Cob: misprint

[Patricia L. MacKenzie]

Following this thread leads me to believe that my original purpose is 
beginning to be defeated by the very same people who placed me in my 
original position.

How does one comply with government regulations and maintain a lifestyle, 
within the confines of an individual budget? Not all of us care to be 
communally owned and operated and we resent it. Obtaining the very approval 
appears to sound as if a tedious and odious process, since code compliance 
is not readily available and frequently conflicts.

I'm very glad I chose to read and make only short comments at this time. 
Information is ludicrously hard to acquire.
P.
ruanmackenzie at hotmail.com


>From: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>Reply-To: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>To: Bob <owl at steadi.org>
>CC: coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: Re: Cob: misprint
>Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 19:24:54 -0700 (PDT)
>
>On Fri, 25 Aug 2000, Bob wrote:
>
> > There was a misprint in my previous message.  It should have read "In 
>this
> > area the building regulations do NOT allow a straw bale house except 
>when
> > straw is used only as a curtain wall.  I am in Bellingham,
> > Washington.   I believe this applies to all the surrounding counties not
> > only for buildings in urban areas but also those in rural settings but I
> > have not made a definitive survey so don't take this as absolute fact
>
>You may want to check that more closely, building codes GENERALLY (Your
>milage may vary) do not specifically disallow any building technique, they
>only specify some techniques as being pre-approved, and that any
>non-pre-approved technique must meet certain requirements - fire,
>structural, insulative, etc., and that you must prove that your proposed
>building will meet these requirements to the satisfaction of local
>building officials.  From what I have read and heard (including from
>the officials where I am planning on building) is that they will
>usually require as a minimum, a licensed architectural engineer's stamp
>on your plans.  Some obnoxious building officials will require alot more
>simply to try and keep you from building (in one case where new
>requirements were added every time they talked to the building department,
>the owner/builders finally sued the building department - and won), where
>other open-minded and helpful officials may simply look over your plans,
>make a few suggestions, and approve it without the engineer's stamp.
>
>It is because the codes don't really disapprove of anything, that natural
>buildings such as cob and strawbale are able to get built.  The reason for
>all the work going into getting strawbale and cob added to the code is
>that once they are preapproved techniques, it makes it much simpler to get
>approval on plans, building loans, insurance, etc..  Unfortunately, when
>these techniques get added, it is often only a specific variation of the
>technique (such as strawbales used as insulation), so if you wish to
>build using a different variation (such as unframed bale walls), you are
>still stuck with going through the process for techniques which have not
>been pre-approved.
>
>Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
>dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
>                       |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
>Phone: (800) 467-5820 | Networking, Scientific & Engineering Applications
>    or: (541) 451-5177 |                  www.deatech.com
>
>

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