What do I consider when putting sketches together for a custom dome floor plan?

You might use American Ingenuity’s stock designs as a springboard for your own ideas and fashion a special floor plan to accommodate how you and your family live. 

On each floor plan is a to scale ruler. You can use the ruler to help you in analyzing the size of each of the floor plan’s rooms (length and width) versus conventional house room arrangements and sizes. 

Working from your rough sketches or wish list, Ai’s design team can cost effectively prepare custom blueprints to suit your individual tastes, location, site, needs and budget. If you can dream it, Ai can draw it. If you are seeking more than what is reflected in the stock plans on our web site, then perhaps you will want to go a step further to a Custom Plan. It will encompass all your thoughts for your dream dome and will be drawn by our technician especially for you, yet at a reasonable cost. 

Using our state-of-the-art computer aided drafting system, our CAD technicians will translate your concept into a set of blueprints. 

1. Ai will work from any combination of ideas as you express them: 

  • You can take those planners and paste copies of rooms that you do like or sketch your room arrangements.
  • Completed floor planner kit
  • Rough sketches
  • List of items to include
  • Written descriptions

2. Design Factors: All plans may be built on your choice of foundation including: Concrete slab, raised, stem wall or pier foundation, full or partial basement. 

3. When planning the location of entryways, door dormers, balconies and window dormers please note their specific locations on the floor planner located in the back of the Stock Floor Plan Booklet. 

4. When planning room sizes for your second floor, remember that the headroom decreases as it approaches the knee wall. The floor planner will have the second floor perimeter heights noted.

Can the second floor of the American Ingenuity Dome be partially suspended? Yes. The second floor can be suspended from the dome shell so you can have as open a first floor as you desire. Keep in mind that it is more economical to use the first floor walls as supports. Long spans with floor joist will require more expensive materials to provide the strength or suspension rods that pass through the second floor. The suspension rods and plates are purchased from American Ingenuity. 

If you should sketch in something that is either not practical or not cost effective we will let you know. Your floor plan determines which Building Kit Options are needed with your kit. 

Does American Ingenuity make in-office appointments to design floor plans? Not. Ai has found the most efficient way to complete floor plan designs is via email, phone and fax. 

Scaled furniture symbols and ruler may be used with either the Floor Planner or any of the Stock Plans, since everything is the same scale. You can use the ruler to measure the width and length of each room to compare the size to the size rooms you currently live in. Be sure when placing tall furniture on the second floor to note the ceiling height. Just to clarify the four foot tall riser panel that comes with the Building Kit makes furniture placement around the first floor perimeter walls easy. 

VERSATILITY: 

American Ingenuity’s Stock Plans have been developed over many years and have proven themselves to be comfortable, economical and adaptable. Within this selection you will find plans that will accommodate almost any lifestyle, decorating taste, size of family, budget, and building site. You may find just the right floor plan for your new home in the stock plans. The building kits for some of the Stock Plans are priced including the options as shown on the Stock Floor Plan Price List. Additional options will create a Modified or Custom Plan. This pricing is regular pricing and does not reflect current sales. To view current sale info, please click on Sale.

SIZE and SCALE: 

The first two number of the floor plan name reflect the diameter of the dome. For example, 45 Delta 21 is a 45′ diameter dome. All the floor plans are drawn to the same scale, 1/10 inch = 1 foot. The ruler contained on the plan is drawn to this scale and may be used with any of the Stock Plans. Compare these to the measurements of your own furniture and make symbols for those pieces not represented, like your antique hutch or your son’s aquarium. 

SQUARE FOOTAGE:  

The square footage of living space shown with each floor plan indicates the total space inside the dome. The square footage of each room is included to help you visualize the size of the space, and does not include any closets or utility areas. The second floor square footage is measured to five feet of headroom. To learn more click on Square Footages. 

BUILDING CODES: 

Our blueprints have been accepted by building departments which use many different Building Codes including the 2009 International Building Code, 2012 International Building Code, 2013 California Building Code, Florida 2014 5th Edition and Universal Building Code. Our personal service will include communication with your plans examiner to assure the acceptance of American Ingenuity’s prefabricated component panel. If required in your area, your blueprints can be certified by a registered engineer for your state. Professional fees will vary state by state. Click on Engineer Seal to learn more. 

MINOR CHANGES: 

Most building departments will allow you to make simple non-structural changes to Stock Plans by noting them on the blueprints. This might include such minor changes as:  

  • Shifting the location of interior doors 
  • Altering the size of the windows or doors located in the entryways if it does not affect your Energy Report 
  • Substituting a door for a window in an entryway 
  • Substituting a wall for an open rail 
  • Switching the placement of the kitchen sink and major appliances 

MODIFIED STOCK PLANS: 

Modifying a Stock Plan that is close to your dream dome allows you to adapt a plan to your needs. While it does incur a charge, it is much less than the expenditure of custom design work. We will be happy to quote a price for blueprints and a building kit for your Modified Stock Plan once we review your sketches or Floor Planner 

CUSTOM PLANS: 

If you are seeking more than what is reflected in the stock plans, then perhaps you will want to go a step further to a Custom Plan. It will encompass all your thoughts for your dream dome and will be drawn by our technician especially for you, yet at a reasonable cost. Using our state-of-the-art computer aided drafting system, our CAD technician will translate your concept into a set of blueprints.  

  • Design Factors: All plans may be built on your choice of foundation including: Concrete slab, raised, stem wall or pier foundation, full or partial basement. Just to clarify, we can design for a concrete stem wall with a wood floor, but we cannot provide you a design that uses wood as a foundation material. 
  • When planning the location of entryways, door dormers, balconies and window dormers please note their specific locations. 
  • When planning room sizes for your second floor, remember that the headroom decreases as it approaches the knee wall.

For example Ai’s 48′ dome has an interior radius of 24′. That radius is from the center of the sphere to all of the geodesic corners measured on the inside. Ai does not know what your chord length or measurements are referring to. Ai uses the most standard geodesic dome geometry of a three frequency icosahedrons for Ai’s 30’ through 48’ domes. 

For laying out the floor plan designs, you only need to work in two dimensional form and the pages in our floor plan booklet will give you everything you need, including ceiling heights on the second floor. Ai can provide you AutoCAD format for the floor plans, but it will not contain any three dimensional drawings. 

Do you offer stock basement plans in addition to the ones in the plan book? And do you have or can you develop plans for different types of basement? 

Ai does not at this time although custom or modified basement plans have a reasonable cost. It is better to use the dimensions that we provide to lay out the basement walls, than to use angles which would be more difficult and less accurate. Ai can provide plans for most types of basement wall systems utilizing concrete or block including insulated concrete forms. Basement walls are usually 8″ thick when made of poured concrete but will likely increase depending on the height of the basement wall and the height of the backfill. Click on Basements to learn more. 

Do you have separate garage dome kits available? 

Yes. Ai has developed two new garage dome sizes, 22′ and 27′. These garage domes consists of the two frequency icosahedron geometry. This geometry differs from Ai’s other domes in that it utilizes fewer but larger panels. By having larger panels American Ingenuity can create a wider opening that is needed for a garage door. Click on Garages to learn more. 

  • You can install a 9′ wide garage door in the 22′ and have loft storage space of 148 sq.ft.
  • The 27′ garage dome can have a 16′ garage door and have a second floor of 398 sq.ft.
  • The 22′ and 27′ garage entryways are larger panels, so the EPS is not wrapped in galvanized steel mesh.  However if you purchase the steel mesh, Ai will affix it to your garage entryways at no labor cost.
  • Previously a 34′ dome was needed to pull two cars in side by side. Now you can have a two car garage in a 27′ dome which is more cost effective. The 34′ garage dome is utilized when you want more first floor perimeter room around the vehicles or when you want a second floor above the garage for an apartment or study, etc.
  • Any of the garage domes can be connected to another dome or built independently from the house.

You can find the stock plans for the garage domes in the back of the stock floor plan booklet. The regular pricing for the garage kits is on the bottom of the Stock Floor Plan Price List in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet. Or click on Stock Plan Pricing.

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