[Cob] City Code Evasion Strategy Suggestions??

[Jeanette Bonoan]

Hi everyone!  Jeanette here!  I have been researching alternative building 
for 4 years, and have discovered that cob and superadobe are my favorite 
choices at this point.  I have been reading this list for a few months now 
and just decided to join in.

Since building codes for cob seem to be the major concern for most builders, 
can anyone on this list tell me WHERE they built their cob homes without 
having to compromise their hobbit cottage ambitions???  I live outside of 
Austin, TX and plan to move to a rural area in Southern Washington, or NW 
Oregon.

I plan to visit the Cob Cottage Company (I think that's the one) to see what 
they have done in Oregon, but does anyone know if these sample buildings are 
being lived in, or if they serve another purpose?  I know that alot of us 
are still in the theory stage. I'm building a model to scale at this time 
(very tiny).  I would just like to hear some success stories with cob.

Thank You!
Jeanette


>From: "Amanda Peck" <ap615 at hotmail.com>
>To: coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: RE: [Cob] City Code Evasion Strategy Suggestions??
>Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:39:32 -0600
>
>
>
>Not at all sure that "fear of codes" is not more debilitating than trying 
>to comply with them.
>
>Building small is good, but....
>
>maybe not so small that you are forbidden to "live" in the building--with 
>the threat that it will be demolished if you try--Mike Swink knows someone 
>who ran into that--out in the middle of nowhere in rural Georgia.
>
>If you have neighbors at least one of them WILL draw codes' attention, even 
>if they didn't think that the casual conversation with the cousin whose 
>husband works there counted.  I feuded with one set of neighbors in 
>Nashville, and I think they had codes on their speed-dial.
>
>There's currently a fairly lively new listserv on the subject of insurance 
>in "alternative" "ecologically apropriate" "natural" building.  Suggestions 
>range from "who cares, we built it, we can rebuild it!"  to "let's ditch 
>the word "alternative" and see if we can find--make?--an insurer who can 
>use some of the European data for historical houses" to some suggestions 
>straight out of Jung.
>
>Here, I have no problem getting insurance for my travel trailer.  But I 
>don't think it came with insurance for people working on my land, and the 
>insurance guy didn't seem to know how to do that.  Fire is one thing, yes, 
>we could rebuild.  But not theft, or injury to a visitor.
>
>My guess is that avoiding codes also avoids insurance.  Which might or 
>might not be what you wanted.
>
>
>................................
>C.M. Hellwinckel writes:
>
>I live within a large eastern cities limits and don't want to fight the
>code system to approve a cob house.
>
>so what is the best strategy to keep inquires away...that it is an art
>project in progress...that it is an "out building/shed/barn".... that it
>is an "off the grid house so therefore doesn't need inspecting???
>
>Any folks out there have any suggestions?
>
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