John,
I wanted a quick, temporary shelter for some lawn equipment while my garage is under construction. I always wanted to build a geodesic dome and was guite fascinated by your clever zip-tie hub system. So, my shelter would be a two-frequency zip-tie dome.
I began by easing the outer edges of the hubs with a deburring tool and file. I spray painted the struts and hubs with Krylon Camouflage Fusion. The assembly of the dome itself was quite fun. After measuring the finished diameter at 11.5 feet, I planned a three-foot high knee wall. The ground was not level, but this was fine for drainage. I did a little digging and installed nine sets of concrete pads to provide a level base for the eight-section knee wall.
I assembled the individual knee wall sections from 2x6 PT lumber using pocket-hole joinery. The sections were placed on the concrete pads and screwed together. The two-section opening for the gate needed reinforcement, so I installed two 4x4s in concrete and tied them to the knee wall. I added diagonal cedar fencing, leaving large gaps for ventillation.
When the knee wall was finished, we lifted the dome in place and secured it to the knee wall with plumber's strapping and screws. I also used plumber's strapping to secure the knee wall to eye anchors screwed into the ground.
The covering is a 5 mil camouflage tarp from Sigman Tarp. I would prefer that the covering allow the geodesic shape to be more sharply defined, but it does do a good job of waterproofing the dome. The opening in the dome has a full length rain screen made from an extra piece of tarp and attached to the structure with four carabiners and zip-tie loops. The rain screen is prevented from blowing in by a cable strung across the opening and is easily removed. I tried to neaten the opening in the dome by using four pairs of test caps to hold the turned-under edges of the tarp in place.
Already, the dome has successfully weathered three major rain events and is doing its job.
Best regards,
Pat Robbert
Franklinton, LA
