cordwood masonry, rammed earth, or earth bags...

[Auban]

so, my father just recently went bankrupt and will be moving in with me and my wife next week. well, my father, mother, and my niece are moving in with us...

anyway, im going to hire my father to give him a job and income to help him get back on his feet. i cant pay him much, only a hundred dollars a day, but considering that he wont have much in the way of bills, he should be able to put money away to get set back up. i really dont care how long he stays so long as he has a plan and is working towards it.

and that brings me to the title of this thread... he wants to try building his own house after he gets enough money to buy a piece of land in our area. land is cheap enough, it shouldnt be hard. he wants to build most of it himself using the cheapest materials possible, sacrificing time and labor to do it. im all for it. i have no problem helping him build a house on evenings and weekends when im not deployed. and that got me thinking... we need a practice building. something that isnt too expensive and that we can afford to make a mistake or two on.

so, when i get back, im going to build a small storage shed, probably about ten by ten feet. the three methods im looking at are cordwood masonry, rammed earth, and earth bags. nothing else, i might try making three different walls out of three different materials to see how we like each one. its just going to be a place to store stuff.


so does anyone have any experience with these three building materials? thoughts? suggestions?

[kyratshooter]

I will say the same thing I do in each request for alternative building techniques;

Check with your local zoning officials before planning a dwelling using alternative techniques.

A shed is one thing, a house is another matter and requires a building permit, which requires inspections of foundation, blueprints, wiring and plumbing. Many areas are not keen on alternative techniques and will not issue a permit, which stops access to power, perk tests for plumbing and some other needed permits.

I know that in my area the frost line demands a very deep foundation and prep on a lot (foundation, water and septic) before the first nail is hammered into a board averages $20K-$30K and it must be inspected before work continues.

If I were to defy the zoning commission by going "off grid" for the dwelling I would face "Stop Work Orders", fines and eviction by the county.

That is what would happen in my area, your mileage may vary.

[Auban]

will do. i have already started looking into it and some things may take some doing to get approved, but the people who can bless off on it are family friends... or straight up family. i wouldnt ask them to bend the rules for us, but im sure they will be willing to set us on track.

[hunter63]

Kyrat is spot on.........Permit .....first then build.

Most alternate building projects are driven by economics...trying to build cheap....and making use of what you have....
Logs, straw bales, rammed earth, stack wood, even bags......should be planed to use what you have...so as to not have to BUY all the building materials. ....or it would be cost effective.

Cheapest, easiest and most approved of build materials are chip board and 2X 4's.

So first question is after code questions are.............what have you to use to build with?

[Auban]

we have unlimited access to as much lumber as we care to collect. my wifes grandparents own a tree farm, over a thousand acres. they have already offered to let us cut as many trees down as we want. they have an automatic splitter if we choose cordwood masonry, as well as a steam engine powered saw mill should we choose to go a more conventional route. we have also been given free reign to any trees damaged by pine beetles, since those sections of the tree farm will be destroyed anyway.

we also have unlimited supply of crushed concrete for preparing a foundation, and plenty of tractors, bulldozers, backhoes, etc. we wouldnt have to pay for any of it. and if we are willing to drive a couple hours each way for it, we have a friend that owns a rock quarry who will let us take what we need, should we have a need for granite. my in-laws want to dig a pond on their property, and have offered to give us the sand and clay that comes out of it should we need it. their pond is going to be about 120ftX60ftX10ft, so it should be plenty sand and clay to build areas up if we need to.

[randyt]

when I lived in adair county kentucky many years ago, the only permit required was a electrical permit. That didn't apply to me and others that I knew. Sounds like things have changed, I'll call my brother and see how things have changed.

[Auban]

Well, it looks like things are going to be easier than we originally thought. The whole community is offering to help. Family, friends, even our business contacts. My wife and I own a Snap-On franchise, and a surprising number of our customers have offered to sell us their waste oil for incredibly cheap prices should we decide to go with a waste oil heating system, or a generator that can run on waste oil (more likely). We have talked to some people about coding and inspections and such, and so far they are all willing to help out. A couple of them have even offered to help do the work if we can get them a good deal on a decent used tool box. That should be easy... we have some pretty massive tool boxes that we can give them for free so long as they don't intend to sell them and they don't mind a few dents in them.

In the mean time, I am getting my mother started in a home run business of sorts... mainly to give her something to do. A few years ago, I developed a way to raise ornamental fish with no cost outside of electricity, so I'm going to get her started with that since I already have all the equipment. She won't have to pay for anything to make this system work, she just has to check it once a week and sell fish online or to local pet shops.

My father is boosting our sales quite a bit. He is actually pretty good at selling tools, which makes sense, he has been a mechanic for thirty years..

So far, I'm pretty optimistic.

[hunter63]

Sounds like you have a plan.....
Good luck, should be fun and exciting.