Emergency housing

[RoConroy@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/17/2005 7:45:09 AM Central Standard Time, 
sal.cerda at rocketmail.com writes:
<<I like the concept of included gutters to catch any available rain.  To be
useful, these gutters should be able to route the water through a simple 
filter
into an interior container (sturdy bag - a la Listerbag) which could hang from
the roof.

One difficulty with sprayed-on coatings is that a sprayer is required.  In
major catastrophes, electrical power is often not available, and roads and
bridges are destroyed, so trailer-drawn pumps are likely to be out of the
question.  A method of hand-daubing the composite material needs to be
available.  Alternatively, the structure should be strong enough to support
itself without a cement mixture.

If the structure depends on an exterior shell for strength, it needs to be 
able
to be built from locally available material (like dirt) so that transport of
heavy material is minimized. Perhaps the binder, in powdered form, could be
included with the kit. This assumes that water is available for mixing.

Having a warehouse full of these strong, cheap structures - in the wrong
location - is not enough; they need to be transported to the emergency site. 
Funny, but these catastrophes do not seem to happen in convenient locations. 
>>
Sal,
     Actually the injected molded structure when stacked, can be transported 
on the back of a small Toyota pickup truck, and when assembled, with two 
simple 9/16" open ended wrenches and a caulk gun to apply the seam sealant, it is 
good to go for years.  A small step ladder would be nice but not entirely 
necessary.  The reason I recommend adding the cementitious coating, is to provide 
UV protection, so that the injected urethane is protected, and the structure 
can last decades if not centuries.  
     The exterior coating could be applied by hand, but if light weight 
concrete is used, a simple, lower cost plaster gun could be used.  A small 
generator is enough to run a small plaster gun such as a Kodiak M2 built by American 
Spray Technologies.  This all could be done years after the original shelter 
has been set up.
     From the ongoing Sri Lanka's experience, with envy coming up because 
people with homes destroyed were helped, whereas people who were too poor to have 
a home to begin with, were not helped.  This, along with the lesson in 
Afghanistan, which pointed out that what  the people really want is schools and 
clinics, is why I would suggest that this higher tech dome solution only be used 
to build schools and clinics, which can withstand the hurricanes, earthquakes, 
and disasters, and provide shelter in the future.  A single unit could be used 
as a reusable form, for the population to use if they so chose, if they could 
afford the materials to build a dome on their own.
   I will try an attach a photo of a model of the basic spherical 22' dome, 
without awnings or alcoves.  It's file name will be 22hemisphere.  It would 
require 5 basic molds for the basic dome portion.
Bob