[Cob] Need BOCA advice

[Clint Popetz]

Hi all,

	A few weeks ago we had a fire in our stick frame house.
Luckily, my family and I all got out ok, and no one was hurt.  The
house was pretty much totalled.  There is the possibility of
repairing, according to the insurance company, but we are very worried
whether they could actually accomplish that under the max insured
value of the house, and whether the stench of smoke could be
completely removed.

	Now we are faced with the opportunity(?!) of demolishing the
house and rebuilding something better.  I have taken a cob-cottage
workshop (we built part of a house in Northern Indiana), and I've
built a cob greenhouse, some ovens, and a bench.  I've also done a
fair amount of conventional construction work (remodelling,
re-roofing, re-plumbing, re-wiring) over the years, and I'm pretty
confident that I could build a load-bearing bale-cob house that would
make me happy and keep us snug in the winter (-20F sometimes.)

	BUT...I'm in a city (Urbana, IL.)  Our city uses the 1990 BOCA
code and the 1989 CABO 1/2 family dwelling code for building, and the
1990 BOCA codes for fire prevention, electrical, plumbing, and
mechanical.  I'm curious if anyone on the list has any experience
getting a city to approve load-bearing cob or bale-cob under BOCA.
Also, I have to have an architect stamping my plans in order to build.
Anybody know an Illinois state-licensed architect that has familiarity
with cob and could work with me to design and stamp a plan to convince
the city that it's ok for me to house myself.  (I'll omit the
grumbling over how we got to this point where they think it's their
job to protect me from myself.)

			Thanks,
			-Clint