Viable Idea

I know we are to stay mobile for as long as possible, or rather, as we initially will have no choice, but this idea. Can it work? After you dig out the dirt, wouldn't the cement crack? I read the wire mesh part, but in many ways, this concept could be combined with so many other concepts, like a haybail shelter, later covered with mesh & cement, or even a Teepee, any shape at hand, filled with sand even (easier to dig out later), or an igloo, filled with snow that for now would eventually melt or a pile or old cans, instead of sending them to the recyling center. I mean the present technology uses a balloon. Just how strong does the form have to be I am wondering out loud?

Deb

This a very viable idea. If you have sense enough to store your bags of cement in some sort of protection to keep them dry, then they will be dry. If you have energy and help enough, you can mix this stuff by hand. This is also a very good idea if you build a small one now to survive in during the pole shift. I drove a cement mixer for a living and if you can drive to your survival site, so can the truck. If he mixes his cement so it is dry and not wet, you can spread your concrete by hand for your survival dome. Just make sure the truck driver is the only one you tell where it is. Cover your dome with dirt when it dries. That will give a little extra thermal insulation and help camouflage your location from the little powers that be.

The only problem I can see with this idea, and ugly is not it, is that with all the different stuff in the concrete, it has no connectivity. There would be too many places for the concrete to crack and break. As with wire mess and rebar, the concrete stays together. A good way to explain this would be to lace both your hands together with your fingers. Your hands are locked. But, lay one hand on top the other and they are not. I for one would not like to see a piece of concrete break loose and fall on one of my kids during an earthquake. I think it would lose structural integrity with too much junk in the concrete.

Clipper

They are selling portable washers in Heartland America catalogs and an amish catalog that I can't remember the name of. It turns over and over and over (we bought one).

John

American Survival Guide did an article a couple of months back on this same construction technique. Had some cool pictures and other references.

Mike