Dome Home opens up for Helping Hands

VISITORS EXPLORE the atrium in the Dome Home during their tour Saturday. The exterior of the home is seen at top.

BY CHRIS McDANIEL, SPECIAL TO THE SUN

  Everyday tasks may seem like nothing more than a routine for most folks, but for some such simple - yet essential - tasks are almost impossible without the assistance of others.

  This is why the Greater Foothills Helping Hands Organization provides volunteers who help perform responsibilities such as running errands, grocery shopping and providing transportation to name a few.

   However, providing assistance costs money, so the owners of the Yuma Dome Home opened their quirky egg-shaped house to the public to collect necessary funding Saturday morning.

  “We invited people to come here and see our home,” said Mark Henrikson, an owner of the house. “We split the price of admission with the Helping Hands Organization.”

  “All of our services are free for seniors and the disabled,” said Judy Arnold, Executive Director of Helping Hands. “We've been helping people for 13 years. I love meeting so many new people, and the volunteers are just phenomenal. They go out of their way to help people. We are the largest volunteer organization in Yuma, and we service more than 800 people who live between Avenue 5E and the Rolle Tacna area. To volunteer, or give a donation to our organization, contact us at 305-9974.”

  Nearly 600 dome curious people turned out to tour the home while contributing to the program.

  “Our design is based on the monolithic domes found in Texas,” said Henrikson. “It is a terrific way of building. The domes are very strong. They've withstood hurricanes and tornadoes. The strength of the building comes from a combination of steel reinforced concrete, and a 360 degree arch.”

  The process of building a dome home is complex and time saturated.

  “We inflated the dome with air originally in 2000,” said Henrikson. “We had to mark the places where doors and windows would go with boxes before we sprayed the entire structure with polyurethane that coated it 3 inches thick. After that dried, we coated the entire dome with shock-crete. Shock-crete can handle upwards of 4,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, while conventional concrete can only support 3,000 pounds... It took a little over two years to complete the dome. A little joke of mine is to say that the building has 11,000 square feet of floor space, and 500 round feet.”

  Many people occupy the bee-hive like structure teetering above the Yuma Valley.

  “Twelve people and various animals live here, and there's room for more,” said Henrikson, “we have plenty of space. We are almost like a commune without the weird 1970s undertone. There are eight bedroom suites, five common rooms, and 12 bathrooms. Each suite has a kitchenette, laundry, and a master bathroom. The atrium is 1,600 square feet, and has turned out wonderfully; it even has a pond with Koi-Fish.”

  Henrikson says that building a dome home doesn't necessarily cost an epic amount of money.

  “The cost of building a dome is only about five to 10 percent higher than building a traditional home. But when you look at the energy you will save during the life of the home, it makes up for the additional cost. Some people save as much as 75 percent on their cooling and heating bills because the domes are so energy efficient, which is great during the summer time in Yuma. We haven't even turned our heater on since the first winter we occupied the house.”

  Henrikson says that his family had a solar panel array installed to further offset the cost of energy consumption.

  “Our 10,000 watt array was installed on top of our car port in 2007. If we generate more electricity then we use, then we sell it back to the APS electrical grid. In the summer, the grid produces at least half of the power we consume.”

  After a long day of answering countless questions and standing on his feet, Henrikson said he was pleased.

  “Today has been the most successful open house by far,” he said. “I'm the one who takes all the blame around here when something goes wrong, so I'll take the credit when things go right.”