Cob do it yourself building codes

[vtrac at alternatives.com]

> As chairman of the Eugene, Oregon chapter of the Northwest Ecobuilding
>Guild, I wish to form a subcommittee to change the Oregon building codes to
>allow people to build environmentally appropriate housing.
>
>My attitude is that as long as a house isn't energy wasteful and isn't
>going to fall in on anybody or make people sick, it should be ok to build
>it.  In other words, something like earthen plaster, which is not going to
>harm anybody, should be allowed - even though there can be no definitive
>laboratory testing on earthen plaster because the clay will always vary
>from one place to another.
>
>It's a sad state of affairs that it's virtually illegal in most parts of
>the U.S. to build a truly sustainable house.  The U.S. with all its wealth
>has an embarrassing number of homeless people.  Isn't housing an
>internationally recongnized human right?
>
>Any feedback or guidance on this task would be welcome.
>
>Robert Bolman

This sounds like a very positive endeavor. I have heard and I may be wrong
that Micheal Smith, formally of Cob Cottage Co, built a cob house that
passed code in Eugene or another Oregon city. Is this correct? If anyone
has information on this please pass it on or anything that may be usefull
here in vancouver, B.C

Ian Marcuse
vtrac at alternatives.com