[Cob] Pier foundation--and Mozambique people too?

[Amanda Peck]

The Minke article on earthquake-resistant earthen houses has something on 
building on slopes.  Specifically, how far back the retaining wall should be 
from the building--roughly 10 feet.  Probably need one even if one buried 
the back wall in the earth--if there was still a steep slope above the house 
it might well ooze down gradually in non-seismic zones, much faster in an 
earthquake.  And think swales and drains above, around, and probably below 
the house.  Permaculture people are big on swales, I gather, I learned about 
them in Gaia's Garden.

and by the way, that basic site has quite a bit about building in less 
developed countries, where cost, materials, and expertise are limited.  
(Hmmm, sounds like us, caught by the bug of building our own house.)

http://www.gtz.de/basin/publications/books/ManualMinke.pdf

I wasn't expecting anything at all out of the straw bale costs link--but 
it's well worth studying.

http://www2.whidbey.com/lighthook/sbcost.htm

I've seen an occasional photograph of a straw-bale structure on piers or 
posts, but I'd hate to try cob, especially with an earthen floor, that way.  
Especially after looking at the Minke article (link above) in which he 
thinks that you have a choice--for earthquake and it applies to other things 
as well--between REALLY MASSIVE or REALLY FLEXIBLE, that Mr. In-Between 
don't cut it, although he doesn't put it quite like that.

I have--somewhere--a nice book on rainwater harvesting, aimed at low-cost 
individual and community projects, post a link one of these days.  And a 
search on that gets you quickly to the Texas manual on rainwater harvesting, 
recommended for those of us in the U.S., at least.   And the Indian 
subcontinent organization--mentions of an African organization as well:

http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/

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