Cob: oregon cobbers?

[jon easton]

I have found that land is zoned for curtain use which the seller will know about
[no mobile homes, rv, or recreational only].
Also some land areas have "convenants" or restrictions.
"all dwellings must have 1000 feet of space and be attached to a concert
foundation, etc.."
Also some sellers have obligations in there contracts,  which you can find in
the contract they ask you to sign...
"won't let you move onto the land until an approve spectic system is built, etc"

all of this stuff can be found out from the seller or real estate agent...

as for building codes most of sellers say you are on your own, BUT they will
point you to the local building permit place. Which has all the building codes
for the area. It is very difficult to get this information before you know which
specific area you are looking at building. The laws are vastly different in
every area [i.e. with in the same town, county, state, etc].

It use to be the building inpectors job to make sure dwellings are safe for
non-owners or that dwellings did not impact the area where they were built. Now
the building inpectors job is to perpetuate the building code bureacracy and to
raise housing / building cost to keep values high for taxes.

"Kelly, Sean" wrote:

> Does anyone have any, um, ideas or suggestions on the easiest way to find
> your local building codes?  How does this work?  Are building codes governed
> by local municipalities or whatever, counties, or states (here in the US
> that is specifically) or some combination of the above where you may have to
> do LOTS of research?  Is there some bureau that supplies these?  Are the
> generally available on-line?  Do they vary a lot (within the same state or
> county)?  Lots of questions from someone who apparently knows little about
> the whole thing.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sean
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shannon C. Dealy [mailto:dealy at deatech.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 10:59 AM
> To: jon easton
> Cc: coblist at deatech.com
> Subject: Re: Cob: oregon cobbers?
>
> On Mon, 8 May 2000, jon easton wrote:
>
> > hi, My wife, son and I are moving to oregon. we are looking to buy land
> and put
> > up a yurt until we can build our own cob house. Does any one know of
> relatively
> > cheap land [or have land to sell] that doesn't have building, zoning regs
> against
> > yurts and cob homes. We are going to try to live self sufficently, raise
> gardens,
>
> Generally speaking, there are no codes against building with cob, it is
> simply not a pre-approved material, so you will probably need an
> architectural engineer's stamp on your drawings to get approval for your
> building (easier said than done).  As far as yurts go, last time I checked
> with Benton county (immediately to the North of Lane county where Eugene
> is located), I was told that a yurt was not classified as a permanent
> structure and as such did not need a building permit (kind of like a
> trailer house I guess), though depending on where your land is located
> (particularly within a city), zoning issues might apply.  Of course this
> just covers the yurt structure, plumbing and wiring would almost certainly
> have to have permits.  I did a quick write up of how many people have
> dealt with alternative building techniques and the building code, it is
> available at:
>
>    http://www.deatech.com/natural/articles/code_alternatives.html
>
> > root cellar, etc. Does anyone want to go in with us on a land purchase or
> perhaps
> > does anyone have land in the eugene area that they would consider selling
> [or
> > renting to us]? We would also love to hear from oregon cobbers who would
> be
> > interested in helping us think out or build our cob home. Thanks!
>
> Of course in the Eugene area, you are only 1/2 hour away from Cob Cottage
> Company, and there are quite a few cobbers in and around Eugene, so you
> should have no problem hooking up with fellow cobber's to discuss your
> plans, learn about their experiences, etc. (I'm about an hour away from
> Eugene).
>
> Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
> dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
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