Part 4: Construction and Enjoyment

The construction part of the job was actually the least difficult and most enjoyable. You can see I enlisted the help of a four-year-old "assistant" who tied a few of the early cable ties. Desertdomes.com gives detailed "blueprints" on how to actually build the dome, and the plan was pretty self-explanatory. A few tips to remember for next year (more for my own reference, but if anyone else is silly enough to try this, here you go...)




1. If you tie the cable ties are too tight, the eyelets will pull out of the struts, and you will have to reglue the broken eyelets. The trick is to cinch the cable ties tight enough to hold the structure together loosely, but not so tight that the eyelets will pull out. Once the dome is up, then you can go around tightening the ties, or even tying new ones. This sounds a lot harder than it actually is, because the cable ties are pretty flexible, so they allow quite a bit of movement as you build.

2. It helps to have a (grown-up) friend to help you hold up part of the structure on one side as you connect the other side.

3. You'll need a ladder to connect up the top.

4. I used Sears tent pegs to hold down the base--this step is actually pretty important even if you're not worried about wind because the base will tend to wiggle as you assemble the structure. The little stubs on the ends of the pegs fit into the rings on the bottom ring.

5. I haven't found a tool dedicated to removing cable ties, so I got a wire cutter at Home Depot. I think disassembling the structure is going to be a pain.

So far, we have had ten families or so over the sukkah. Every single person's reaction, from soccer moms to retired folks, has been, "How'd you do that? That's pretty cool!" That's the main thing I was hoping for. You can see that we wired the sukkah up for lights, and the effect is neat. So far, more than 17 kids have come through the sukkah, and it's still standing. I had to turn off the sprinklers for the whole property, but I have a small lot, and this hasn't had any deleterious consequences as far as I can see.

People tend to be pretty relaxed in the dome, and many a friendly beer and meal has been shared in it.

Considering the amount of time and money I put into it, it's been a rewarding task. Some visitors have encouraged me to keep it up full time.

I claim to people that this is the world's only bamboo geodesic dome sukkah. I have yet to find evidence to the contrary.

You can see that four card tables and a kiddie table can fit into the dome with no difficulty.