[Cob] Dorothy's Cob home in Texas and Building Codes

[Jeanette Bonoan]

Thanks for your reply Dorothy!  I believe that I may have seen some pics on 
line of your home once. Nice work!  Congratulations on your success!

I know that we can all say the words that Building Code Police want to hear 
in order to get most of what we want, but my little part in this is to be a 
good example for others and to help upgrade the system as a whole, in order 
to secure future cob builders a decent chance at achieving their dreams in 
additon to my own.

Although I am determined to take a seminar on Cob building, and for Super 
Adobe, it is very frustrating to me that I could drop a minimum of $1500 on 
these classes that provide a wonderful experience and inspiration only to 
find that these buildings do not generally provide electricity or water, and 
have not been approved for residential living. I may be off the mark here, 
as I have yet to take these classes, but from what I have read so far, it 
seems that most of the training sites have been play houses, cob walls, 
benches, ovens, etc.  If anyone out there has had any other experience other 
than these, I would absolutely love to hear about it.

I must clarify that I am interested in full blown off the grid living, and a 
conventional septic system may not be the thing I am into. I AM interested 
in the grey/blackwater systems used in earthships, if they can be modified 
for cob, and of course humanure.  Rainwater catch systems, solar energy, you 
know...the works!

Thanks again!
Jeanette


>From: Dorothy Bothne <dbothne54 at yahoo.com>
>To: Jeanette Bonoan <jeanettebonoan at hotmail.com>
>Subject: RE: [Cob] City Code Evasion Strategy Suggestions??
>Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 15:35:14 -0800 (PST)
>
>Jeanette,
>I'm building in your neck of the woods, just outside
>of Leander, Texas.  I'm out in the county (off
>nameless road), but I did have to get a permit to
>build.  What the code officials were mostly interested
>in was the size of the house relative to the size of
>the septic system, and the location on the house on
>the property.  they did ask what type of construction
>it would be.  when I tried to explain cob, they just
>gave me a blank look, so I told them to put the
>description down as post and beam with infill and that
>seemed to satisfy them.
>Dorothy
>
>
>
>--- Jeanette Bonoan <jeanettebonoan at hotmail.com>
>wrote:
> > Hi everyone!  Jeanette here!  I have been
> > researching alternative building
> > for 4 years, and have discovered that cob and
> > superadobe are my favorite
> > choices at this point.  I have been reading this
> > list for a few months now
> > and just decided to join in.
> >
> > Since building codes for cob seem to be the major
> > concern for most builders,
> > can anyone on this list tell me WHERE they built
> > their cob homes without
> > having to compromise their hobbit cottage
> > ambitions???  I live outside of
> > Austin, TX and plan to move to a rural area in
> > Southern Washington, or NW
> > Oregon.
> >
> > I plan to visit the Cob Cottage Company (I think
> > that's the one) to see what
> > they have done in Oregon, but does anyone know if
> > these sample buildings are
> > being lived in, or if they serve another purpose?  I
> > know that alot of us
> > are still in the theory stage. I'm building a model
> > to scale at this time
> > (very tiny).  I would just like to hear some success
> > stories with cob.
> >
> > Thank You!
> > Jeanette


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> > >Coblist at deatech.com
> > >http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
> >
> >
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