Job Discussion Forums

[delacosta]

A while back there was a thread on alternative housing, if I recall something to do with mobile homes?

Sigh...

Anyway...for those intersted in natural house building a workshop will be taking place in Zipolite Oaxaca this January9-23. Participants will build a cob house for a local family. The teacher and his family are from Oregon and will be arriving mid December to start work on the project. Locals and visitors are welcome to drop by and learn/ contribute.
Here's the info: http://housealive.org/mexicoflier.htm
I've taken a course with Coenrad and it was a wonderful learning experience, and a helluva lot of fun!

For those interested here's another link, where you can see a house that was built last year in Baja California at a similar workshop that I attended. The total cost of this house came to about 10,000 pesos.

http://www.cobworks.com/mexicogallery.htm

I know it's always difficult for full time teachers to travel outside of ' official ' vacation times, but if anyone's interested drop me a line.

[thelmadatter]

It looks interesting but I have to wonder about rain and all. Im familiar with straw bale construction (helped out on a house one time .... messy and a lot of fun) but that was in Arizona where all you needed was a roof overhang to keep the earthen plaster from washing away. Little worry in the way of mold and seepage. But what about areas that are a lot moister than the Sonoran desert?

[moonraven]

You mean like Zipolite, Oaxaca?

[delacosta]

I take it your concern is with cob withstanding the rainy season, not that it will rain during the course? Because we won't see rain this way till May of next year. There are cob houses all over Vancouver Island as well as the mainland. When built properly rain isn't a problem: good foundations, drainage and roof overhang just have to be considered when building.

One of the hopes of this course, and of the whole natural building movement, is that people will be able to build ecologically sound affordable housing for themselves. It is a very simple, almost foolproof process that for me (someone who would be baffled by the skills and technical requirements of a 'normal' house) has been quite empowering. It scares me when I see all my friends and family signing up for long-term life sucking mortgages to buy huge, inefficient and unnecessary homes. Not to mention ugly. Then they are completely chained to whatever job they have...the system has them by the balls.

The houses around here (and from what I've seen across much of Mexico) are basically concrete boxes. They are completely unsuitable for the local environment, especially the weather. In the hottest part of the year a concrete house is basically an oven. And in the rainy season it’s a moldy damp oven. Concrete absorbs heat through the day and then releases it at night. This is what happens in the house where I live now (I sleep outside for most of the year, under a palapa covered by a mosquito net). I hope that after this course I’ll have the confidence to undertake building a cob house for myself. This would be difficult to do in most parts of the US and Canada because of building codes and the beurocratic process involved in building a house. The construction industry and developers (including of course money lenders-banks) collude to make building one's own home an unfathomable fantasy for most people: you wanna house? well you gotta buy it from us, but hey no problem, we'll lend you the money-just sign right here...
Most people complain about the lack of planning in Mexico, but in this case I applaud it. When it comes time for me to build my home I'll just do it, no consulting, no permission, no inspectors. Nice cool earthen walls, compost toilet, recycling of grey water for the garden, the whole nine yards.
Oh, and no perfectly trimmed lawn!

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[thelmadatter]

delacosta - you understand me right. I see from the pictures that there is a stone foundation, which would definitely help with the run off from rains. But from what I understand of your answer, you need to choose the site carefully, esp in Toluca where I live where drainage can be a very serious problem (valley floor, bad sewer system). I agree with cement being nasty. Heat is not a problem here but in Jan I would kill for a room with some insulation!

But even with cement here mold and seepage is a problem if the construction, esp. of the roof, is bad. I would think one would have to be very careful with this kind of construction.

[MixtecaMike]

[Antaraaaa]

I wanted to share a website that some of you may be interested in:

www.earthactivisttraining.org

I did this course in Sonoma California (January 2004 ) before heading off on my Asian adventure. I truthfully cannot wait to hook up and actually DO some of the stuff I learned while there. It's been almost a year since and I have not really even had time to review all I took in as I have been on the road nonstop.
As mentioned already about Vancouver Island etc....there are a ton of people around into this. The course tapped me into a network of amazing people doing pretty exciting work across the world. Going from the "green-oriented" awe-inspiring beauty of Northern Cali to the polluted pools of China has been a bit of a jolt, but thankfully the course material inspired me to think of solutions and even possible career options for the future here instead of dwelling on the ( truly shocking) air quality and other enviro nightmares.
It was a mindblowing 2 weeks....I HIGHLY recommend the course to ANYONE remotely interested in permaculture, activism and all things green.
I feel very lucky to have been made aware of this course and I shall now pass along the info to YOU

Cheers,

Ant.