Building a Non-conventional home?

HomesteadBaker · #21 05/25/08, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MedicalUser

I dont know where u r Tnhermit but lumber is far from cheap here. Cordwood lends itself to many advantages. No straight trees need to cut as with conventional build. CW is also a truly owner/builder friendly, even those without any construction experience. CW also has amazing R-values, is almost fireproof, Has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Im not an authority on CW or cob just owner/builder. Id look into Rob Roy, Jack Henstridge they both have excellent books as well as hands on traing courses if u so desire. I was able to build a 12x24 CW cabin with a living roof , with no mechanical assistance other than a chainsaw and a pick-up truck for hauling. We built this cabin in under 3 months. Underroof, it was warm a cozy. It felt like u were in a fortress. Someone said bulletproof might seem appealing..well with CW u can use up to 24" log sections ..making the wall 2 foot thick!! Hows that for bullet proof? There is even a technique for severly cold climates where a double wall of 24" logs are laid making it a total of 4ft thick!!! In my opinion stick built homes are a waste of materials and they r very inefficeint when it comes to heating and cooling. BTW it took us 1 1/2 cords of wood to heat that cabin for 4 months thru an ohio winter

hows that for effient ?

A good forum for some info is www.daycreek.com

PeAcE!!!

Could you share pics of your home.... I have always been curious about cordwood homes. How thick are your walls?

Kitty

MedicalUser · #22 05/25/08, 10:58 PM

I built that cabin in 1999, it cost us a total of $650. The place is still being lived in. My place used hardly any dimentional lumber, and the peices it did use for windows and such was scavenged of of the street and out of construction dumpsters. The walls were 18 inches thick. and were mostly hickory and white oak. Sorry have no pics anymore, do to a house fire in 2005

PeAcE

tiogacounty · #23 05/26/08, 08:27 PM

Assuming you are planning to build in PA, you need to have a long and honest conversation with the local building code officials, BEFORE you waste any time or money on anything. Two years ago PA adopted the International Residential Code and MANDATED that all AHJ's (that's bureacrat for authorities having juristiction), strictly enforce the code. Most smaller townships and towns have handed the work off to regional engineering firms. Bottom line, as a builder who deals with this bovine waste every day,...good luck. You may find a sympathetic ear, and a rational person sitting across the desk, but chance are you won't. I know in the township where I live, I would be in for a long and expensive court battle for attempting anything that didn't follow the rules, standards, guidelines, ordinances, codes, zoning etc....TO THE LETTER. They do this quite deliberately, and effectively. They do not want growth, and they only let the other "good ole' boys" slide through the system easily. All others are folded, spindled and mutilated until you overcome, or (the desired outcome) give up. If I showed up with a proposal for a cordwood home, they would literally tell me to get lost. BTW, if you think I'm being dramatic, ask any local builder, or better yet, call a pole building company. You can offer to pay those guys 100% cash, up front for a building, and they won't set foot on the property without a signed set of approved plans and a building permit. I had a buddy who was going to put an $80,000 pole barn up, then suffer the wrath of the township after the fact. It would of been years faster, and much cheaper than the two year long, $22,000 permit rape he got. No PA. based builder would touch him, even though he offered to pay them with a bag of cash before they started. Everybody knows not to irritate the powers that be. Sickening, but true. There are many on this forum that have a lot more freedom to do what they want than you or I do. I can assure you that without an alternative methods approval, for whatever you plan, it isn't going to happen. A lot of this type of approval process involves "proving" that your proposal meets the requirements, fire ratings, insulation values etc... of standard construction. It can get ugly, and expensive. I would suggest finding a structure that need improvement, like a barn or old house. The bureaucrats can process this a lot better than a house made of firewood, or moving into a steel barn.

ET1 SS · #24 05/26/08, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiogacounty

Assuming you are planning to build in PA, you need to have a long and honest conversation with the local building code officials, BEFORE you waste any time or money on anything. Two years ago PA adopted the International Residential Code and MANDATED that all AHJ's (that's bureacrat for authorities having juristiction), strictly enforce the code. Most smaller townships and towns have handed the work off to regional engineering firms. Bottom line, as a builder who deals with this bovine waste every day,...good luck. You may find a sympathetic ear, and a rational person sitting across the desk, but chance are you won't. I know in the township where I live, I would be in for a long and expensive court battle for attempting anything that didn't follow the rules, standards, guidelines, ordinances, codes, zoning etc....TO THE LETTER. They do this quite deliberately, and effectively. They do not want growth, and they only let the other "good ole' boys" slide through the system easily. All others are folded, spindled and mutilated until you overcome, or (the desired outcome) give up. If I showed up with a proposal for a cordwood home, they would literally tell me to get lost. BTW, if you think I'm being dramatic, ask any local builder, or better yet, call a pole building company. You can offer to pay those guys 100% cash, up front for a building, and they won't set foot on the property without a signed set of approved plans and a building permit. I had a buddy who was going to put an $80,000 pole barn up, then suffer the wrath of the township after the fact. It would of been years faster, and much cheaper than the two year long, $22,000 permit rape he got. No PA. based builder would touch him, even though he offered to pay them with a bag of cash before they started. Everybody knows not to irritate the powers that be. Sickening, but true. There are many on this forum that have a lot more freedom to do what they want than you or I do. I can assure you that without an alternative methods approval, for whatever you plan, it isn't going to happen. A lot of this type of approval process involves "proving" that your proposal meets the requirements, fire ratings, insulation values etc... of standard construction. It can get ugly, and expensive. I would suggest finding a structure that need improvement, like a barn or old house. The bureaucrats can process this a lot better than a house made of firewood, or moving into a steel barn.

Well said.

I have seen a number of small older mobilehomes near the road with power / phone / mail box, and then a dirt jeep trail that leads into the woods where the real home resides.

One for the permits, property taxes, and inspectors; and the other for living in.

Kirk · #25 05/27/08, 01:08 AM

I'm a firm believer in recycling. This includes homes. In this market you should be able to find a foreclosure pretty cheap. If it need lots of work even better. An existing home usually has a well, septic, foundation, electric, outbuildings and a house. Often when you add up all these plusses it outweighs that piece of vacant land which needs it all.

Find a house with the basic feature you want and think out possible imrpovments/additions to see if you can make it fit you needs. We have been in our house for five years now and its old owners would hardly recognize it. We have completely renovated and updated it while living in it. All the improvment have been made for cash when we could afford them. It wasn't a pretty place but it put a roof over our heads while we made what wanted. With the purchase price and what we put into it we could have built this place new. We would not have the outbuildings we have or all the bonus flower beds the old owner left. We would not have ended up with mature apple trees, a grape vinyard, or established walking trails.

Over all, I would encourage you to look into an existing home which you can modify to fit your needs.

Kirk

Dahc · #26 05/27/08, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve-in-kville

Like converting an old barn into a home or putting up a steel building and converting to a home, etc.

I need some ideas, folks. We need a larger than normal home and we don't have the big bucks to do it. I've looked at kit homes, too.

Straw bale construction is very low-end on cost and high end on energy efficiency. In some cases, one can be built for as little as $15 a sq ft. Search it out. I think you'll be impressed.

In my opinion, the easiest to do-it-yourself with would be an in-fill design. It's basically building a post and beam frame and roof and using the bales to create your walls. They are then coated with mortar. Doing this eliminates the cost of wall framing, insulation and sheet rock and provides superior r-value. A properly constructed straw bale wall can withstand 1200+ degrees for almost 4 hours so it's basically fire proof. The big bad wolf can't blow it down either. Sometimes there can be moisture issues but you'll learn about that as you research it further.

This poster stated this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiogacounty

A lot of this type of approval process involves "proving" that your proposal meets the requirements, fire ratings, insulation values etc... of standard construction. It can get ugly, and expensive.

All of this information is easily available where straw bale construction is concerned. A google search of "straw bale construction" will yield lots of sites with access to it.

If I ever build a house out here, it will be a straw bale house.

beowoulf90 · #27 05/27/08, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahc

Straw bale construction is very low-end on cost and high end on energy efficiency. In some cases, one can be built for as little as $15 a sq ft. Search it out. I think you'll be impressed.

In my opinion, the easiest to do-it-yourself with would be an in-fill design. It's basically building a post and beam frame and roof and using the bales to create your walls. They are then coated with mortar. Doing this eliminates the cost of wall framing, insulation and sheet rock and provides superior r-value. A properly constructed straw bale wall can withstand 1200+ degrees for almost 4 hours so it's basically fire proof. The big bad wolf can't blow it down either. Sometimes there can be moisture issues but you'll learn about that as you research it further.

This poster stated this:

All of this information is easily available where straw bale construction is concerned. A google search of "straw bale construction" will yield lots of sites with access to it.

If I ever build a house out here, it will be a straw bale house.

The problem as tiogacounty stated is PA has adopted the IBC... They don't reconize(sp) alternative building... Period... I've seen building permits cost upward of $45,000 and that's just for the permits, now granted it was for a commercial building, but these townships, counties, cities, towns, etc all control their own little "thiefdoms" and you will have to pay dearly in some cases here in the "land of high taxes" aka PA. I am a draftsman/ CAD Operator in Lacaster county for a HVAC & Plumbing contractor and you would not believe what we have to go through to get permits if we try and use innovations that have been approved to use in other States. If the IBC doesn't approve of it or the county, township etc is using an older version of the IBC it won't get approved without paying the "theifdoms"

Just my (not so) humble opinion

Dahc · #28 05/27/08, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beowoulf90

The problem as tiogacounty stated is PA has adopted the IBC... They don't reconize(sp) alternative building... Period... I've seen building permits cost upward of $45,000 and that's just for the permits, now granted it was for a commercial building, but these townships, counties, cities, towns, etc all control their own little "thiefdoms" and you will have to pay dearly in some cases here in the "land of high taxes" aka PA. I am a draftsman/ CAD Operator in Lacaster county for a HVAC & Plumbing contractor and you would not believe what we have to go through to get permits if we try and use innovations that have been approved to use in other States. If the IBC doesn't approve of it or the county, township etc is using an older version of the IBC it won't get approved without paying the "theifdoms"

Just my (not so) humble opinion

That' sick. I would move. I would still approach the inspectors with the information though. It's pretty easy to obtain. If they reacted negatively, THEN I would move.

beowoulf90 · #29 05/28/08, 08:26 AM

Dahc,

That's the plan.....lol I have about 2 years yet till I can move, but after that I/we intend on finding property in some other State of confussion. It will at least be new to us...

hotzcatz · #30 05/28/08, 02:07 PM

Pennsylvania isn't the only one with a Building Department with a restricted view of allowable buildings! It is the same way here in Hawaii, too. Anything outside of the norm is looked at askance and not allowed without engineering data, architect's stamps and loads of paperwork. All that paperwork has a pretty high price tag, too, and mortgage companies, insurance companies and contractors aren't thrilled with non-standard construction either.

For building an inexpensive building, the answer will change depending on your location. What is the least expensive and most common building material in your area? If you live in a land of rocks and earthquakes are not a consideration, then perhaps rock walls might be an answer. We don't have decent rocks (volcanic islands) and we do have earthquakes so rock isn't an answer for us. Single wall wood construction is probably as close to sustainable and inexpensive as we are going to get for construction methods in our location but that method definitely would not work in Pennsylvania.