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[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

Date:   Thu, 15 Apr 1999 14:28:28 -0400
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From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Finally, dirty housing hits front page and code-approval.
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Chris Clarke wrote:

> > "These homeopathic construction systems send technology backward,"
> >  he said, adding that technology lets designers make buildings llighter,
> >  stronger and more transparent. "People do not want to live in
> >  thick, echoing domes."
> >
> >  Home-building, he said, is "best left to the professionals."
>
> Don't you just love that kind of attitude?
>
> Chris Clarke

>>>tvoivozhd---it makes sense if your exposure has been confined to wood or
steel studs and multi-layer skins.  Restricted to those materials, the more
experienced, better informed, better equipped professional builder will buy
more cheaply, erect much faster, make fewer mistakes than a first-time
owner-builder---the profit margin normally offset by greater economy in
building.  Onsite materials and owner-builders have no claque popularizing
their virtues..

It makes no sense whatsoever in the larger context of universally-available
onsite materials---in which professional builders normally have little or no
knowledge, little or no experience, and practically none of equipment that
would be required to speed up the job.

You cannot drag out stickbuilt construction in any way except by building in
stages---first the cooking/utility/bath module, then others as priority
dictates.  The reason is that conventional building materials must be
protected from
weather damage---that means getting under cover in forty eight hours.  Banks,
however, will not provide construction mortgages on staged construction that
has no recognizable market value in its earlier stages, so staged construction
is necessarily utilized only by those who can save money enough to pay cash
for each stage and who either live in a jurisdiction without occupancy permit
requirement---or who can live elsewhere until all stages are completed and
qualify for an occupancy permit.

The beauty of adobe (CEB is a little more complex in forming, stone in
placing) is that a very low skill-level is required, it can be built largely
outside the money-environment except for roof-skin, windows, utilities and
appliances, and can go up as slowly as is convenient or necessary until the
roof-structure is in place, when a skin must be placed quickly on the rafters
and purlins.  Since better adobe construction utilizes some purchased
water-resistant additives, it is easy to protect walls from long periods of
rain---short periods can be ignored.  A rammed-earth, ceramic or concrete tile
floor goes in after a roof is up, so that is of no concern relating to
weather-damage.

If you scrounge for, make from your own trees, or buy locally-milled
roof-members, the basic wall-roof materials are within the cash investment
capability of almost anyone---leaving the major initial investment where it
should be, in land, in water supply, in sewage disposal, followed by doors,
windows, wiring, heat.  Other stuff can trickle in as rapidly or as slowly as
funds permit. In a semi-tropical or tropical environment (termite paradise)
you would cast thin-wall half-cylinder roof-beams in earth-forms as preferable
to wood.  They are placed concave-side up with a cap-strip or inverted
half-cylinder over the joints.  This roof-structure of course requires no
additional skin whatsoever unless a reflective white or aluminum paint is
desired to minimize heat-gain.  I like this type of building because of its
extreme simplicity (few components), because it is immune to decay or insect
damage, and because it is fireproof---if the building contents are not
flammable, carrying fire insurance is pointless and creates an opportunity for
another large saving in lifetime operational costs.