Cob vs. The Uniform Building Code

I woke up this morning wondering about how Cob conflicts/meets/whatever with the Uniform Building Code. From what I understand our county - Grafton County, NH - currently follows the 2006 Uniform Building Code. Not that I know what that means, but from what I hear it's a book filled with dense detailed information that I may not understand...

Read this article about cob housing @everything2.com and it sounds encouraging. I'm off to read another article from Squidoo.com - let me know if any of you out there know anything specific to this topic. I'm thinking next steps would be a workshop in cob house building.

Earth Sheltered or Bermed

Today I decided I needed to know the difference between earth sheltered and bermed, to find out if the terms are interchangeable or not. So of course I google it, and in creeps a reminder about our technology needs for this cabin.

Both my husband and I work with computers - I'm a graphic designer and he's a programmer - so we need to have enough electricity to power all of our electronic gizmo's and have fast internet access. Given our previously stated goal of being as close to 100% self sufficient as possible I think we might have a problem. How can you connect to the internet w/o 1.) having a hard wired connection 2.) having to pay for it? Or are we willing to pay for those types of things - electricity and internet? I know we'll use less electricity with this type of house than we would with a regular one, but does that make this house as green as we want it? Something to think about...

Anyway, back to the earth sheltered vs. bermed, it appears to me that earth sheltered is somewhat underground while bermed is with earth pushed up against the outside of the structure.

Our Land is Our Land

About 100' of road frontage on our 10+/- acres. Our first project will be a small cabin/house. Hoping for it to be as close to 100% self-reliant as possible.

- H

My Green Cabin Dream

My husband and I are planning the building of our first house, cabin really. Inspired by a fellow in the UK(see picture) we've started exploring the web in search of methods of construction that will hold up to a New England weather.

The fun part of this for me is going to be figuring out the integration of our technology needs with our desire to only use materials from the land and reclaimed or recycled materials from around the local area. Maybe we'll coin a new phrase "elocostruction" and our project will inspire others. In the meantime feel free to comment on my posts, add to the knowledge and cheer us on.

Since neither of us have ever built something from the ground up this will be a grand adventure! Thanks for stoppin' by :)

- H