Sean Banks wrote:3 years? I was thinking 1 year at the most if I did it myself.........mind you this would be something I would be working on everyday. On another note do you know of any books or videos that describe in detail how to build one of these cob house?....my biggest obstacles I think will be the foundation, doors, windows, and the roof. Just a little insight on the design....a green roof with native plants and outdoor cob oven with benches (might make this a summer kitchen). Water will be coming from a well and the greywater will flow into a constructed wetland. Power will come mainly from solar panels and a small wind turbine...might also include hydro system. A composting outhouse will be onsite to take care of waste and a rocket stove will be built inside the house. Away from the house I want to build a earth sheltered passive solar greenhouse and plant a large garden with a food forest. My plan is to build the house first then take care of the greenhouse and garden later.
Matthew Rogers wrote:Hello everyone, I recently dug two Swales on our 4% slope as we are planting three rows of fruit trees in a couple days. They are about five feet wide and 16-20 inches deep.The first swale is about 96 feet and the second is about 72'. We raked them all out and the upper swale is very close to level the first half of the ditch but then the swale drops about 3 inches in 25 feet and then another 3-4 inches the last 15-20 feet. I am wondering if this six inches over that distance will become a problem or if I am being to nit picky. Will this all be fine once I mulch over the bare soil? If so would straw and wood chips be appropriate fill for the Swales. I would also love to hear anyone's favorite plants to stabilize the berm between the fruit trees and their guilds. Thanks so much to all who read this.
Travis Johnson wrote:Honestly, that is an excuse any Code Enforcement Officer has heard before and it is not going to work, that is why thy have after-the-fact-permits that cost 3 times as much.
You want to get the permit, then get the mini-excavator and save yourself more grief then the weight of soil you are removing. You might wonder about it now, but you won't when you are using a pick and shovel and hit a wheelbarrow sized rock just under the soil.
Mini-excavators are light and ride on tracks. I have a bulldozer and its weight per square inch is less than a person. In other words a person walking on the ground compacts the soil about twice as much as my bulldozer. The amount of work accomplished even by a small excavator is amazing. You won't regret getting it, nor the piece of mind of sending in for your building permit. There is an age old story; "you can't fight city hall".
Konstantin Kirsch wrote:
I'm on the way to write a book with lot of pictures and detailed plans about that project. I definitly want to produce that book in german, english and russian language. May be I get it done the coming winter.
Konstantin
Galen Johnson wrote:Let's face it, a lot of people just don't want to do a I-Love-Lucy grape stomp on their cobb. There is enough work in house building as it is. I've seen various hand operated concrete mixers at good prices, and they do cut the work by at least a half, from all reports. They look like good deals for the cobb housebuilder. But you can only get them in India or China or South Africa. They don't make them in the U.S. or at least, they don't sell them here. Has someone out there adapted a 55-gallon drum, or a salvaged concrete mixer, to operate manually? Or even better, hooked up a bicycle to one, so that a peddler can turn the thing? Is there no better way to make cobb but the Israelite-slaveing-for-Pharoah way?
David Livingston wrote:http://mymodernmet.com/hjertefolger-arctic-circle-cob-house/
Check this cob house inside a green house in the arctic circle !
Troy Rhodes wrote:I built a hoop house, and on the money I saved on the labor, I splurged on the materials. I put a bent steel conduit rib every two feet. We get very heavy snow loads and zero problems. This is my 3rd winter. I have seen many of the inexpensive kit greenhouses and quickie garage substitutes squashed in the snow, or damaged by the wind. They use the 4' spacing, but evidently, not heavy enough.
Roy Hinkley wrote:
I have a feeling some township stickler might notice
Are you doing something that requires a permit without getting one? Would you rather the same stickler made you demolish the structure later?