Photo submitted by Michael Carr
This monolithic dome took just three weeks to complete. The structure will be buried underground.

By Brent Addleman
Editor

Michael Carr has been in business for 38 years with Mike's Custom Services working with flooring. But, now the business has taken on a whole new look.
The Kersey business is now constructing monolithic domes. Five years ago, Carr went to school to learn how to build these dome-shaped structures and just completed his first dome in October.
"I just finished my first one the first of October – a 3,200-square foot dome," Carr said.
The structures began as commercial buildings used for storage, but in recent years the domes have been built to house schools and homes.
"They started out as commercial buildings – potato storage buildings, methane gas collection chambers, cement collection chambers and storage," Carr said. "There were people that approached the owner of the company that wanted to build homes. So, they started designing homes. They are multi-purpose buildings."
Construction of these domes is just like building any other structure – the design comes first.
"You start out with an air form," Carr said. "You get the design that you want of the facility you want. They built a school in the Netherlands that was 14 stories high. They manufacture an air form made out of polyvinyl chloride fiber-reinforced material. They laser weld this material together into the shape you want. They've made tee-pees. They've made what they call an India-dome, which is a two-story dome."
The buildings have taken on big proportions and there are some big ideas as well.
"They build them up to 1,000 feet in diameter," Carr said. "They have designs for an indoor golf course."
The company is headquartered in Texas, where Carr went to learn how to construct monolithic domes.
"The have a manufacturing facility in Italy, Texas, where the company is headquartered," Carr said. "They have six or seven, 60-foot in diameter domes that are inter-connected and they are 24 feet high in the center. They look like a giant caterpillar. That's 240-feet long, 60-feet wide and is 14,000-square feet of open wide space, and that is their manufacturing facility."
The process for building the domes doesn't include a hammer or nails.
"They have a 200-foot laser welder they laser weld this material together with," Carr said. "Once they manufacture the air form, you put in a ring beam foundation and you fasten that air form all the way around the perimeter. Then you hook up a grain dryer, and you inflate the air form."
Carr recently completed a monolithic dome in McVeytown, which is located south of State College.
"The dome I just finished building was a 50-footer with a breezeway connected to a 28-foot dome," Carr said. "Those two domes inflated in seven minutes with this grain dryer. Once you inflate it, you keep it inflated through the whole construction process."
While constructing the domes, an air lock is used. The air lock allows the air to be kept inside the building so that construction of the building can continue.
"Once you get in there, you mark out all your door frames and window frames and on the outside of that you put three-inches of polyurethane foam, which has an R-60 insulation value," Carr said. "You could put more in, but you won't get your return on that investment."
The actual construction of the dome involves the use of rebar which acts like a skeleton.
"For ease of understanding, it's more like a bird cage out of half-inch rebar," Carr said. "You put in your horizontal and vertical rebars and you pigtail those together. At that time, you put in your conduit for your electrical on the outside walls. Once that is in, you spray four inches of high strength concrete, which is eight to nine bags of cement per cubic yard that you spray on the inside of the dome and ties into the rebar and you are done."
The total time spent on the construction of the dome Carr built in McVeytown was rather short by comparison to building a home constructed of wood that can take months.
"I built that 3,200-square foot dome in three weeks," Carr said. "I had to do extensions, what they call augments, that came out of the dome that were free-formed. Those took another four weeks. The building is going to be buried. They are going to bury it under three feet of dirt.
"So, I had to build extensions that come out of the dome and retaining walls to keep the dirt from coming over the face of the dome, over the windows and doors. That was all free-formed. That took 100 pieces of 5/8th rebar four inches apart. That took time."
Carr can also perform spray concrete to build fences, retaining walls, fill ICF forms and can also do landscaping. Plus his company has already reached a deal to become a supplier for a larger company.
"Mike's Custom Service has just reached an agreement with Lumber Liquidators to supply their product in this area," Carr said.