Vintage Family Handyman Feature from 1982: The Dome Home

Family Handyman

What’s a Dome Home?

Family Handyman launched in 1951, so 2021 marks our 70th anniversary. We’re celebrating with some of our favorite content from over the years. This project about creating a dome home ran in our May/June 1982 issue.

As the article says, “Many people believe that the dome home is a new concept. In fact, the dome design is much older. Ancient peoples build dome homes: The Eskimo called his dome an igloo, the African thatched hut was called an indlu.”

The benefits of a dome home include:

• They are easy to heat. This is because the dome is so open resulting in forced air that moves heat most effectively to every part of the building
• The dome sphere shape is self supporting, resulting in a large amount of floor space with a minimum of exterior surface exposed to the weather.
• The construction of this dome in particular, used large 16 in. trusses that allowed for 12 in, of insulation and an extra 4 in. for air circulation. This feature eliminates the problem of condensation, common in structures, where the entire wall cavity is filled with insulation with no room for ventilation.

For more amazing vintage Family Handyman content, visit our 70th Anniversary Page.