Getting ready to negotiate some deals for some rural land in Tennessee.
Question is cabin or cob house. I love the aesthetics of Cob and cabin both.
So much to figure out, concrete basement or concrete poled foundation, 2 floors or one, wired or solar, I feel overwhelmed with the options and can't really make a concrete(pun intended) decision.
Moving there for good eventually because thats the only way mother can afford to retire.
Also, what to live in during the building stage? Small trailer, Yurt, Tents? Generator to power the tools?
If Log cabin do I buy from a mill or cut down my own? Best source for cob mixture, etc
Also, I have experience in light carpentry and remodeling so was thinking of taking some cabin building classes in Montana to learn notch styles and other woodworking techniques.
Thoughts comments?
w* to the forum.
Does the area you are going to have codes to comply with - cob is more of a fly under the radar thing in most places - you could do a framed house with headers and use it as infill and get away with it in some code areas possibly. All depends on your resources. Cob is most economical if the ingredient are available on the land or nearby.
Good cheap natural and unnatural resources help a lot.
See thats the thing that really irks me, is all these codes and permits. That's why I'm looking for some acreage that has no building/zoning/permit requirements.
I have a few places in mind in east tennessee and another spot in WV, everything right now is just checking the zoning, soil samples, etc.
The thing about framed houses is that they just seem so flimsy, say in a tornado or earthquake they seem like matchstick houses. A cabin using logs is 1 solid peace of work, let alone cob.
The codes provide a direct link to the assessors office hence the parasites interest in keeping the revenue stream coming in via them. It is how they transfer money from the working class to the parasitic class.
It is my belief that the founding fathers of this country did not intend for the Un-Constitutional agencies to have the power they currently claim over the citizens of the United States.
I can see them regulating unscrupulous contractors, but not owner builders.
Note that that is my belief and that I am just a lowly volunteer here. d*
Bear in mind that even though a given area might not have zoning or inspection, that doesn't mean that the state as a whole doesn't. Our property is in SC, and the whole state is under IBC 2006. Technically, that means you must build to code, even if there is no one to come and check up on you. I don't know what the chances are of it ever being a problem; just something to think about. Some of the rules and regulations drive me crazy, but I'm the kind of person who would spend the rest of my life in fear of getting caught if I did cheat a rule.
Building codes came mostly out of the insurance industry. Fire safety was the first issue, they branched into other areas of life safety and now we are getting into areas of energy conservation, water conservation, etc. The problem with not regulating owner builders is that those people do tend to have company and they also sell their homes, both of which expose the public to potentially unsafe environments that they would reasonably assume were safe. The system is not perfect and I butt heads with it on pretty much a daily basis. What irks me is that the public doesn't accept the fact that they hold the reigns on this wagon. If the horse is out of control, reign in or shoot the horse and go find another one. Codes are laws, just because there is not a sheriff in town does not make it legal to rob the liquor store. If an insured building is not built to code and something code deficient, or even not, fails, the insurance company lawyers are probably going to smile and send you on your way. These are some things to consider from the other side of the argument. I'm pretty much anti code when it passes beyond basic life safety. On that front a quick look at performance during disasters speaks for itself, our construction suffers fewer casualties than any, our modern buildings as a rule perform better than our older buildings.
I have no problem with the safety aspects but do have a problem with the outrageous parasite supporting fees.
What guarantees? None. Blame is nearly all shifted to special inspectors on critical issues that charge additional fees.
I can see it when working for the public who chose to hire it done but not me who's children run around with distended bellies from mal-nutrition and runny noses when their cardboard box melts in the rain. :)
My other problems with it are how industry has twisted it into a giant money maker for them.
I just like to belly ache especially when it comes to me.
Yup, when I built our house the permit fee was $40. I did a porch replacement a few weeks ago and the fee was 10% of the cost, about triple what my house cost to permit, we had one inspection and I was alongside of the inspectors driveway out of the courthouse. Building departments have become cash cows for the county and that ain't right. We want people to build safe affordable housing. That is a matter the local voting public does have control over and should turn off the TV and speak up on.
I don't think you know how bad it is here. :(
I pulled permits for my friends place. $21000.00 of which $11000.00 were school fees.
A build as you can pay project, we work as he gets money. We told them that at the start. We projected a 10 year project. In 3 years they billed us half of the permit fee to continue. Funny thing was the bill was under $3000 as I recall. Minus the school fees that left about $10000.00 so half fees should have been about $5000 but..... the original fee was now shown as about half of what it was.
What do I do - start an investigation and end up paying $5000 or forget the $5000 that was probably absconded with and pay the lower fee. We chose to forget it. Besides -that is the way business has been done here for years. His predecessor was famous for the same thing.
People who investigate politics and law around here have ended up disappeared. The Chief building official quietly retired about a year ago.