Cob: oregon cobbers?

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Mon, 8 May 2000, jon easton wrote:

> hi, My wife, son and I are moving to oregon. we are looking to buy land and put
> up a yurt until we can build our own cob house. Does any one know of relatively
> cheap land [or have land to sell] that doesn't have building, zoning regs against
> yurts and cob homes. We are going to try to live self sufficently, raise gardens,

Generally speaking, there are no codes against building with cob, it is
simply not a pre-approved material, so you will probably need an
architectural engineer's stamp on your drawings to get approval for your
building (easier said than done).  As far as yurts go, last time I checked
with Benton county (immediately to the North of Lane county where Eugene
is located), I was told that a yurt was not classified as a permanent
structure and as such did not need a building permit (kind of like a
trailer house I guess), though depending on where your land is located
(particularly within a city), zoning issues might apply.  Of course this
just covers the yurt structure, plumbing and wiring would almost certainly
have to have permits.  I did a quick write up of how many people have
dealt with alternative building techniques and the building code, it is
available at:

   http://www.deatech.com/natural/articles/code_alternatives.html

> root cellar, etc. Does anyone want to go in with us on a land purchase or perhaps
> does anyone have land in the eugene area that they would consider selling [or
> renting to us]? We would also love to hear from oregon cobbers who would be
> interested in helping us think out or build our cob home. Thanks!

Of course in the Eugene area, you are only 1/2 hour away from Cob Cottage
Company, and there are quite a few cobbers in and around Eugene, so you
should have no problem hooking up with fellow cobber's to discuss your
plans, learn about their experiences, etc. (I'm about an hour away from
Eugene).

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
                      |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
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