Author Topic: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related  (Read 14691 times)

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jlsoaz

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Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« on: February 07, 2015, 12:47:21 PM »
Hi all:

I have previously jumped in to discuss a bit here a few years ago, in 2011, in

this thread on earth-sheltered homes.  The thread was started in 2005.

http://www.fieldlines.com/index.php/topic,130752.msg993260.html#msg993260
Topic: Earth sheltered homes  (Read 21767 times)
Earth sheltered homes
« on: September 20, 2005, 01:06:39 AM »


I was this week mulling over status of a few things in my home after living here

about 11 years, and wanting to kind of summarize in a post in a spot or two, to

folks who might find it of slight use or interest, and realized maybe this would

be a good forum.  One caveat that I also made back in my 2011 posts - I am not a

Do-it-yourself type, and did not build the home I live in, and won't be going in

the direction of DIY any time soon.

Instead of trying to make this perfect, I'm just going to blurt out various

bullet points that are on my mind:

This is the page for the company that is behind the type of house that I live in:

The company appears to have been started in '79 and to be located in the midwest

USA, and my own home was built in '83-84 in Arizona: 
http://www.terra-dome.com/links.html

Here are some pictures of my own house roughly from when I moved in (a couple of

them were from the previous homeowner, possibly from the 80s or 90s).
http://www.herecomesmongo.com/td/Terra.html

Various things that have come up:

- Someone remarked on the previous thread about the importance of decent

ventilation.  I have found this to be true.  When I had an energy audit, the home

kind of freaked the tester out a bit since there wasn't much they could do to

test or improve it, but they did a blower test, and the person remarked it was

one of the tightest homes they'd ever seen and if I had propane or natural gas,

it would be an immediate concern.  As it was, I ordered a CO2 meter (I had put

this off when I first moved in because of the cost) and the meter alarm went off

a short time after I plugged it in.  I definitely needed to be more aware of the

importance of ventilation.

- at the time of the energy audit, I was musing as to whether the insulation was

any good.  I have kind of dropped this concern.  However, I did replace the heat

pump with a modern high-SEER multi-zone unit.  I wouldn't say that my energy use

has gone down, but the house is now far more comfortable in summer and winter. 

The unit doesn't have a ventilation aspect though, so that still somewhat remains

to be done.  At present I am cracking a few windows and there are one or two fans

when desired. 

- I use a TED 5000 to monitor energy use on electric power.  Since there is no

natural gas or propane, this is the entire use of my house, aside from one

circuit where I haven't been able to get someone to install it for me.

-  My electric power seemed to bottom out at around 50 Watts or less years ago, but now seems to bottom out at around 95 Watts.

- The alarm system has added to the energy use (it includes a UPS).

- Aside from about 2.7 kW in panels, I recently added about 12 kWh of batteries and an inverter that can make smart decisions between the grid and battery power.  This allows my home power to stay on during outages, and allows me to continue harvesting solar energy as well.  It was expensive, I'm not sure it was worth it.  The main drawback is that I now am severely limited in peak power (around 8-10 kW). Also, the system adds to the overall minimum energy use of the house (maybe about 30+ watts?)

- The solar hot water heater that came with the house gave out and I have replaced it with one that uses glycol and may be a bit less prone to decay.  It also adds a small amount to the home energy use (there is a pump and some heat transfer).

Not sure how much this will be of interest to those here.  I definitely did not have the home built, but bought it ready-made, so I don't really have any thoughts on building one.  I have spoken with terra-dome a couple of times and they have been helpful on a couple of points.  When I first moved in I called them to ask what to watch out for, and they said to make sure that the concrete was protected and that water didn't get into that area.  Also, I think they do recommend certain ventilation equipment, so when the time comes I may go to them for this.  (Noting that the roof is concrete, and there is no attic or hidden space, so when revising HVAC it is not an easy matter of drilling holes in a roof or hiding pipes or the like).

gww

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2015, 11:42:20 AM »
I am glad for the update.
gww

MattM

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2015, 07:16:48 AM »
Cutting a 4" hole through 16" of concrete is trivial these days.  How big of hole do you need?

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2015, 09:21:08 PM »
Cutting a 4" hole through 16" of concrete is trivial these days.  How big of hole do you need?

Hi Matt -

I would say even if it's not (in and of itself) that big a deal to drill a hole, my inclination would be to not treat it as a trivial matter to identify the right spot to cut new holes, and then to cut, in my load-bearing structure holding a concrete roof and earth over my head, that has been in place for 31 years and hasn't shown evidence of any major issues or leaks or the like.  So, yes, drilling the holes is very do-able, but it just seems best to me to err on the side of caution as to any broader consequences.  I would readily acknowledge that it may be unfounded paranoia on my part as homeowner, but it's an error I'll continue to make until I can really be strongly shown it's not a well founded concern.

Just looking at the question of drilling the holes in concrete, it sounds like it's not that big a deal, and indeed I had a couple of holes drilled last year in a wall in the garage (which doesn't hold up a concrete roof), and it was, as you say, pretty do-able.  Not trivial exactly, but it got done. 

It's probably a few years out for me to gather enough capital again to start in on that particular matter.  When the time does come around, I'll probably consider drilling a hole or two, but will weigh this  against sacrificing a portion of a window or two.

My installer and I did reach out to Terra Dome a couple of years ago when installing the heat pump and asked them to help us understand what our options were, because the replacement of the existing heat pump was a tight fit in the existing holes (this was apart from questions about installing an energy recovery ventilation system).  If I recall, they indicated it was do-able to drill new holes, but it would take some doing (bring the right equipment down from Tucson or some such).  I am not sure if we really were confident we could identify the right spots, or if it was going to be hit or miss, and (if I am recalling the gist of the conversation) that was somewhat a concern.

It was not a critical matter, so basically they just got things to fit inside the existing holes.  So, I think the immediate need kind of passed, but the broader ventilation issue is still there, so it will come up again in a few years probably.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2015, 09:27:08 PM by jlsoaz »

Mary B

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2015, 04:32:59 PM »
That roof should be loaded with rebar so punching a hole should not weaken it much at all. If there are steel beams to miss any good metal detector should be able to locate them.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2015, 01:01:07 PM »
That roof should be loaded with rebar so punching a hole should not weaken it much at all. If there are steel beams to miss any good metal detector should be able to locate them.

I was browsing here the other day and we can see you are probably right about the roof being loaded with rebar (I'm just allowing for the fact that my house was built 31 years ago, but I do have pics of the construction so can probably verify they followed the same method).  I can't directly link the picture, but it is one of the ones under the caption "... Terra-Dome structures are quick to build....":

http://www.terra-dome.com/#!gallery/c20x9

The fact is that once my new multi-zone heat pump was installed and working, and once I became more comfortable just "cracking a window" to prevent my new CO2 alarm from going off, the need for spending significant chunks of time and money to get more automated ventilation into the house subsided.

Also, generally I am cautious about letting anyone deal with things that involve the structural integrity or the seals against water, even if they assure me they know what they are doing.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2019, 05:19:33 PM »
for what it's worth, a miscellaneous update on my miscellaneous terra-dome journey:

- In August I had a guy over who has been on jobsites building terra-domes for decades, and one of the things he mentioned is that indeed, it should be ok to punch a hole in the roof (though in the end there were one or two points about which to take care, not just to do with rebar, but as to where some other things went).

- I did have the hole punched recently.

- a company will come to install improved ventilation next month.

- at that point it is not clear to me if I will also want to install an air exchanger of some sort (ERV or HRV).  The company'page, and the walk-around I did with the expert, seemed to focus more on dehumidifiers with a ventilation aspect, but maybe I am making too much of the difference:
https://www.thermastor.com/

- On other matters, it will take some more years for me to figure out a best strategy for improving how some areas of the house are dealing with keeping water away from the concrete.  The expert indicated that overall, for the age, things were going ok for this home.

SparWeb

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2019, 10:43:52 PM »
Hi
Thank you for the update.

Forgive me for asking a question about a "scary" subject that gets everyone more excited than usually necessary:
Have you tested for radon?
A friend of mine had his basement tested a few years ago and the result came back positive. 
If he hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't have realized how common it can be.
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
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jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2019, 02:47:15 PM »
Hi
Thank you for the update.

Forgive me for asking a question about a "scary" subject that gets everyone more excited than usually necessary:
Have you tested for radon?
A friend of mine had his basement tested a few years ago and the result came back positive. 
If he hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't have realized how common it can be.

Hi - I haven't had it tested for Radon, but I'll include that in discussion with another local consultant with a good reputation that I'm having come by. 

I did finally this week have my 2nd bathroom air vent fan installed (it had been out of commission for so long) and I like to joke with people that after 16 years of living here, I'm having oxygen installed at my house.


SparWeb

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2019, 01:44:03 AM »
Quote
bathroom air vent fan

Uhh, that's for exhausting OTHER gases. :)
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
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richhagen

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2019, 04:59:06 AM »
Most of the information I have read on tightly sealed homes tends to indicate that they build up not only CO2, but organics including formaldehyde and even sulfur compounds (perhaps more of an issue before your new bath exhaust fan)  The solution to this appears to be an air to air heat exchanger installed to replace a percentage of the homes air over time to prevent such build of harmful gases.
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Bruce S

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2019, 08:46:18 AM »
Even back when I bought my first home, since our area is known for Granite , we do radon tests as part of the home inspection.

Granite is known for it's low levels of "gasses" and radiation. Handled correctly it's not a big issue.

I agree with Rich, the build up of a tight house, is probably going to be organics that you can quickly get sick from.

I don't remember reading where you are located, but a search of rocks & minerals in your area may also shed some light on these issues.

Cheers
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dnix71

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2019, 01:09:39 PM »
I rent a room in a 50+ year old concrete/cement block house with a whole-house a/c and impact resistant windows. Every where I lived before since childhood I left the windows open. I can't do that now, as the landlord lives in the other bedroom and won't run the a/c with a window open.

With the door closed at night it gets stuffy fast and hard to breathe and sleep. Just cracking the window a little at night is a huge help. I can't imagine living in a space ship or sealed building for long. The buildup of CO2 and drop in O2 would make me grouchy.

DamonHD

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2019, 03:50:56 PM »
This is my home's solution for improved ventilation with reduced heat losses for bathroom and kitchen:

http://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-mechanical-heat-recovery-ventilation.html

http://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-Vent-Axia-Lo-Carbon-Tempra-P-REVIEW.html

Rgds

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MattM

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #14 on: December 12, 2019, 03:29:38 AM »
Something really leaped out in the link, talk about a 70% relative indoor humidity level.  Internal humidity needs to be kept below 60% at all times.  Mold will not form under such low humidity.  70% relative humidity is asking for serious mold mitigation in the future.

clockmanFRA

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #15 on: December 12, 2019, 04:20:15 AM »
If this helps?

We are to passive house with our old buildings and all use a dry heating system.

As part of the design I always make sure that electric 4 inch extractor fans are installed in the bathrooms, WC/Toilet, Shower rooms, utilities rooms/ washing machine rooms or any room where there is active water/moisture present in a normal domestic environment.

Each fan can be switched on or off by the inhabitant of that room.

These fans have flap vanes on inside and out, and allow air to ravel outward mostly, but can allow small amounts of air to travel in, especially when opening and closing doors.

Because of these extractors we are classed as not officially Passive House, so I state that we are 'To Passive house standard'

Yes we fit new opening double/triple glazed windows, But I personally like a cold air gently circulating, but the rest of the family like there bedrooms the opposite.
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southpaw

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #16 on: December 12, 2019, 07:14:59 AM »
Hi. My two cents worth. I would hesitate to make any new holes in your concrete envelope. It would appear from the pictures that there is an unused heating appliance next to one of your exterior doors, this vent could easily be used for an hrv and even the smallest hrv unit would supply plenty of outside air and remove the equivalent amount of "stale" inside air. If that existing vent is 6" or larger you could probably use a 4" exhaust pipe concentric in a 6 or 7 inch intake pipe without making any new holes. If that appliance is still in use there are still many spots in the face of your home to make a similar venting arrangement. A concentric vent could also be placed next to the existing vent pipe and terminate right at the outside of the wall to eliminate the possibility of drawing in combustion products from the existing heating appliance.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2020, 01:38:03 PM »
Hi. My two cents worth. I would hesitate to make any new holes in your concrete envelope. It would appear from the pictures that there is an unused heating appliance next to one of your exterior doors, this vent could easily be used for an hrv and even the smallest hrv unit would supply plenty of outside air and remove the equivalent amount of "stale" inside air. If that existing vent is 6" or larger you could probably use a 4" exhaust pipe concentric in a 6 or 7 inch intake pipe without making any new holes. If that appliance is still in use there are still many spots in the face of your home to make a similar venting arrangement. A concentric vent could also be placed next to the existing vent pipe and terminate right at the outside of the wall to eliminate the possibility of drawing in combustion products from the existing heating appliance.

Thanks, I'll have to think over your points.  I did finally go ahead and have a new 4 inch hole drilled in the bathroom area (staying in close contact with the original home builder) and the surgery seems to have gone ok.  However, this was just for a vent.

Around here, there isn't a huge amount of progressive energy-saving thinking, and so next I asked about additionally installing ERV or HRV.  It's just an uphill battle on a lot of things around here, so it's taking me awhile to line someone up to advise and install, and in the end with many projects here, there is an element of settling for what I can get (I know, DIY oriented folks might not have to settle as often, but I am not handy with installing equipment).

For reference I am in Rio Rico, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Tucson, near the somewhat well-known bi-national (if that's the right word) city of Nogales.  Elevation at my house about 3500 feet, summer highs (going by impresssions) can get to 100-110 F or above, lows in winter can go a bit below freezing temp of water, once in awhile.  Daytime swings in temp are wide (high desert).  Humidity is low, but a few times a year gets very high.  I have abandoned a swamp cooler goal, for a few reasons, and have a decent mini-split heat pump for not-bad heating and cooling.

Once the 2nd bathroom fan was installed, the CO2 levels in the house decreased markedly if I left both fans on, but there is a real issue now with the costs of heating, while I am constantly expelling the heated air.  So, I am game to get HRV perhaps, but it is an uphill battle to find someone willing to listen.  And when they do, they are trying to put me in the direction of ERV because that is what people get for very hot areas.  Does anyone know if there is such a thing as installing both, in areas where there are such wide temperature variations?

I am likely going to make use of the existing vent hole near one of my windows in the kitchen.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #18 on: January 08, 2020, 01:43:42 PM »
setting aside the HVAC considerations for a moment, the other issues that have come up lately:

- have found another leak in the concrete where the lining has had a breach.  When I first moved in 16 years ago, the folks at terra-dome.com told me to watch out for this. This makes 2 verified breaches and one suspected that will take some more time to verify one way or the other.

- healthy drinking water and for the pipes - the water here is very hard, but I have had it with hauling salt to a "conditioner" and having that go into my septic and hillside.  Present status is I have a couple of the electromagnetic molecule-re-arranger gizmos that probably don't do any good, but have simplified away from the salt and am not doing much other fancy stuff right now.  I am concerned as to how little I know, and how little agreement there seems to be among "experts" and sales people, as to what I want to shoot for in healthy drinking water, so I'm trying to take the city tap water and just filter it a bit, and not look back too much.  There will still be damage to my pipes, but hopefully I can live with some of it.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #19 on: January 08, 2020, 01:44:50 PM »
This is my home's solution for improved ventilation with reduced heat losses for bathroom and kitchen:

http://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-mechanical-heat-recovery-ventilation.html

http://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-Vent-Axia-Lo-Carbon-Tempra-P-REVIEW.html

Rgds

Damon

Thanks for your points and everyone else's.  I came to the right place apparently for some input on these matters.  A lot here to consider. 

DamonHD

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #20 on: January 08, 2020, 04:15:54 PM »
On the hard water issue, I am currently trying to spec a solution to avoid scaling up a new thermal store without vast expense, or space, or indeed lots of salt if I can avoid them!

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html#Scale

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/12771-solar-dhw-with-uniq-and-pv-diversion/?tab=comments#comment-214709

I'm currently leaning to a phosphate dosing arrangement.

Rgds

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jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2020, 02:23:28 PM »
On the hard water issue, I am currently trying to spec a solution to avoid scaling up a new thermal store without vast expense, or space, or indeed lots of salt if I can avoid them!

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html#Scale

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/12771-solar-dhw-with-uniq-and-pv-diversion/?tab=comments#comment-214709

I'm currently leaning to a phosphate dosing arrangement.

Rgds

Damon

With direct energy issues (solar, inverter, batteries, electric vehicle, other energy-conserving devices and practices, etc.) I have some idea of where I am and where I want to be and how to get there.

However, with water issues (particularly healthy drinking water, but also including a few others), I'm pretty much at a loss.  I think a substantial difference between the topics is that at least with energy, I was able in reading and discussing with folks to get to a point where I thought I had some idea of what I wanted to shoot for.  Then, over the years, I have been able to build my way toward that.  With water, it has been the opposite.  The more I read, the more I am simply confused.

Thanks for the phosphate dosing idea regarding hot water.  I am so "back at square one" in my thinking about water that I am reluctant to add or remove much, if anything, on the general grounds that someone, years or decades from now, will say "oh, we've just discovered and verified that this was a bad idea for your health".  As to simply drinking untreated (other than one decent carbon filter and maybe a pitcher with a filter) water from the tap,  it's hard to know, with confidence, if this is ok.

On other ideas for treating hard water:

I presently have two devices which are re-arranging the molecules, one on just the hot water heater, and one on the whole house.  I couldn't tell you if either one of them is doing one bit of good in fighting scale inside my hot water heater (which is turned off half the year because of the effectiveness of the solar hot water system), or harming my health.  I do tend to have to add extra additives to my laundry and dish washing.  Have had them in place for a year or two as stop-gap measures since I put my foot down and put an end to the salt thing.  But I eventually have to have a solution in place in which I am more confident, otherwise I'll lose a water heater or some-such, and I don't know that re-arranging the molecules is ok for my health.

I did end up having to throw away a plug-in electric water boiler pot this week, I suspect it broke because of the hard water.  When I distill water in a cheap Chinese distiller, it does seem to underscore that the water is fairly hard (I have to descale the distiller manually fairly often, but I have kind of liked this process as it gives me a better idea of the water and how the minerals can cling to the heating element).  Recently I've read about not drinking de-mineralized and possibly acidic distilled or RO or bottled RO water, so I avoid that.  I use the distiller now just for a humidifier, so it won't get messed up.

I did recently learn more about two solutions for hard water that I hadn't seen as much.  Both are vastly more expensive (USD $5k and up) than I'm used to looking at, but I am considering one of them.  One is a "nano-membrane".  The other involves injection of an anti-scalant (citrus or related?) that somehow does end up in the waste stream, not the tap water, and which is not that radical sounding, but which is only sold with a very expensive whole-house Unit I found.  WTH?  I would provide the links, but I'm so used to every idea in water turning out to be significantly questionable that I'm putting myself on a link diet.


jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #22 on: January 12, 2020, 02:26:07 PM »
This month we found indeed that my guesses have been correct.  There have been 3 spots where I have seen water seemingly coming through the concrete and reaching the inside of the house.  When I first moved in years ago the company said to be on the lookout for this, and so in recent years I have spotted it and sought to address it.  One indeed turned out to be a breach in the lining on the roof.  Another I thought looked like it, and this week was confirmed.  A third I suspect so, but it will take a lot more money to dig down to figure out where the leak is. 

I'm told the problem is that the water could weaken the rebar and thus the whole roof and house structure.

MattM

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #23 on: January 12, 2020, 04:57:06 PM »
Concrete is basically a dense sponge.  You can dry it out all you want, but any exposure to humid air or direct water contact is going to draw in moisture once more.  Any solution short of isolating the concrete from the outside dirt and air contact is never going to fully mitigate these issues.  Having rain-soaked dirt as a roof cannot be helpful.

Mary B

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #24 on: January 13, 2020, 07:24:31 PM »
Go to a brew store and buy minerals to add back to your water. RO water gets a little acid after it sits for a week, long as you drink it fresh it is fine if a bit flat in flavor. I brew beer and use distilled and it barely starts to turn acidic in a week...

On the hard water issue, I am currently trying to spec a solution to avoid scaling up a new thermal store without vast expense, or space, or indeed lots of salt if I can avoid them!

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html#Scale

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/12771-solar-dhw-with-uniq-and-pv-diversion/?tab=comments#comment-214709

I'm currently leaning to a phosphate dosing arrangement.

Rgds

Damon

With direct energy issues (solar, inverter, batteries, electric vehicle, other energy-conserving devices and practices, etc.) I have some idea of where I am and where I want to be and how to get there.

However, with water issues (particularly healthy drinking water, but also including a few others), I'm pretty much at a loss.  I think a substantial difference between the topics is that at least with energy, I was able in reading and discussing with folks to get to a point where I thought I had some idea of what I wanted to shoot for.  Then, over the years, I have been able to build my way toward that.  With water, it has been the opposite.  The more I read, the more I am simply confused.

Thanks for the phosphate dosing idea regarding hot water.  I am so "back at square one" in my thinking about water that I am reluctant to add or remove much, if anything, on the general grounds that someone, years or decades from now, will say "oh, we've just discovered and verified that this was a bad idea for your health".  As to simply drinking untreated (other than one decent carbon filter and maybe a pitcher with a filter) water from the tap,  it's hard to know, with confidence, if this is ok.

On other ideas for treating hard water:

I presently have two devices which are re-arranging the molecules, one on just the hot water heater, and one on the whole house.  I couldn't tell you if either one of them is doing one bit of good in fighting scale inside my hot water heater (which is turned off half the year because of the effectiveness of the solar hot water system), or harming my health.  I do tend to have to add extra additives to my laundry and dish washing.  Have had them in place for a year or two as stop-gap measures since I put my foot down and put an end to the salt thing.  But I eventually have to have a solution in place in which I am more confident, otherwise I'll lose a water heater or some-such, and I don't know that re-arranging the molecules is ok for my health.

I did end up having to throw away a plug-in electric water boiler pot this week, I suspect it broke because of the hard water.  When I distill water in a cheap Chinese distiller, it does seem to underscore that the water is fairly hard (I have to descale the distiller manually fairly often, but I have kind of liked this process as it gives me a better idea of the water and how the minerals can cling to the heating element).  Recently I've read about not drinking de-mineralized and possibly acidic distilled or RO or bottled RO water, so I avoid that.  I use the distiller now just for a humidifier, so it won't get messed up.

I did recently learn more about two solutions for hard water that I hadn't seen as much.  Both are vastly more expensive (USD $5k and up) than I'm used to looking at, but I am considering one of them.  One is a "nano-membrane".  The other involves injection of an anti-scalant (citrus or related?) that somehow does end up in the waste stream, not the tap water, and which is not that radical sounding, but which is only sold with a very expensive whole-house Unit I found.  WTH?  I would provide the links, but I'm so used to every idea in water turning out to be significantly questionable that I'm putting myself on a link diet.

jlsoaz

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Re: Miscellaneous comments on Terra-Dome living, and related
« Reply #25 on: January 13, 2020, 10:37:52 PM »
Concrete is basically a dense sponge.  You can dry it out all you want, but any exposure to humid air or direct water contact is going to draw in moisture once more.  Any solution short of isolating the concrete from the outside dirt and air contact is never going to fully mitigate these issues.  Having rain-soaked dirt as a roof cannot be helpful.

Sorry, I may have not been clear:

The design of the house is such that there is a very effective and excellent material used as a barrier to the water.  In 36 years, there have been these three spots that I know of where this material has been breached.  Otherwise, there are no issues.  The 2-4 feet (or so) of dirt and rocks that are piled on top of the water barrier and insulation I think help, among other things, to keep the sun off the barrier.