Hail, Yes: Domes Are Tougher Than Storms

What happens when a Monolithic Dome meets a violent hailstorm? Usually, the answer is simple—nothing much. But when a storm reaches epic proportions, the Airform can take damage.

This is the story of the Monolithic Dome versus hail: how they fare during the storms and if they require repair in the aftermath. Originally written by David B. South in 2011, this story has been updated to include more case studies.

Texhoma Public Schools

In 2001, Texhoma, the small, picturesque community that straddles the state line between Texas and Oklahoma, built two, interconnected Monolithic Domes. One has a diameter of 108 feet and the other is 66 feet.

In the spring, a few months after completion, a huge hail storm hit the school. The superintendent called and told me the dome was covered in pockmarks, like a golf ball, and he asked me what to do about it. I had seen domes with deep divots from hail “recover” and suggested we wait a little while before addressing the issue.

He said, “Well, I have already called the insurance company and they will be coming out. I will let you know what they say.”

The insurance company came a few weeks later and looked the dome over. They reported seeing a few divots, but no damage whatsoever to the Monolithic Dome school building. They could see no reason to pay for any repairs, as they were not needed.

The conventional buildings, however, were not that fortunate. Hailstones punched through three layers of asphalt and wood, landing in the classrooms. Rick Kibbe, who in 2001 was Texhoma’s School Superintendent, recalled that the school spent close to $300,000 repairing hail damage to its conventional structures. They spent zero dollars repairing hail damage to the domes!

When I spoke with the superintendent again to review what had happened, he said the pockmarks had pretty well taken care of themselves. He told me that if you really looked, you could see that there were some indentations.

“David, you cannot imagine the ferocity of that hail storm,” he exclaimed. He said the hail killed cows in the field by hitting them on the head and that hailstones not only dented vehicles severely, many hailstones punched all the way through the vehicles’ exteriors.

The Corley Gasket Company

1993 was the first time I witnessed a dome that had spontaneously “recovered” from hail damage. We had constructed a Monolithic Dome office in a 50-foot diameter dome for the owners of Corley Gasket Company in Dallas, Texas. About six months later, in the spring, he called and told me they had a terrible hail storm which really made a mess of his building and he asked me if I could come take a look. I agreed, but it was three weeks before I had time to drive up and see it.

When I pulled into the parking area for his Monolithic Dome office, I noticed two things. First, there was a car parked near his lot which, apparently, had a hailstone go right through the windshield. That indicated to me that the hail storm was very powerful, as it takes a huge amount of energy to punch a hole through a windshield. Secondly, I noted that there were two or three divots on the outside of the Monolithic Dome where it had been hit by hailstones. However, the divots seemed pretty small to me.

After inspecting the dome, I met with the owner and asked him how he was doing and what his concerns were. He said the hail storm did not damage anything on the Monolithic Dome except the exterior, but if I’d have shown up when he first called, I would have seen what he saw—a pockmarked dome that looked just like a golf ball. He told me that now, three weeks later, there were hardly any visible divots. The Monolithic Dome’s Airform membrane pulled the foam and expanded it, pretty much eliminating all of the pockmarks. Neither he nor I could see any way we could improve it further.

The roof on another building did not fare well at all. It looked like somebody had gone after it with a sledge hammer. And a conventional house on the property had structural damage. Hail stones had gone right through its roof and into a bedroom and the kitchen.

I advised him that there would come a time when he would need to put a new coating on the dome, and that the new coating would then, obviously, cover up any imperfections. The new coating could be metal shingles, plaster, tiles or many other choices. They actually waited 30 years to coat the dome and then opted for metal cladding.

A Monolithic Dome Home in Lubbock, Texas

Located near Lubbock, Texas, a 38-foot diameter Monolithic Dome home also went through a devastating baseball-sized hail storm. The metal shop next to the home had to be partially re-roofed. The design of the dome home had extended augments which protected the windows from damage from the hail. The home’s membrane was over ten years old and brittle from the Texas sun and suffered some damage. There was no structural damage. The owners chose to cover their home with Chainshell—a practically permanent solution.

Avalon Multipurpose Center in Avalon, Texas

The Monolithic Dome multipurpose center in Avalon, Texas had not been coated in 20 years. As a result, the Airform was brittle from UV exposure. When softball and palm-sized hail pummeled the small town gymnasium, hail punched through the Airform, putting holes in the roofing membrane. There was no structural damage to the dome, just cosmetic. In 2024, the school tasked Monolithic with patching the Airform and installing a new steel-shingled roof. Had the gym’s Airform been coated every five to ten years or so, it’s possible the damage would have been mitigated.

Hailstorm Protection

The hailstorm events recounted here illustrate another reason for the viability of a Monolithic Dome in disaster country—resistance to hail damage. Obviously, the dome’s Airform can be totally shielded from hail damage with a chain shell coating or metal cladding. But over the years, domes with new or properly maintained and coated Airforms have been hit hard by hail with very little or no noticeable damage and absolutely no structural damage.