[Cob] COBBING in CT?

[Amanda Peck]

Year round, never-failed spring uphill from your house site?  Sounds 
WONDERFUL.

If it's on "your" property  you can "develop" it (but we screwed one up 
trying that here so get people who know what they're doing--seeps don't work 
like springs) and pipe water down to the house site.  Then keep a good-sized 
cistern or whatever people do in that area full at the house so the fact 
that the spring doesn't give you more that 1 gallon a minute doesn't keep 
you from taking a shower.

The closest spring to where I'm sitting is 40 or 50 feet DOWN the hill.  
Not, I think, either enough head or, in the summer, even enough flow to use 
a RAM PUMP--run a search--which could send it up here with no problems.  I 
only wish.  I drink spring water, use rainwater for other purposes.  This 
might or might not be the best way to do it.  Filtering drinking/cooking 
water isn't a bad idea.  The Big Berkey's are supposed to work beautifully, 
catch most of the bacteria and cysts.

Rainwater catchment is not hard to do.  I use it for rinsing out coffee 
grounds, and watering the dogs.  I fill a 25 gallon tub easily from 3/4 of 
an inch of rain from my travel trailer--probably a bit harder with an 
airstream, though.  And I've got a small system down at the barn, usable in 
the summer for showers and the washing machine.  I'm just learning about the 
latest in ozone purification, looks like the light systems are going out, 
and bubbling ozone is in.

The amount of possible rainwater collection is around .6 gallons/inch of 
rain/square foot under roof (i.e., it doesn't matter what your roof pitch 
is).  On your house roof.  Or a purpose built building with a drinking water 
safe membrane or metal roof enamel UP THE HILL!! from the house with water 
tank(s) inside.  A setup so that you can clean out one side without totally 
emptying the tank is good--a dam halfway across a single tank works too, 
with the valves and diverters built in instead of out in the open.  some 
people use (new!) septic tanks..

Here's a useful Texas publication on rainwater harvesting.

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainHarv.pdf

You may have granite there, but rented, trailered Ditch Witches in my area 
have hardened teeth and laugh at rocks, can tolerate shale, but probably 
still don't like big slabs of limestone.  (Ditch Witches in 
fresh--geologically speaking--coral areas are huge tractor sized and chomp 
happily three feet deep into pure solid coral limestone rock)

A tractor with an auger attachment can help a lot with digging, even digging 
foundations if you make a couple of lines of holes.  Probably with the same 
limitations (might be pickier) as the Ditch Witch, though.  But I already 
have the tractor with an auger bought for just that purpose.

Don't know anything about them, but there are ways to pin a house to 
bedrock.

Seems like I once saw a composting toilet site--may have been Clivus 
Mulstrum that had pictures of a greywater pond in the Boston area.  In my 
county we have to have a septic tank in order to have grid electricity, 
unless we are somehow grandfathered in by an existing house foundation or 
one's parent's house or the trailer up the hill in the case of my barn.

Local authorities seem to be happier with official composting toilets than 
with sawdust toilet systems.

..............

Sarah wrote (snipped):

My parent's have a beautiful 7 ac site in NE Connecticut and have asked us 
to build near them.  They've got a creek that comes from a natural spring 
uphill, running right thru the property, and it is backed on 3 sides by 
State Wetlands, so it'll never get built on.  They live on a mountain, that 
is very rocky and I've been dreaming of building cob there.

With the creek, I have a good chance of finding some clay right??

but the rest of the terrain is sooo rocky I'm worried about labor for 
digging a foundation.....

Maybe no foundation, or a plinthe (sp?) or perhaps a shallow rubble trench 
foundation as done by Frank Loyd Wright?????

Also about toilets.  I've done the composting humanure toilet and with great 
success, should we just stick with that?  I've got bids for the well at 300 
ft deep for $9 thou! Yikes That's all our savings and then what about 
sewer???!!???

Can I do a greywater pond with this location?  CT isn't as cold as MN.

Any ideas on catching rainwater till we save for a well??

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!   We've got about 10$thou saved up for 
our dream cob house and an old airstream trailer ready for us to live in 
while we're in construction. Plus with the parents right next door it's easy 
to do laundry and and such.