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Not really looking at domes. But we are looking at round houses and one manufacturer of round house framing kits is able to achieve Energy Star compliance with their design. That company is in North Carolina and is called Deltec Homes in case anyone is interested.
My husband and I have looked at literature on the Deltec Homes recently, thats why I found this forum, to see if anyone else has any experience with them. Since your post last July did you find out any thing else that would make you more interested in them? So far we have only looked at their booklet,but it is impressive. Also saw the DIY TV episiodes that featured them.
My husband and I have looked at literature on the Deltec Homes recently, thats why I found this forum, to see if anyone else has any experience with them. Since your post last July did you find out any thing else that would make you more interested in them? So far we have only looked at their booklet,but it is impressive. Also saw the DIY TV episiodes that featured them.
Thanks for any info.
Gerry
We are actually developing quite a warm and fuzzy relationship with the Deltec Homes salesman with whom we speak on the telephone. We ordered the planning book and dvd to learn more. Apparently Deltec Homes can be Energy Star compliant, which is a serious concern to us as we plan this home.
We are planning on going to the factory for a tour and to attend a buyers' orientation next May because I want to see how these things are built in the factory before getting too deeply involved. Now, having said that, my wife who is an interior designer, has begun designing the interior and tomorrow I am walking the lot that we are interested in with an excavation contractor to discuss the cost of the access driveway.
Now I ask that you consider that I am a true son of New England. My family has been here for fourteen generations and classic, New England architecture is very deep in my bones. Yet here I am seriously contemplating a 21st century house as perhaps the last house that I will ever live in. But I am very impressed with what Deltec produces and think that a round house on the right location will be perfect!
Hey, thanks for the info. We got their DVD and book too, they called to see if they could help any, also considering their weekend tour as well, either their May or July I think.
We don't have a lot though, and are still contemplating buying or building, and it would be our 'last' and best house.
Keep you posted on our progress, my husband and I will be interested to follow yours.
Everyone is correct - the cost will vary greatly according to several factors. To add my own experience, I spent 8 years in a 2 bedroom ranch on a concrete slab and never used more than one 275 gallon tank of kerosene per year ! That was in Lincoln Maine from 1997 to 2005.
We just moved to Maine and are investigating Deltec homes also. Have you been able to find a contractor that will put together your home?? I am very curious about the lot set up and things here in Maine. Things like foundations and wells/septic and such. Please let me know how it goes for you. Especially if you are putting the home up in Maine. I wonder what the shipping costs are? We should be getting the catalog/dvd any day now.
Hi Chimp, we don't have any lot yet, just looking now and trying to decide what to do.
I did look at the TopSider website that was mentioned in another thread (in the North Carolina section, round homes and hurricanes? and on their website they indicate "seven easy steps", see here
7 Steps (broken link) where they describe helping you with the permit process.
I didn't see that on the Deltec website, tho I don't know if they do/don't help you with that also.
Round homes are the unusual and I think local communities might want to look more strictly at permits for the new and unusual homes, how it impacts the community.
for me here in a more suburban area I think I could hope for a lot with city services for water & sewer.
I made a thread in the general section Round Homes , to see who else might have since they can be in other states too...
Gerry
Last edited by Chench53; 01-13-2007 at 05:16 AM..
Reason: fix links
The Deltec makes a lot of sense. Round is always better for "drafting" problems. ( wind force on flat surfaces).....I will be going down To Asheville in may 19th for a tour of the Plant , and seminar. Hope its as I think it IS........
We are continuing to plan on our new home. We have located land that we think will be perfect for our next and last home. We have received the Deltec information, and my wife (an interior architect by education and experience) is designing the interior. We have even found one Deltec home already built in the community. There is one builder that we have located in eastern Maine who specializes in Deltec homes. The builder is in the Rockland/Thomaston area, so travel will prove a difficulty and may or may not have an impact on the cost of construction.
Actually, the construction process of a Deltec home is very straight forward. The foundation is built and a tractor/trailer rolls up with the Deltec components and the construction crew starts to work with Part A following Part B. I think that any builder can put one of these kits together. The issue will be whether or not any given builder will want to, but in each community there are builders who are looking for work. Planning ahead will be the key, because the economy is small, and the season is short.
We have not bought our land yet. We have located a lot of about 18 acres that is very interesting land, and I have had a road estimated to the potential building site. The next step for us will be to have the lot properly surveyed (it has never been surveyed), and then we will have a soils test done that will enable us to locate building sites on the property. We have agreed on the price with the seller but won't be buying until sometime in the summer due to some issues with the seller and his former broker.
I am not concerned about drilling a well. The well driller will arrive and put a hole in the ground and probably somewhere around 175-250 feet we will get an appropriate water flow rate. The only water issue will be if we need a second well for installation of a geothermal heat pump, assuming we go that way.
Once the shell is complete, we will then get into the real issues of Deltec home construction which is the electrical, plumbing and interior finish. Iwant to do most of the interior finish work after the sheetrock is in.
We still have significant questions regarding the so-called "energy efficiency" of Deltec homes. They "claim" to be energy efficient, but there is no information on their website nor in their documentation that provide testimony to the claim Destec homes are strictly conventional stick construction done in a factory. Adding insulation doesn't really mean that the homes will be truly energy efficient, nor does the house being round necessarily guarantee anything either. Conventionally designed New England homes have withstood two and a half centuries of hurricanes, nor'easters, summer winds, fall winds, ice, snow and about everything else without falling down, so I am not sure that Deltec is bringing anything to Maine that Mainers haven't thought of yet.
I think that the highest and best form of energy efficient construction is expanded polystyrene building forms filled with reinforced concrete, and ample insulation in the roof. I KNOW that this kind of construction will meet and exceed Federal Energy Star ratings, and over the next ten to twenty years, the energy consumed overall will become a far more important consideration than it is now, warm winter or cold.
We are continuing to plan on our new home. We have located land that we think will be perfect for our next and last home....
That sounds great!
Is it in 'treegrowth'?
Quote:
... We have received the Deltec information, and my wife (an interior architect by education and experience) is designing the interior. We have even found one Deltec home already built in the community. There is one builder that we have located in eastern Maine who specializes in Deltec homes. The builder is in the Rockland/Thomaston area, so travel will prove a difficulty and may or may not have an impact on the cost of construction.
Actually, the construction process of a Deltec home is very straight forward. The foundation is built and a tractor/trailer rolls up with the Deltec components and the construction crew starts to work with Part A following Part B. I think that any builder can put one of these kits together. ...
Cool!
We did a prefab steel building, and the interior myself.
I am curious though. How much roughly is this costing you per square foot?
I have also dealt with local workers and the mind-set that "this is the way my daddy did it, and this is the way I am doing it, ..." And regardless of what the customer wants, or how the customer wants it done, they have a hard time getting past their mindset.
Quote:
...We have not bought our land yet. We have located a lot of about 18 acres that is very interesting land, and I have had a road estimated to the potential building site. The next step for us will be to have the lot properly surveyed (it has never been surveyed), and then we will have a soils test done that will enable us to locate building sites on the property. We have agreed on the price with the seller but won't be buying until sometime in the summer due to some issues with the seller and his former broker.
The soils test is to determine where a septic field can go.
Ours is 300 foot away from the building site. Just because that was the closest place where he could find good perc soils.
I agree that you should not actually purchase any land until after you have a good perc test completed. The first property that we went into escrow to buy, would not pass a perc. 30 acres and nowhere on it would a perc pass, too much ledge.
Quote:
... I am not concerned about drilling a well. The well driller will arrive and put a hole in the ground and probably somewhere around 175-250 feet we will get an appropriate water flow rate. The only water issue will be if we need a second well for installation of a geothermal heat pump, assuming we go that way.
Yes in this area, where you put the well is not a concern. Everywhere has water.
I did ask the well driller about heat pumps and drilling multiple holes, I was trying to start a conversation, thinking that I would learn a lot from him. His father had drilled wells, his son drills wells, he has two well drilling trucks and two crews of well drillers, etc.
He had no idea what a heat-pump was. and he could not imagine why anyone would ever want more than a single well.
Quote:
... Once the shell is complete, we will then get into the real issues of Deltec home construction which is the electrical, plumbing and interior finish. I want to do most of the interior finish work after the sheetrock is in.
We still have significant questions regarding the so-called "energy efficiency" of Deltec homes. They "claim" to be energy efficient, but there is no information on their website nor in their documentation that provide testimony to the claim Destec homes are strictly conventional stick construction done in a factory. Adding insulation doesn't really mean that the homes will be truly energy efficient, nor does the house being round necessarily guarantee anything either. Conventionally designed New England homes have withstood two and a half centuries of hurricanes, nor'easters, summer winds, fall winds, ice, snow and about everything else without falling down, so I am not sure that Deltec is bringing anything to Maine that Mainers haven't thought of yet.
Well said.
Quote:
... I think that the highest and best form of energy efficient construction is expanded polystyrene building forms filled with reinforced concrete, and ample insulation in the roof. I KNOW that this kind of construction will meet and exceed Federal Energy Star ratings, and over the next ten to twenty years, the energy consumed overall will become a far more important consideration than it is now, warm winter or cold.
I have a steel building, and I sprayed poly-foam onto the interior of the shell, one inch thick, for R-7. It gives a lot of strength to the walls, sound-deadens them and stops sweating.
Then I put in R-30 fiberglass batting, before hanging the interior walls.
I really like the spray-in-place foams.
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Deltec Homes
