Catching up

It feels like it has been forever since I wrote anything here, but we have been out of town on vacation and it was rather difficult to actually see any progress while out of town. The good news is, however, that there was progress made.

The main dome shell is now effectively finished. The smooth finish coat has been applied everywhere and it looks like there is 4" of concrete in all places (or more). There are a few places (like under the windows) where the section that was intended to be vertical is noticeably bowed out due to the inflation pressure so it resembles something like a 5/8 dome (but not as extreme). The consequence of this will manifest itself as the general contractor, who was expecting to anchor a 2x4 to the wall and go, has to figure out how to attach the walls to this curve. Also the wall outlets look a bit strange under the windows. The floor has been swept clean and all the debris from the spraying has been cleaned out. The next step is to work to level the slab from the ripples that were present during the initial pouring. Note to future builders, make sure the foundation is poured well initially. Going back and leveling it after the fact is tedious, time consuming, and expensive.

The garage looks to be finished. The airlock is now cut off and the inside appears to be completely covered. I think there are a few spots of cover up they still need to do, but all in all it's done.

The auxiliary dome has the airform stretched in place and the airlock and fan sitting next to it. They still have to apply the metal bands that actually attach the airform to the slab, but that can easily be done in a day and then inflate it. My guess is that they will get it ready to inflate today and leave for the weekend and come back first thing Monday and inflate it.