Cob do it yourself building codes

[Graeme North]

vtrac at alternatives.com wrote:
> 
> > As chairman of the Eugene, Oregon chapter of the Northwest Ecobuilding
> >Guild, I wish to form a subcommittee to change the Oregon building codes to
> >allow people to build environmentally appropriate housing.
> >
> >My attitude is that as long as a house isn't energy wasteful and isn't
> >going to fall in on anybody or make people sick, it should be ok to build
> >it.  In other words, something like earthen plaster, which is not going to
> >harm anybody, should be allowed - even though there can be no definitive
> >laboratory testing on earthen plaster because the clay will always vary
> >from one place to another.
> >
> >It's a sad state of affairs that it's virtually illegal in most parts of
> >the U.S. to build a truly sustainable house.  The U.S. with all its wealth
> >has an embarrassing number of homeless people.  Isn't housing an
> >internationally recongnized human right?
> >
> >Any feedback or guidance on this task would be welcome.
> >
> >Robert Bolman
> 
> This sounds like a very positive endeavor. I have heard and I may be wrong
> that Micheal Smith, formally of Cob Cottage Co, built a cob house that
> passed code in Eugene or another Oregon city. Is this correct? If anyone
> has information on this please pass it on or anything that may be usefull
> here in vancouver, B.C
> 
> Ian Marcuse
> vtrac at alternatives.com

G'day.

here in New Zealand te committee that I chair is just finishing off a
massive task of writing very comprehensive earth building standards -
the first of their kind in hte world as far as I know. They mostly deal
with rammed earth, mud brick, and pressed earth brick, wiht a little on
poured earth, in-situ adobe and cob. They should be avalable for sale
early next year . If anyone is interested in finding out more about the
process of writing earth building codes (its taken us over 10 years)
please contact me - 

Graeme.North at xtra.co.nz

If they are intersted in purchasing a copy please contact Ian Brewer 
on   

ianb at standards.synet.net.nz  for price and availability.

cheers, Graeme


-- 
Graeme North,  Registered Architect
18 Neville Street,  Warkworth,  New Zealand
tel +64 9 4259305   fax +64 9 4258216
Specialist in earth building and green architecture