About
Hi, my name is Mike South. I live in Italy, TX in a 50′ Monolithic Dome with my four kids and my wife Tessa. I have been building domes since I was old enough to push a broom. I created this site so that I can help show some of the construction that we are doing here at Monolithic, and so that I can showcase some of the new things in a little less formal fashion.
mike.texasdomes.com 
Kevin Pearson said
Hello Mike,
I bought some small domes from Monolithic years ago for the NWS in Hawaii to build instrumentation shelters on remote islands. and I had a company called YES Consulting to try and sell domes in the islands. any how I still have your training tapes I bought back then and was wondering if you offer your training on line now?
I have an interest in aircraft hangers and schools now and would love to get going again.
drop me a line.
Kevin.
mjsouth said
We don’t have any real training on the web now, but we plan on having some very soon. As you know, the training tapes are very old. The new training video will be made in episodes, and each episode will be available online, or through purchasing the DVDs.
Michael Cykana said
Mike:
My son took the Monolithic training class this past April. My wife and I came down to see him get his certificate and look at the dome he helped construct. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.
In reading your site, I was a bit surprised that Monolithic Dome uses Macs for drafting and finite element analysis. Being an engineer and also a Mac user I was wondering what programs/tools does Monolithic Dome use for drafting and finite element analysis?
Mike
mjsouth said
We love our Mac computers, especially in a business environment. We ran a Windows network for many years, and it was a huge job. Macs have made rolling out our network very easy.
We use Nastran for all of our FEAs. We are running Nastran on Windows XP 64-bit edition. The Windows XP is running on a Fusion, a virtualization program for macs. We chose Fusion over the others because it will let the 64-bit version of windows to take advantage of the multiple core processors. We are using an 8-core MacPro for our analysis.
We use AutoCad that also runs of fusion for our drafting software. But we have been looking heavily into a program called Vector Works.
A quick note: You have noticed that we have switched to Macs, but we still use some Windows programs in our design and engineering department. There is no other way. We use windows, just to run those programs, thats it. They use the mac for emails, word processing, our database, etc. This makes it easy to manage, and virus free.
We are also spending less money. When you buy a mac, it comes with almost all the software you need installed on it. We get a new computer, and I can have it on someone’s desk in less than an hour. With Windows, you get a empty computer that you have to install everything onto, tweak, virus protect, install every single printer on, etc. The list goes on and on. Not to mention the extra software that you have to purchase for them.
Thanks for the comment,
Mike South
Jim Ripley said
Hi Mike,
I enjoy reviewing your website. I own http://www.turtletanks.com and have been building small domes for 20 years. Recently I developed http://www.enviromix.ca and we make our own concrete mixers.
Just a thought on your website. I have a streaming server which I use for a Virtual Home Show. The direct link is>
http://fromthegroundup.net/virtualhomeshow/index.html
This video format might work well for all the info on the monolithic website.
We are making plans for a 50 foot dome in a rural area of Kelowna BC Canada.
best regards,
Jim Ripley
Kelowna BC Canada
Roger Williams said
Mike, I read an article on installing an ERV in your dome. If you need to put in a another vent for plumbing, would you do it the same way? How do you keep the dome from leaking? Is the the foam you put in?
mjsouth said
I would create the holes the same way, but for plumbing vents I would let the pipe extend out of the dome, instead of just mounting a vent. Drill the hole from the inside, then clean it out. The last thing to do is cut the hole out of the airform. Cut the hole in the airform so that the pipe just barely slides through it. Then use the foam in a can to fill in the space. (In my experience, foam in a can isn’t good at actually water proofing anything.) After all that, use some NP1 to seal the roof. It is a single part urethane caulking, and it is the best.
You can buy some NP1 from us, or look at some industrial door and window companies.
Thanks for the comment,
Mike