Cobb Houses- tiny cabins and living off the grid

Still up there at Bonners Ferry then. Good I wish him well.

Earthships are entirely doable. I've worked on several of them and seen more.

Problems:

Local zoning (of course)

Many banks are hesitant to provide any sort of mortgage for "non-traditional" construction--this can be a major hurtle if you're gonna need a mortgage.

Insurance: if you hook-up a mortgage, good luck finding an insurance company willing to take on a "non-traditional" construction.

Labor---very labor intensive. Don't expect to stay within that nice little budget you've happily figured out. Also, you'll learn the full meaning of "40-minute hippie" as workers appear/disappear magically. Really easy for the project to lose focus and turn into a months-long party.

Another problem: don't go crazy with the concept of "solar gain"...almost every earthship I've seen hasn't nearly enough opening windows for ventilation. Without this, in summer you're living in a solar oven--end of story. Don't let happy-talk about the angle of the roof protecting you in the summer, blah blah---sounds nice, doesn't work.

If you're working with straw bales, all of the above applies, plus you've got to get-on-it and get the job done. Keep the bales covered from those afternoon showers, proceed dutifully with the work. Otherwise, you'll have mushrooms and mold growing in the straw and endless problems later. Also, mice are the enemy. It's possible to get infestations within the straw that are beyond imagining--think "project ruined".

I did a cob workshop a couple summers ago


[link to www.claysandstraw.com]


Some great folks that built this cob house put on the workshop in the Hill country,we had about 25 people working for 7 days.

Did a small cabin...

click on photos....

More links...

[link to www.claysandstraw.com]

mountain cottage


[link to www.claysandstraw.com]

Donnas straw-bail really cool


[link to www.claysandstraw.com]

caretakers cottage

[link to designbuildlive.org]

Cool site...

Didn't he do a video where he showed off his little $400 house in Colorado? I seem to remember seeing that somewhere, coolest thing was his greenhouse which was dug into the side of a hill and had the plants at ground level and a sunken space to collect the cold were he could stand and work on the plants. Pretty nifty!

Or build a composting toilet.
[link to humanurehandbook.com]

[link to nbnetwork.org]

Really cool cob houses

Thanks for info..

Here's the answer to your question: www.freecycle.org

freecycle is fantastic ~!

Free, totally true and extremely therapeutic to be working with dirt ;o) that's why Ive been hunting for some acreage for years.

Glad you found it too.

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Last Edited by femme flambe on 08/15/2010 01:57 PM

oops

Last Edited by femme flambe on 08/15/2010 01:57 PM

OMGosh~! these are stunning ! ty :)

I havent found the land for me, but once I saw the 1st cob house I just knew that this was what I have been searching for. I talked with a friend of mine who has property and she has been at it for some time now. Hopefully I will be joining more friendly building crew days :)

Tons f fun land shopping to come too- whoo hoo I do like those long country drives ~! :)

Congradulations on your dreams begining :) I am so excited for you and can't wait to hear how it goes !
xoxo~!

LOL leave it to us to both put up such similar threads.. more great homes for me to dream of :-)!!!!! I still think i like the Nautilus best for sheer whimsy of design.