[Cob] building codes

[joe r dupont]

one more time.. houses should be able to be built as experimental.. 
period. if you buy an experimental home .. its your risk.. that's all
it is called freedom..  like i said.. if i lived in an earthquake area  i
would sleep under a  steel cage to stop from being crushed.
not a bad idea.
joe 
On Fri, 4 May 2007 15:21:12 +0100 "Wesley Sandel" <wsandel at gmail.com>
writes:
> I've been reading the posts on building codes.
> 
> It's true, it seems pretty damn silly that you can't just build 
> whatever you
> want to live in, but often have to conform to all kinds of standards 
> that
> may seem to make no sense (except in most rural areas, where 
> apparently you
> can just build whatever you want anyway).
> 
> But not all codes are just attempts by big brother to force you to 
> give your
> money to corporations.
> 
> I've spent a good bit of time in Central America. After awhile I 
> started
> remarking on how ugly and expensive all the structural concrete 
> homes were,
> and how much cheaper and more liveable the natural product homes 
> were. Then
> it was pointed out to me that every 20 years or so they have a 
> series of
> horrendous earthquakes and lots of natural homes fall down on 
> people, so
> they've fallen out of favor. The locals have opted, without code, to 
> use
> steel reinforced concrete when they can.
> 
> I was involved with a non-profit in Houston, building low cost 
> housing. On
> one project, someone hung the drywall before the electrical was 
> inspected,
> and the city inspector made us cut holes in the drywall every few 
> feet to
> verify that everything was up to code. We were pretty upset. But the 
> fact
> is, a lot of contractors will cut corners to save money, and one of 
> the
> functions of the code is to prevent that happening and compromising 
> safety.
> 
> Codes are often safety driven.
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