Well, we are finally putting up paneling
- something we expected to do a couple of month ago until we found out about the additional
fire proofing foil paper that was needed. On the bright side, seeing the dome covered
in what is essentially tinfoil is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It looks like
the set of a cheap 70's science fiction movie. Though it was easy to light up at night
with a single bulb. There isn't much to describe about the process - we stapled up
the FSK (Foil-Scrim-Kraft) paper and taped all the seams just like we did with the
vapor barrier. The FSK paper also acts as a vapor barrier. Had we known ahead of time
that we needed it we could have skipped the 6-mil plastic that we put up before it.
The FSK paper does tear easily so it's probably better to have the plastic barrier
as well.
While the FSK paper was being put up, Mike spent most of his time carrying interior
triangle panels around. Each panel needed one coat of stain and two coats of fire
retardant. That means each panel was moved at least 9 times - from the dome (where
they are stored) to the staining "station" (the side of the back extension), to the
drying racks (a couple of tarps on the ground), and back to the dome once they were
dried. Times 3.
With all that work finished, we are finally seeing some nice results. The last two
visits we put up a little over half of the interior panels (we would have gotten more
done, but our generator conked out on us over the labor day weekend and cut our visit
short.) The acoustics in the dome are slowly changing as we get the panels installed.
We have a radio playing while we work - in one part of the dome the sound appears
to come from your right, in another your left, and in some places it's balanced and
you can't tell the source. It will probably take another two visits to install the
remainder of the panels.
We also had a couple of truck loads of dirt delivered to our future garden site. I
think there was some miscommunication as to the size of the garden so we are getting
a couple more truck loads dropped of this week to make it bigger. It will be about
1500 sq feet when complete. Sara ran some PH tests on the soil and found it to be
very basic - 9.2 or so. We will need to pick up some sulfur (sulphur?) to try and
drop it to 6.5. On our last trip I colonized the dirt with a pound of mycorrhizal
fungi. That is the fungi that forms bonds with the roots of plants and help to gather
additional nutrients and protect the roots from disease. All soil contain these fungi
species, but freshly "manufactured" bulk dirt tend to have low levels since the composting
process kills most of them off. Once the fungi takes hold and the sulfur helps the
soil PH we'll plant some clover as a winter cover crop. With any luck we can plant
some vegetables come spring (after we build a fence.)
This week the trench to the well should be filled in as well. We can then trim the
water proofing on the foundation to the correct height and call in the siding company
(hopefully they can get to it before the winter rain/snow hits, otherwise it will
have to wait until next spring.)
We will be placing a order for all the wood we'll need for the interior walls/loft
soon. We already have the walls and doors marked in Sharpie on the floor. We will
start building those as soon as we finish with the interior panels.
Neil
