staff will then call and email the data that was learned to you.
All foundations are designed and laid out so a rebar extends up three feet out of the footing into each of the riser wall seams. Hook tie down rebars are installed under the riser panels. Once the riser wall seams (horizontal and vertical) are filled with concrete the dome is secure to the slab. The riser panels aligns flush with the edge of the foundation. Where all entryway panels meet the dome panels, a rebar is installed that overlaps rebar coming out of the footings. Around the lip edge of all entryways, a beam is poured that contains rebar which overlaps rebar out of the footing. Within the set of Building Plans there is a foundation blureprint and a foundation detail blueprint.
The dome kit can be delivered before your foundation is installed. The EPS panel edges are painted at Ai’s factory. The paint protects the EPS from UV light. The dome kit can be stored on your site up to 2-3 months in nonfreezing weather waiting for the installation of your foundation. If the kit will not be assembled for time longer than that, call us for instructions on how to protect the EPS.
The only thing unusual about our foundation is its shape. Because our dome is lighter than most other buildings, it has less loading on the foundation.
Basement Plans are also available.
Because Ai cannot evaluate your soil suitability from here, please consult with someone locally about the suitability of your topsoil. Possibly a building department or soil’s engineer. Our foundation does not require anything more than 2000 lbs. per sq.ft. soil bearing capacity. Basically if you can build a regular house on your soil, you can certainly build a dome.
The multiple sided foundation for our dome is only slightly more difficult than a conventional house and should not affect the cost more than 15% at most 25%.
