Slight delay in inflation

Well, the rains are not going to stop the inflation, but it has been moved back from 10:00am to noon. Above is the weather forecast for inflation day, May 15, 2012. I went by the site on the way home from work and it is VERY muddy there. The ariform was spread across the slab, but it had not been fastened down yet. I suppose they will either do that later this evening or first thing in the morning. In any case, we are still on track for an inflation tomorrow!

Things setting up for inflation

Well, as of last night (Monday Night) the crew was just about ready to start attaching the airform to the slab. They still have to move everything that needs to be put inside the inflated dome onto the slab, so that once it is inflated they won't have to figure out how to carry all that stuff through an air lock. This includes all the lumber for the framing of the doors and windows, as well as the scaffolding necessary to work on the top of the dome once it is inflated.

Today the electrician will connect the power panel Monolithic brought to power the fans. and Monolithic will attach the airform to the slab. Probably this evening they will do a partial test inflation to make sure everything is good for the big moment Wednesday when everyone is watching, possibly even the media. The plan is to throw the switch at 10:00 am and watch the house spring to life. It should take about 20-30 minutes to fully inflate and then another half hour to 45 minutes to install the airlock. Once that is done we should be able to go inside and look around!

The only issue I see at the moment is that this morning we woke up to a nice gentle rain. This is supposed to keep up most of the day with "a few scattered thunderstorms". Tomorrow has a 20% chance chance of light rain, so I don't think that will impair the inflation, but it might dampen the spirit of the media (and maybe some of our friends) and make them wonder about going out in the rain just to watch a house being inflated. If so, that's fine, I just want the thing up and making progress towards being done.

I'm not going to take any pictures this evening of the test inflation (well, I might take them, but I won't post them), so it will be a fresh sight for everyone on Wednesday, but I will report back on the success (or failure, but I hope not) tonight in advance of the formal inflation Wednesday.

Construction on Hold this week

This week very little is happening at the job site. I know we are getting a security gate installed and some lighting and possibly cameras installed to reduce theft/vandalism.

Our general contractor also got out and looked at the poured slab and noticed that it was not entirely flat, but had peaks and valleys in it, not huge ones, but he said some up to one inch high. He and Monolithic talked about it and Monolithic is going to bring out a grinder and smooth out the ridges in the slabs next week. Don't know if that will be before or after inflating of the dome, but it should happen.

We did go out and look at appliances yesterday. Starting to make decisions about how and what we want to put inside the house once it is complete and we worked with a door company in designing our front door. We should get the preliminary drawings back early next week.

Right now the schedule looks like on Monday Monolithic will come out and do a bit of site work and prepare the slabs for the airforms. This includes setting up the basic scaffolding inside the domes that they will need. They will possible start to attach the actual air form on Monday, but it will probably be done at least mostly on Tuesday. They then have to attach the fans and airlock to the airform prior to inflating it. This means that Wednesday morning, May 16, somewhere between 9 am and 10 am the airform should be inflated!!! The first concept drawings/sketches I have on my computer date back to May of 2010, so this has been 2 years in the planning process. The first official drawings exchanged between us and Monolithic date to April 2011. Seeing it happen will be such an amazing thing, we are definitely excited about getting the domes up.

The next update will probably not be until Monday.

Still waiting on an inflation date

I think everything is in place for inflating the air form.  The slab is set, we got a new security gate installed today to help secure the property over night, the water is connected dire tly adjacent to the dome, and the electrical is set up.  There is even one of the fans used to inflzte the dome on site.  All we need now is a date scheduled by Monolithic.  I hope to get that date by tomorrow and we can publicize it widely.  It will probably be early next week if I were a betting man.  This week is the last week of the spring workshops at Monolithic, so most of their people are tied up with that.

All 3 slabs are poured

As of this afternoon the slab work in done. The photo above shows the main slab with the rebar waiting to be attached to the dome when it is sprayed. The beginnings of the radial scaffolding can be seen in the foreground on the slab. This is used inside the dome once it is inflated to gain access to the whole thing. Apparently it can rotate within the dome.

You'd have to look very carefully, but the second slab can barely be seen in the background of the same photo (just to the right of the guy spraying water). It looks nice on the full resolution one here.

It looks like the airform will be fitted to the slab on Monday and if all goes right and the stars align properly, it should be inflated on Tuesday. I need to positively confirm that with Monolithic this weekend, but I think that is the plan.

I probably won't have much more to post this weekend, but you never know.

Main Slab is poured

Yesterday was a busy day on site. The Monolithic dome crew did a wonderful job of correcting the errors identified by the initial inspection and about noon yesterday the inspector came back out and approved the site to be poured. Once the engineer approved it, the city had to give it its blessing. They were scheduled to come out at 4:30 that afternoon, but our general contractor, Brian German, called and convinced them to come out earlier, so around 2:00 pm the final approval to pour was granted. By 3:30 concrete was flowing and the crew probably did not actually finish the working and floating of the slab until close to midnight.

Assuming all goes well from here it will probably be Tuesday for the inflating of the airform for the main dome. We should find out today what the schedule is and then we'll contact lots of people about it.

Tribulations this time

Starting with the good news, the electricity is now connect to the pole and can be used onsite. This makes everything easier, since they do not need generators to power saws and such.

Now for the tribulations. When the electrical and plumbing subcontractors set the pipe/conduit they each put one piece too close to the slab frame and those must be moved prior to the pouring of the slab. Of course this means that the plumbing has to be re-pressure tested and reinspected to make sure it is still safe. However, this should not actually delay the process, assuming the plumber got back out there this afternoon/evening to move it. They could then pressurize it overnight and be good to go first thing in the morning.

That is not the end of the tribulations though. The slab crew did not correctly read the plans for how to set up the rebar and where to put the beams for the foundation. When the inspector cam e out this afternoon they noticed irregularities and the rebar failed inspection. The crew was going to try working this afternoon, evening, night and maybe into the wee hours to get it fixed and ready to pass inspection first thing in the morning. If the succeed, then the main slab will be poured tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, if not then it will be Friday at the earliest. Sigh.

If all goes well and they get the slab poured Thursday the actual airform should be inflated on Monday, if not then it will be later next week before things will be happening with the airform. All in all this is not that big a setback, but it is frustrating since we are this close to getting the dome inflated.