[Cob] Re: UBC

[Barbara Roemer and Glenn Miller]

Finding out about which code sections apply in your county is even more
complicated than has been detailed by recent posters in that there are
sometimes three codes with local provisos in effect in the US: the Uniform
Building Code (UBC) is slowly being supplanted by the International
Residential Code (IRC), and in some jurisdictions, the IBC, or
International...applies.  It's the source of some interesting conflicts
which, in the end, may work to the benefit of thick-walled building
enthusiasts like cobbers and bale builders.  Some codes allow unpermitted,
owner-built, non-dwelling units as long as the building is under 120 or 200
sq ft.  The codes clearly discriminate against thick wall builders when the
measurement is taken outside the wall.  But some parts of some codes
describe floor area as what lies inside the walls, potentially a huge
difference, particularly with small buildings since the wall footprint is a
significantly larger proportion of the entire floor area than a thick wall
footprint would be on a larger sq footage building.  Matts Myhrman, guru at
Out on Bale, has written a short treatise on the matter and some folks
around the country are already making the case to local building depts.
Won't matter for dwelling units, except to prepare ground for an interior
measurement there, too, but is an important step for builders of small,
non-dwelling units who want to experiment with cob or papercrete or baled
something at under 200 sq ft.  On a 10' x 20' exterior foot print
measurement, the net interior sq footage with an 18" thick wall would be
~119 sq ft, or a loss of about 40% in area!

Barbara - off-grid in the Sierra Foothills, whose honey is currently putting
up an unpermitted bale building to shield the world from the dreaded
generator noise.  Yes, the pv is going in, too.