We will try to document the construction of the Swanson Project as construction proceeds. At this time of year weather presents a problem. Between rain and cold tempertures we are trying to complete the garage before winter and finish the project next spring. We will be updating this document as work is completed.

We will show, step by step, from the bare land to final finish what constructing a Monolithic Dome entails and try to explain why each step is important.

A visit to the site shows a hilly terrain with lots of trees and a chance to build a home which can be part of nature and blend into the surroundings with as little disturbance as possible. It will be as Green and energy efficient as practical. As a rural site, it will have a well and septic system and will be heated and cooled electrically.

Our first challenge was to locate the house and garage to retain trees yet have the view as unobstructed as possible. We will take advantage of natural drainage to keep the yard and buildings dry. The house and garage will be separate and connected with a short covered breezeway.

After locating the center of the house and garage we determined the elevation of each and marked the outside of the garage foundation. We are using a shallow design which requires foam insulation on the outside and foam on the surrounding ground as far out as would be required down on a below frost foundation.. The surrounding foam will be covered with soil at least a foot deep. That should prevent frost from causing a problem.