[Cob] structural engineer in Corvallis

[Sarah Booth]

Great thanks to the many of you who have responded to my call for a 
structural engineer to help us deal with the city inspectors here in 
Corvallis, Oregon.  I thought you would be interested in an update of our 
situation.  The owner of the property on which we are building has been able 
to convince the city inspections manager that one week was an unreasonable 
amount of time in which to obtain the information required to apply for a 
permit, we now have a month in which to work.  After one month, it seems, if 
we have made a concerted effort to provide plans and have a structural 
engineer working on proving the structure, we may be allowed more time as 
necessary.  We are very grateful and, after having the fear of having to 
remove our structure put into us are actually looking forward to the 
bureaucratic struggle ahead of us, in that we will be learning a lot about 
the system and how to work through it, we'll be able to pass this 
information onto others to use in the future, and hopefully, we'll be 
helping the city learn about alternative construction methods, dispelling 
myths and fears at the same time!
We're still in need of help from the cob enthusiast community at large.  In 
order for us and the engineer who works with us to progress at a reasonable 
pace, we need to get our hands on information that has been generated by 
people around the country who have dealt with similar situations.  I know 
there are permitted cob structures out there and someone has to have come up 
with plan drawings (that the city will recognize even when the structure 
isn't framed in dimensional lumber and isn't rectangular shaped as they're 
accustomed to), and test data showing the structural stability of cob.  Any 
of the more technical information along these lines that has been generated 
by other people working through similar situations would help us greatly in 
this struggle and be supremely appreciated!  Thanks again for your 
information, experience and mostly for your support!  Sincerely, Sarah Booth

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