Sustainable Shield: The Beauty and Benefits of Metal Cladding on Monolithic Domes

Metal cladding adds beauty, strength and sustainability to Monolithic Domes. It reduces the need for maintenance and can add decades of life to a dome. Steel shingles protect domes from temperature extremes, UV light, and water absorption.

According to Mike South, president of Monolithic, metal cladding protects the polyurethane foam on older Monolithic Domes with worn Airforms.

“Sometimes, people don’t maintain domes when it’s easy, and they wait for a disaster to happen,” Mike said. “After the construction of a Monolithic Dome is complete, the Airform acts as a single-ply roof membrane. If not properly maintained, the PVC plastic of the Airform can deteriorate, exposing the fabric scrim.”

“An Airform can last for twenty years with no coating, but the best practice is to apply a coating every ten years,” Mike said. “In the early days of Monolithic Domes, Airforms were peeled off to reuse. Those domes can benefit from metal cladding. One example of this is the Lincoln County Farm Center Fertilizer Blend Plant in Chandler, Oklahoma.”

In a 2009 interview, David B. South explained, “When the urethane foam blanketing the dome is left unprotected, it is exposed to sunlight and moisture. At night, dew forms on the dome. You won’t even see that layer of dew, but it’s there every night. In the morning, the sun drives that water vapor into the foam, and you get blisters.”

“Air movement under the metal shingles provides an escape route for the water vapor,” David said. “The moisture rises to the surface and evaporates. Nightly dew still forms on the metal-clad dome but slides off the shingles instead of working its way into the foam.”

Once a dome has steel cladding, it can stay practically maintenance-free for decades to come, although hail and wind have the potential to damage the shingles. The first Monolithic Dome clad in metal was Cliffdome, built in 1979 in Menan, Idaho.

“It was clad with steel in the late 1980s, and it still looks practically brand new,” Mike said.

Dome homeowners often feel drawn to the pure aesthetic of the metal cladding, creating a combination of beauty and sustainability. The Cornejos added cladding to their Dome Home, Dos Robles Dome, in 2021. The tan metal blended with the natural environment and perfectly matched the tin roof of their porch.

“The cover minimizes maintenance,” Luis Cornejo said. “In a hailstorm, it’s a concert dome.”

Other steel-clad domes include additional private residences, such as those owned by Gary Clark and Susan Bernau, and professional buildings, including Price City Offices municipal complex in Price, Utah; Orange Coast College Planetarium in Costa Mesa, California; and Living Arts College in Raleigh, NC. Metal cladding also protects a potato storage dome in Hamer, Idaho, and a salt storage dome in Denver.