[Cob] codes and guidance

[Amanda Peck]

You might want to get a copy of the book for structural engineers on 
strawbale and adobe.  It's a little old now, but....  There are a couple of 
places--Tucson Arizona, some place in California, with adobe ("monolithic 
adobe" has been intrepreted to mean cob) codes--I think some of these are 
either on line or included in various volumes, and I guess print out that 
Minke pamphlet on earthquake testing and earthen building.  You might have 
to give out a couple copies of each, or you might luck out and find a 
structural engineer who has worked in New Mexico or Arizona with earthen 
buildings of one sort or another.  We're not talking about getting an 
engineering firm to supervise the building process, but rather not over a 
couple of days shuffling papers.

What did they mean when they told you "no temporary housing?"   It hasn't 
seemed like that, but my travel trailer probably counts.  But does "trailer 
trash" have a horrible enough reputation in that part of the country that no 
modular housing could possibly work?  For the price of my fairly small 
travel trailer, I could have gotten a brand new three bedroom house trailer, 
brought in and set up.  And used house trailers depreciate more quickly than 
used travel trailers--for better or worse.

Or could your land include a house already--either to tear down, subdivide 
and sell, or rent out after you have built your own place?

Are there some (old, I expect--the new ones tend to be expensive) 
intentional communities that would welcome you in the area you are 
considering?

Don't think, well, this is the end of that dream.  Although it MAY have to 
be modified.

.............
Kim Shute wrote:
I have been on the list a while. I try to read most mail as I am Highly
interested in constructing a cob home for my family sometime in the future.
We are moving to Rhode Island soon. I have spoken with the Building
Department in one of the towns where I would like to live. He said that a
Rhode ISland Registered Engineer has to sign off on it saying the the R
value for insulation is such and it needs to meet IRC before they will look
at it. I feel frustrated by this as one of the reasons cob is so appealing
is its affordablity as well as low impact. Having to hire engineers etc to
prove to them drives the cost of my afordable housing option way up. He also
said people can not live in temporary structures on site while building
unless your home was structure by some sort of diaster (which I found
frustrating). Anyway I guess I am lookng for guidance about where to find
someone in Rhode Island who would prove that it would meet the local
building code. ANy pointers? Thanks for listening.

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