[Cob] building small - (was: long response to some of Jill'squestions)

[Amanda Peck]

Aw, gee, McMansions in Hydeaway Hills (a real name, although I think the 
developer sold out, it seems to have changed), sound just delightful (well, 
to some people I know!).

Homework--looking, thinking, reading, asking your subconscious for 
information, doing visualization exercises, working with the kind of process 
that Christopher Alexander (or Day) talks about, should give you something 
that may not impress the people driving by on the highway, but will suit 
you--and family--and visitors (my mother would have loved a house built that 
way)--more than any McMansion ever could.  Smaller, better (we hope) and 
more sustainably built. If more idiosyncratic and in today's market, less 
salable.  Twenty years from now?  Cob, strawbale, CEB, papercrete in some 
environments (?), very likely much more salable.

I've just been reading Tony Wrench's How to Build a Low Impact Roundhouse 
(thank you Charmaine at www.dirtcheapbuilder.com).  His answers are somewhat 
different than mine would be.  He thought long and hard about waterproofing 
methods for the underside of his living roof, finally decided that rubber, 
despite not being a local (Welsh) product was the best for the job.  He owns 
an electric truck--used--rarely used power tools in building the house.  I 
don't think there yet.  Maybe one of these years.  His descriptions of how 
he designed his house sound good to me. The guy who built my barn would hate 
it to the point of apoplexy.

I do wonder about my stewardship of the land.  Whether I need as much as 
I've got, if I'm using it properly, how to take care of it.  Who do I leave 
it to, and so on and on.

Not to mention thoughts about transportation--I really am a car 
junkie--several senses of that phrase--low-impact food, and so on.

We've lost a fair chunk of cropland period, especially that with easy access 
to the nearby urban market  to those big developments.  Building small, and 
in community helps there.

...........................
Gabe writes:

Although I agree a person should build as small as they can stand it.  5000 
SF mini-mansions are an abomination - should be a law against them.

But WHY build small?  What is the purpose?  Is it to increase population 
density, and therefore better utilize available resources, like in an urban 
setting?  Then why do so many cobbers live on like 5 acres of land out in 
the woods (besides code issues)?  Doesn' t that just increase sprawl, and 
require them to drive that much more, increasing overall polution?

I like the idea of living in a small space because:  1) less use of material 
and resources (including land, our most non-renewable resource)  2) less 
power consumption for conditioning of space  3) less housework and  4) 
ultimately it leads to both lower upfront cost AND lifetime operational cost 
- although that's just a fringe benefit, not the main thing.

In my mind, any other objection to a "large" living space vs. a "small" 
living space (both very subjective terms) is strickly philosophical.  And 
although I like hearing other people's philosphies, at the end of the day 
it's got nuttin to do wit' the price o' beans.

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