I have seen a few different articles lately about alternative construction. There was one about a family that constructed their home entirely as a “tree house.” Others construct using geodesic domes. Another uses a big balloon, then shoots concrete over the outside. In the midwest and west, there was a time when straw bale houses were the rage.
Now, it’s very difficult to get a building permit to build such a house. It’s interesting that the government can tell you what kind of house you can build with your own money on your own property. County commissioners cite “long-term viability issues” as their reason to deny the building permit.
Hmmm. The straw bale house I was looking at had been built in 1906, and still looked like it was new construction. They poured a slab with re-bar sticking up. Lined the perimeter with straw bales, plastered outside and in, and voila, a fireproof, bug-proof, house. Let’s see the big, bad wolf blow this straw house down. Imagine how reasonable the heating and cooling bills are in a house with walls 20″ thick!
I think the real problem in all this is that the building inspectors don’t know how to inspect such a home. Therefore, the county commission has determined it’s not a viable option. Inspectors often give builders who build structural insulated panel (SIP) homes and insulated concrete form homes a harder time than they give conventional stick-built builders, even though these are getting to be pretty mainstream ways to build.
I guess I have to admit that there are some pretty hair-brained ideas out there about what you can make a house out of. But I still believe in individual freedom to choose what you do on your own property with your own money. I think if you want to build a straw house, or a tree house, or a dome house, giddy-up. If it doesn’t work out, you can do something else.
Now I’m not talking about some horrible eye-sore property. Most of the homes I’ve discussed here are built to a standard that most people would love to achieve. If it doesn’t negatively impact the rest of the neighborhood, what is the problem? I say we get the planners out of our lives and get back to the freedoms the founding fathers intended.
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