“An appendix on Light Straw-Clay Construction was also approved for inclusion in the 2015 International Residential Code (IRC). To date only the states of New Mexico and Oregon have a section on Light Straw-Clay Construction in their building code. The proposal received a 6-3 approval vote at Building Committee Hearings in Dallas in April 2013. After public testimony and immediately before the vote, one committee member encouraged approval, commenting, “This is the future.”
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Natural Building Blog 8th Year Anniversary
It’s that time of year again. We happy to announced our 8th year anniversary and now ranked #2 on Google. (Wiki is number one, ha ha.) We missed our anniversary last year, probably because I was traveling.
Building Codes are a Slippery Slope
I would argue that current building codes make it nearly impossible to build affordable housing. All the restrictions on room sizes, allowable materials, and cost of permits and inspections put housing out of reach for a large segment of society. It’s a complex and touchy subject that can quickly lead to heated debates. Our intent … Read more
10 Reasons Why People Don’t Build With Natural Materials
Have you ever puzzled over why so many people choose to buy homes at outrageous prices that require 20-30 year mortgages even though they are often poorly built, made with materials that offgas hazardous substances and readily burn in house fires? In addition, these conventional houses are usually energy inefficient, require expensive ongoing maintenance, cause … Read more
Natural Homes Maps
Here are two useful maps for natural builders. The map from Natural Homes.org shows locations of natural homes. Actually there are thousands of homes not shown. As a rough guess I’d say for every house shown, there’s probably another 100 not on the map (and far more in some areas). Most people don’t publicize their … Read more
Comments from a Building Inspector and Engineer
Question to Building Inspector: We are looking at moving to rural Livingston Parish, Lousiana and planning on building our own earthbag home within the next year… Any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Building Inspector: I have viewed the website for earthbag building that you mentioned and it is very interesting, however, the … Read more