Help us build our dream hobbit house!
August 8, 2011 10:55 AM Subscribe
Beginning to plan for building our dream house. It will be made of earth (cob or earthbag/superadobe). We live in NW Oregon. Thoughts, advice, etc. needed.
Earlier this year, we bought six acres of forested land in Columbia County, Oregon. There is currently a level homesite with a doublewide manufactured home and a concrete-floored barn/shop/garage on the homesite. We are living on the property already, in the doublewide.
We want to demolish the existing structures and build a home primarily of materials we have onsite already -- so mostly earth (cob or earthbag). There is a lot of excellent wood in the frame of the barn/shop that we'd like to reclaim for any part of our project that needs lumber, and both the barn and the house have metal roofs which we think could be used to roof the new house. We're planning on demolishing the barn first, and starting to build on the site where the barn was while living in the house. That's kind of about as far as we've gotten with the siting plan.
This is wet, wet Oregon, so we know we will have to take special care to build in a way that protects the exterior walls from moisture -- so, wide roof overhangs. We were thinking strawbale for a while, but the thought of a mold problem makes me very nervous, and Mr. Rabbit likes the freeform style of cob/earthbag/no timber frame.
Since we live in Columbia County, I think we'll have an easier time getting our plans permitted than if we lived in, say, Washington or Multnomah County (which is part of the reason we bought land there) but the permitting process, and how to actually plan the project is really the biggest area where we really feel our inexperience. Any advice, especially firsthand advice or referral to someone who has successfully built a LEGAL cob or earthbag home in Oregon woud be most gratefully received.
Mr. Rabbit is planning on doing all the work himself (or, hopefully, with a small crew of people who would like the experience of building something like this) -- indeed, we can't afford to contract any of this out. We may be able to get a structural engineer to sign off on our plans since that will probably be required, but all of our meager budget has to go into materials for the house.
So our first step is actually developing house plans (right?) -- we've found plans that we like here but if anyone knows of any other good sources for house plans, we'd also be very grateful.
I'm sure there are other details which I'm forgetting, but the basic tl;dr is should we do cob or earthbag? Do you know anyone in Oregon who has gone through the process to build this type of structure legally? Do you know a good source for building plans? And in general, what do we need to know before undertaking this project?
I'll be checking in fairly often so can answer any questions that come up.
Thank you!
Earlier this year, we bought six acres of forested land in Columbia County, Oregon. There is currently a level homesite with a doublewide manufactured home and a concrete-floored barn/shop/garage on the homesite. We are living on the property already, in the doublewide.
We want to demolish the existing structures and build a home primarily of materials we have onsite already -- so mostly earth (cob or earthbag). There is a lot of excellent wood in the frame of the barn/shop that we'd like to reclaim for any part of our project that needs lumber, and both the barn and the house have metal roofs which we think could be used to roof the new house. We're planning on demolishing the barn first, and starting to build on the site where the barn was while living in the house. That's kind of about as far as we've gotten with the siting plan.
This is wet, wet Oregon, so we know we will have to take special care to build in a way that protects the exterior walls from moisture -- so, wide roof overhangs. We were thinking strawbale for a while, but the thought of a mold problem makes me very nervous, and Mr. Rabbit likes the freeform style of cob/earthbag/no timber frame.
Since we live in Columbia County, I think we'll have an easier time getting our plans permitted than if we lived in, say, Washington or Multnomah County (which is part of the reason we bought land there) but the permitting process, and how to actually plan the project is really the biggest area where we really feel our inexperience. Any advice, especially firsthand advice or referral to someone who has successfully built a LEGAL cob or earthbag home in Oregon woud be most gratefully received.
Mr. Rabbit is planning on doing all the work himself (or, hopefully, with a small crew of people who would like the experience of building something like this) -- indeed, we can't afford to contract any of this out. We may be able to get a structural engineer to sign off on our plans since that will probably be required, but all of our meager budget has to go into materials for the house.
So our first step is actually developing house plans (right?) -- we've found plans that we like here but if anyone knows of any other good sources for house plans, we'd also be very grateful.
I'm sure there are other details which I'm forgetting, but the basic tl;dr is should we do cob or earthbag? Do you know anyone in Oregon who has gone through the process to build this type of structure legally? Do you know a good source for building plans? And in general, what do we need to know before undertaking this project?
I'll be checking in fairly often so can answer any questions that come up.
Thank you!
My sister and her husband recently built a "hobbit house" complete with round green door. They used mortared cordwood with a post-frame skeleton and a dirt roof. She chronicled the process here: Whistlepig Alamanac. You can contact her through that blog, and I'm sure she'd be willing to answer some of your questions about the process. The legal and zoning issues might vary between Oregon and Wisconsin, but I'm sure some of the same problems will crop up.
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:49 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:49 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
No personal experience, but have you looked for resources at your library? I found this well-reviewed book, The Hand-Sculpted House, by looking for things under the subject heading "earth houses--design and construction". Although the tone may be a bit crunchy, the chapters on this one seem very practical and the appendices (especially "Codes and Permits" and "Research Needed") might be really helpful.
Also--looks like there is a natural building community in Portland? They might be able to put you in touch with someone in your county that might have experience with codes. Best of luck building your dream house!
posted by stellaluna at 11:51 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also--looks like there is a natural building community in Portland? They might be able to put you in touch with someone in your county that might have experience with codes. Best of luck building your dream house!
posted by stellaluna at 11:51 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Here are pictures and plans for a low impact woodland home.
posted by Jorus at 11:54 AM on August 8, 2011
posted by Jorus at 11:54 AM on August 8, 2011
Response by poster: mareli: The barn and the doublewide are old and in bad repair, they're going to need to come down no matter what. I think the doublewide would probably just fall apart if we tried to remove it intact (it's a 1974 Marlette if you're interested).
Mr. Rabbit briefly entertained the notion of stripping the barn down to the frame (which is in good shape) and starting with that, but we've since abandoned that notion.
cosmicbandito: thanks, we'll take a look at that!
stellaluna: yep, we've seen that book, and every other book in our local libraries. the codes/permit section basically says, most people do this without dealing with codes and permits. I'll have to explore the natural building community site that you linked, that looks really great and I'm not sure if Mr. Rabbit has seen that yet or not.
jorus: thanks, that looks great!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:58 AM on August 8, 2011
Mr. Rabbit briefly entertained the notion of stripping the barn down to the frame (which is in good shape) and starting with that, but we've since abandoned that notion.
cosmicbandito: thanks, we'll take a look at that!
stellaluna: yep, we've seen that book, and every other book in our local libraries. the codes/permit section basically says, most people do this without dealing with codes and permits. I'll have to explore the natural building community site that you linked, that looks really great and I'm not sure if Mr. Rabbit has seen that yet or not.
jorus: thanks, that looks great!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:58 AM on August 8, 2011
Here's a link that might be helpful. I hope you'll post pictures!
posted by mareli at 12:31 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by mareli at 12:31 PM on August 8, 2011
Here is a house that I helped build (only for one weekend, when the house was in its infancy, but still, I'm proud to have been involved) in Applegate, Oregon. It is straw/adobe, and the climate there is much drier than NW Oregon, but I do see that the website says the house is built up to code. The owners are selling it to move closer to family in Portland. I can vouch that they are wonderful people who I'm sure would be happy to try to help you with any questions about building a home like this legally.
As an aside, helping with that house was memorable and enjoyable, and I think they had a huge variety of people stop through to do a little work- when you start building, maybe you should post a metafilter meetup and see if anyone here would want to help and learn about cob/earthbag building in the process.
posted by Secretariat at 1:02 PM on August 8, 2011
As an aside, helping with that house was memorable and enjoyable, and I think they had a huge variety of people stop through to do a little work- when you start building, maybe you should post a metafilter meetup and see if anyone here would want to help and learn about cob/earthbag building in the process.
posted by Secretariat at 1:02 PM on August 8, 2011
The Tiny House Blog has a section on earth/cob houses.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:00 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:00 PM on August 8, 2011
Mr. Rabbit here: A bit on my background, and my concerns about the project. I worked for a developer in Seattle for a few years and admittedly do not have much experience dealing directly with planning officials but have enough experience to know how difficult and costly it can be. Most of my experience is in the construction and maintenance trade and I feel confident in my ability to build such a structure. I have already contacted many of the local cob and straw-bale organizations with surprisingly little feedback on actual permitting. One workshop (mentioned earlier in this post), actually told me that they don't even bother permitting their structures (not an option). My interaction with the local planning department has not been much help either, basically (with non-traditional construction) it is up to the owner/builder to provide the department with proof of compliance including structural engineering, in fact the state of Oregon requires a structural engineer's stamp on any plans of this type. I contacted Earthen Hand earlier today and hopefully they will be able to give me some feedback.
posted by Mister Rabbit at 3:08 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by Mister Rabbit at 3:08 PM on August 8, 2011
Grand Designs did an episode on a couple who were building a rammed earth tyre house in France. They designed it themselves and built it with the help of volunteers. I found it really interesting, perhaps you might? I can't remember which season the first episode is in but the project is revisited five years on in series 6, episode 10.
posted by Wantok at 4:40 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by Wantok at 4:40 PM on August 8, 2011
These folks focus more on straw bale building, but their workshops seem really cool. There's one next week in Oregon if your schedule is flexible!
posted by donnagirl at 5:19 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by donnagirl at 5:19 PM on August 8, 2011
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Is the doublewide relatively new? Have you checked into getting hauled in its two original parts so that it can be a home for someone else?
posted by mareli at 11:39 AM on August 8, 2011