building
 water irises in our pond |
April Fool's day... and I feel like 'ranting' about the over-use / abuse of various terms such as 'Green' and 'Eco'.
'Green', in particular, has been hijacked as a marketing tool for numerous new construction projects, whether or not they have any environmental credentials. Somebody installs a low-flow shower or dual-flush toilet and they are miraculously green! I don't think so... Without standards for what constitutes green the term has become meaningless. I, for one, have pretty much given up using it.
'Eco' is another term that's rapidly approaching meaninglessness through over-use. It's become a catch-phrase. But at least the term 'ecological' still has substance and credibility. Seems to me that as soon as you abbreviate something, it loses much of it's power. I guess that's true of life in general.
Furthermore - and I realise that this is perhaps the biggest challenge - I truly believe that we need to get permits for the structures we build. I know that this may sound like heresy to some people, since it requires building to standards which comply with the intent of the building codes. But note that I use the word 'intent' deliberately since you can do just about anything as long as it complies with the intent, rather than the exact word, of the regulations. (For a great example, check out Ann and Gord's cob house near Victoria, B.C.)
Because the longer we go on making structures that either evade the building inspectors, or are too small to require compliance, the longer we will remain in this hinterland of unregulated construction. We need to drive the creation of acceptable standards by invoking the regulations, not avoiding them.
End of rant! :)
April 10th... A few days ago I learned of a recent and very exciting study into the ability of straw bale walls to resist earthquakes. Although the official report does not seem to be available yet, the results were published by numerous scientific publications, including The Science Daily. Most significantly, the tests revealed that a clay-plastered straw bale wall was able to withstand twice the acceleration forces experienced in the most severe earthquake ever recorded!
Over the last few weeks I've been researching living roof design. What material to use as the impervious membrane for the roof continues to challenge me, but I am finding that some of the best solutions can be found by looking at how things were done in the past. In the days before the advent of synthetics and Portland cement, people found effective solutions. So rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, I am hoping to 'resurrect' it!
I also have been hard at work drafting technical designs for the post-and-beam structure. Plans, elevations and, I hope, isometrics so that people can get a good idea of the proposed design. These will start appearing on the support structure page in the near future...
I've been having an interesting - and on-going - email discussion into the merits of post-and-beam vs Nebraska-style construction as well. The recent earthquake report definitely provides great support to the Nebraska exponents, however I still favour post-and-beam for two particular reasons:
April 27th... First Contact: with the planning and inspection departments at Saanich municipal hall. Initial disappointment when I learned that the code specifies a 7.5 mts setback from the property line. I had been working on the assumption that it was only 3 mts. However, slightly over half of our two acres is designated flood plain. The site I had chosen for the workshop was based on the assumption that I could squeeze it between the high water line and the edge of the property. This flood plain actually could work in our favour since it may present the necessary 'hardship' that is required to get a Variance from the code to allow us to move closer to the road!
Sadly, I discovered that the maximum height for an accessory building in this area is 12.3 ft. This means that our two-storey annex will not be possible. Back to the drawing board...
But, on the bright side, I also learned that the Director of Planning for Saanich is particularly interested in green development, so I am hopeful that we may have an ally at the municipal hall.
All-in-all it was an interesting and constructive first encounter with our local bureaucracy!
April 28th... I'm excited! I called Russ Fuoco (the Director of Planning at Saanich) this morning and he seems genuinely interested in the project. We have set up a meeting with himself, me and Nick Jablanczy (manager of building inspection services) for April 30th to discuss the project. According to Russ, this will be the first (official) straw bale construction in this area!
'Green', in particular, has been hijacked as a marketing tool for numerous new construction projects, whether or not they have any environmental credentials. Somebody installs a low-flow shower or dual-flush toilet and they are miraculously green! I don't think so... Without standards for what constitutes green the term has become meaningless. I, for one, have pretty much given up using it.
'Eco' is another term that's rapidly approaching meaninglessness through over-use. It's become a catch-phrase. But at least the term 'ecological' still has substance and credibility. Seems to me that as soon as you abbreviate something, it loses much of it's power. I guess that's true of life in general.
Furthermore - and I realise that this is perhaps the biggest challenge - I truly believe that we need to get permits for the structures we build. I know that this may sound like heresy to some people, since it requires building to standards which comply with the intent of the building codes. But note that I use the word 'intent' deliberately since you can do just about anything as long as it complies with the intent, rather than the exact word, of the regulations. (For a great example, check out Ann and Gord's cob house near Victoria, B.C.)
Because the longer we go on making structures that either evade the building inspectors, or are too small to require compliance, the longer we will remain in this hinterland of unregulated construction. We need to drive the creation of acceptable standards by invoking the regulations, not avoiding them.
End of rant! :)
April 10th... A few days ago I learned of a recent and very exciting study into the ability of straw bale walls to resist earthquakes. Although the official report does not seem to be available yet, the results were published by numerous scientific publications, including The Science Daily. Most significantly, the tests revealed that a clay-plastered straw bale wall was able to withstand twice the acceleration forces experienced in the most severe earthquake ever recorded!
Over the last few weeks I've been researching living roof design. What material to use as the impervious membrane for the roof continues to challenge me, but I am finding that some of the best solutions can be found by looking at how things were done in the past. In the days before the advent of synthetics and Portland cement, people found effective solutions. So rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, I am hoping to 'resurrect' it!
I also have been hard at work drafting technical designs for the post-and-beam structure. Plans, elevations and, I hope, isometrics so that people can get a good idea of the proposed design. These will start appearing on the support structure page in the near future...
I've been having an interesting - and on-going - email discussion into the merits of post-and-beam vs Nebraska-style construction as well. The recent earthquake report definitely provides great support to the Nebraska exponents, however I still favour post-and-beam for two particular reasons:
- given the extra load of a living roof (I estimate our roof will weigh about 45 tons), I believe that a more robust support structure is advisable as well as easier to get approved by the inspectors; and
- my design incorporates a two-storey annex which, I believe, favours post-and-beam. I know that load-bearing walls can be multi-storey, but the potential for differential compression of the walls make it a lot harder to achieve successful results.
April 27th... First Contact: with the planning and inspection departments at Saanich municipal hall. Initial disappointment when I learned that the code specifies a 7.5 mts setback from the property line. I had been working on the assumption that it was only 3 mts. However, slightly over half of our two acres is designated flood plain. The site I had chosen for the workshop was based on the assumption that I could squeeze it between the high water line and the edge of the property. This flood plain actually could work in our favour since it may present the necessary 'hardship' that is required to get a Variance from the code to allow us to move closer to the road!
Sadly, I discovered that the maximum height for an accessory building in this area is 12.3 ft. This means that our two-storey annex will not be possible. Back to the drawing board...
But, on the bright side, I also learned that the Director of Planning for Saanich is particularly interested in green development, so I am hopeful that we may have an ally at the municipal hall.
All-in-all it was an interesting and constructive first encounter with our local bureaucracy!
April 28th... I'm excited! I called Russ Fuoco (the Director of Planning at Saanich) this morning and he seems genuinely interested in the project. We have set up a meeting with himself, me and Nick Jablanczy (manager of building inspection services) for April 30th to discuss the project. According to Russ, this will be the first (official) straw bale construction in this area!