Cob: Temporary shelter

[Banks]

snip<<  What do people do to
get some kind of shelter so they can live on site while building?
--paul>>

Depends on your comfort level & experience with the outdoors.  If you're
married, get dead serious about how much inconvenience your spouse can
truthfully tolerate.  Turning raw land into a homesite, then building a
house while living on the site, can be very stressful.   People you love,
and your own health, are more important than land or houses, so stay
flexible and be aware of those needs.  Less-handy folks will have more
stress and be more dependent on tradesmen, neighbors, etc.

RV's are what most people use here in the rural southwest for quick,
temporary housing.  They come in handy long after you're done with them,
too....  guest quarters, storage, etc.

We bought a used 31-ft. travel trailer, a generator for power, and rented a
temporary septic tank from Roto-Rooter; they pumped it out every 10 days
until the septic was dug.  Built wooden additions to the travel trailer and
this worked real well for 5 years.  Not the cheapest solutions but there
were 9 of us, my husband is an electrician/builder, we had income, and he
kept everything running.

...But, building from scratch is time-consuming esp. with a family to
support.  After 2 more babies, we set aside the earthen house plans and
bought an older single-wide in good cond.  Singlewides have the plumbing
done, if you want indoor plumbing.  Easy matter to re-route sinks & tubs for
graywater use.  My husband liked this better than doing all the plumbing
from scratch.   We're learning earth-building skills on smaller projects in
between everything else.  I still plan an earthen floor, earthen plasters &
bancos for the addition.

Closing words of advice:

Don't expect 'a simple life on the land' to be simpler.  It ISN'T.  It's a
lot harder in every way.  Hard physical work, often when you're least ready
for it.  More time needed for everything, from heating the morning coffee to
keeping warm, clean, and dry.  More wear and tear on vehicles, tools, hands,
backs, and brains.   More dirt, laundry, bugs, and other surprises than you
ever imagined.  No where to store anything, so more trips to town for
supplies.  More afternoon naps to recuperate.  Often more money spent than
if you lived in town.

I highly recommend that people start small.  Don't start with a full-blown
house.  Do some cob garden walls.  Design and build a permanent cob doghouse
or chicken coop.  Experiment with your soils and techniques.  Learn some
basic carpentry, too.  Read read read.

There's lots of ways to go....  most times, real life sneaks in and you make
compromises, but that's part of the learning curve.   It's all worthwhile if
you're willing to try!

Joy