R Scott

Lee valley has a US website, still $32.50 usd/20. But they are Italian made and by all appearances a multi generational product.

There are lots of clamps made for woodworking and industry that make wonderful clothespins for large or heavy items like jeans and sheets. Most are chrome plated with soft rubber pads but some are stainless.

Burton,

It is both. Low flush toilets definitely have issues with longer pipe runs and less than perfect pipe slope, but the long steady flow from the shower usually fixes the problem in normal houses.  The tank is more complicated, depending on pH, nutrient levels, turnover rate, etc. Way above my pay grade to predict.

John F Dean wrote:Hi R Scott,

You approach a fantastic topic. In a near starvation situation, to what  degree does a person need to be concerned about protein for building?  Certainly, I would not be concerned about muscle building, but just the process of replacing dead cells, even if not at 100%, levies some nutritional demand.

That is another interesting point to look into, autophagy.  Evidently your body much more efficient at recycling old proteins when fasting than when in a calorie restricted (starvation) diet.

As for muscle building, that depends on activity—are you sitting in a safe room waiting out the situation or are you suddenly trying to build a garden out homestead or new shelter?

Your body is constantly breaking down and rebuilding, or you are slowly dying. You need protein and minerals to rebuild, but the quantity and quality are so variable I don’t know what questions would lead to a better answer.

If you don’t want to haul concrete (I don’t blame you one bit) you can look at helical piers. They are giant ground screws. Some are made to be done manually, usually used for decks but should work for a cabin if you DON’T hit rock.

There are ways to make wood last longer in the ground, but some areas are just prone to rot because of moisture, drainage, acidity, soil life, etc. Will it last long enough for you there? I dunno. Your call.

Until you know what you are dealing with for soil in your specific building site, it is all just guesses. Figure out the exact site, dig a test hole, reevaluate the options.

Ned Harr, I will accept your nitpick. I meant to reuse the form for the next pier, not for elsewhere in the house. It isn’t any real money savings, just less hauling up the hill.

I would definitely find a way to haul things all the way without you being the pack mule.  

Code is a one size fits all solution, that’s why it is so expensive—built for worst case.

If you can RELIABLY hit large boulders or bedrock close to the surface, I would dig down till I hit bedrock and use a hammer drill to put rebar pins in the rock and pour concrete piers by hand. I would make square piers from wooden forms, easier to attach skirting than sonotubes and cheaper if you reuse the lumber.

If you have a wind turbine, that is an excellent dump load for the winter

One other thing with protein, your body treats small quantities of protein mainly as calories. You need a big dose of protein for your body to treat it as building materials. So you are better off saving your protein for one big(ger) meal even if that means days in between protein.

The latest I read or listened to was 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight. The stranger thing was it was higher for older or sedentary.  Someone already in shape and not injured can get away with less. That is for optimum, not survival.

Your inspector’s concern about bypassing ALL grey water making the septic not work correctly is partially true. A septic that only serves a toilet can have issues with too many solids and not enough water out inconsistent water, but it is easy to avoid. Putting the kitchen sink to the septic avoids that issue for most people. That is the good reason to treat it as black water, not just because code says so.