CORGANIX Continues!

Taking steps back to our “roots”…

Not only are we hearing from families eager to blaze “Corten Trails” into their neighborhoods… my office is getting hammered by preppers and survivalist groups nationally…

… especially considering the fact that Obama, Pelosi and Reid are basically doing all  the advertising we need, to “propel our own awareness”…

Oy, what an insane situation. The blind are quite literally leading the blind… and apparently deaf. 

I’m going to do a series of seminars…

… targeted predominantly at groups of families, large Prepper organizations and survivalist organizations to talk about building PERMANENT homes and even “fallback shelters” that are affordable, safe and energy efficient, BY HAND.

I’m talking about CORGANIX.

I think most of you already know about this exciting housing program, but if you don’t;

CORGANIX is basically taking an ISBU (Shipping container) and building ALL your services into it. Kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, shower room, etc…

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Does this mean you get a “third world” kitchen? Nope. Check it out:

THIS can easily be accomplished, while providing ALL other “system and service needs”.

Then, you drop it onto a prepared foundation that you build using Sonotube scraps and concrete/rebar.

Once you’ve done this, you have everything you need in one place, from day one.

Imagine being able to take a shower and then heat a hot, home cooked meal in your new home, before it’s even finished!

You can then simply set ISBUs around that CORE, to form your home’s perimeter. Or…

Once in place you can use EARTHBAGS to build around it, creating a wing on both sides, one for “living and one for sleeping.”

Reclaiming the top of the ISBU, you can even create sleeping lofts for kids, while the adults sleep “downstairs”.

There will be several CORGANIX variations, from “vanilla” (pictured below) to Chocolate!

*It really can be as simple as THIS.

I know, it’s not “glamorous”, but with planters in the windows, a bench or two outside and a little creativity, you’d really be surprised at what you’ll have.

What you WON’T have is a mortgage sucking at your soul every month.

And obviously, you can use a High Cube ISBU (Corten Steel Shipping Container) as small as 20′ to accomplish this task.

Remember, the objective isn’t to LIVE in the container. The idea is to use it as a “big steel sardine can” to build all your required services into, all wrapped neatly and concisely into one package.

It’s “The Box that Rocks!” I tell you!

Beyond the ISBU itself, there isn’t anything “high-tech” about this home. In fact, it’s so simple that it’s easily do-able by a family and some friends. If a group got together and got organized, they could build a home a week once the CORES were completed.  Literally.

I’m serious.

And… you end up with a small, weather resistant, anti-ballistic home that you build with your own hands, for pennies on the dollar.

We are in the beginnings of building that prototype right now.

Better still, it’s easily “disguised and concealed.”

As more and more unrest and rumor brings this to a boil, we’ll see a migration of families out of cities. It’s already started.

(In fact, my new CORES already have wifi built into them to allow for sat links to “telecommute type” jobs.)

As many of us work on the internet, we can literally do it wherever we can find bandwidth.

As a “supplemental” – I’m working with a group that is actually building “bandwidth outposts” allowing small Isolated Communities to be birthed, in concentric circles around providers who will use sat uplinks to connect them together.

The wifi repeaters look like lamp posts. Seriously. You can’t tell them from a regular street lamp. And, they’re powered by a single photovoltaic panel and batteries concealed in the pedestal.

It gets better.  If someone flips a switch and shuts the Internet down to shut off communication beyond word of mouth “in order to help us help ourselves”… (Obama has already pushed the legislation enabling this thru) we have an “alternative bandwidth” solution that will allow communication between networked tribes.

Because, at some point, the “mob mentality” is going to take over.  I’ve been using the term “Riotology” for years to describe the “mindless masses – motivated”… Even copyrighted it.

… and we’ll be ready.

*It should be noted that while the floorplan and all the construction details of the CORGANIX Project are the property of Renaissance Ronin, Container Home Consultants and it’s affiliates, the above color illustration/render is based on an actual Earthbag Community Center erected in South America and is provided ONLY to give you an idea about what an earthbag structure looks like in it’s most basic form.

Only Oatmeal should be lumpy… ;)

Things are hectic as we prepare for “Hurricane Houseguests“. (2) RV’s full of families are headed our direction, running out of reach of Hurricane Irene.

While they’re here, we’ll work on “ISBU 101” and get some of their own ISBU Home details ironed out.

And that means… you guessed it… mailbag time.

As we pursue our latest ISBU project – The CORGANIX Hybrid Home – which combines Earthbags with ISBUs, I’m getting a lot of feedback from readers and potential builders.

There are apparently those among us that still believe that “Alternative” homes are only built by “hippies and hermits living in the wilds…”

As a result, both myself and Owen Geiger (Of Earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com fame) are getting hammered lately with emails that remind us of “the perils of building with alternative materials”.

It would appear that people are under the misconception that all alternative homes that use earthbags or strawbales are “lumpy and bumpy” in appearance.

Nuh-uh.

I submit that the homes that look like “a ripple here and a ripple there”… are either finished that way by design, OR they builders took the easy way out.

Right from the Expert’s mouth, Owen Geiger (who has forgotten more about earthbag building than most experts have ever learned) says:

“You can get earthbag walls as smooth and flat as you want. I don’t like lumpy, bumpy walls either. This can happen with bales or bags, although it happens more with bags. They require extra care to align evenly. You also can create rounded edges around doors and windows as shown in the photo of our earthbag roundhouse.

My Earthbag Building Guide explains how to get smooth/flat walls with rounded corners, and I demonstrate the process in my new earthbag video. The video is ‘finished’ but we’re experiencing technical difficulties. All I can say is it should be available soon on Amazon — one month max — after we do one more round of editing. (Same thing happened with my earthbag book. The last 1% takes 2-3 months to get things just right.)”

Owen is exactly right.

And, if you’re considering building a CORGANIX home, a full-blown Earthbag home, or even a Hybrid home of your own making, I highly recommend that you get a copy of Owen’s Earthbag Building Guide.

It’s invaluable and coupled with his “soon to be released” video series…  it’ll be the best investment that you could possibly make in your home building future.  Owen has taken what seems like a pretty difficult subject and made it so simple that children can do it. In fact, children  actually do help build earthbag homes,  in places far from our “metropolitan lifestyles”.

And in the face of Hurricane Irene, The CORGANIX Home seems even more appropriate, considering that it’s an extremely weather resistant structure designed to protect your family AND your wallet at the same time. Let’s tick the strengths of this home off, shall we?

• Affordable
• Sustainable
• Energy Efficient
• Weather Resistant
• DIY Buildable

As America faces “the perils that loom”… the CORGANIX Home will shine. It’s just common sense.

And for those of you waiting impatiently for my new book -” The Nuts and Bolts of ISBU Buildings” Owen summed it all up when he said:

 (Same thing happened with my earthbag book. The last 1% takes 2-3 months to get things just right.) 

We’re struggling with the editorial staff now, to get “that last 1%” (it’s in the editing, not the content, folks)  hammered out so that “Nuts and Bolts…” goes out as quickly as possible!

Soon, my Compadres, very soon!

Image Credit: Owen Geiger – EarthbagBuilding.wordpress.com

Lions and Tigers and Bears… Oh BOY!

Okay, we’re toiling away…

And you know what that means. It’s… (fanfare please!…)  “mailbag time!!”;

Today’s “victim” is trying to crowbar “small Corten Steel homes” into existing neighborhoods.

And along the way, he’s seeing the road turn into “pits and potholes”…

Big surprise, huh?

Let’s see if we can help him pave that road.

Hi Ronin,

I’m trying to build a case for small ISBU Homes in my community.

I want to build a series of small homes (say… just under approximately 320 square feet) for people who cannot afford to buy or maintain a larger home. I see these homes being used to provide worker and student housing locally.  

They aren’t intended as “family” homes. It’s just basic worker housing. Contractor grade stuff.

I know that you’re quite familiar with this as several of your ISBU projects are right down this alley.

I can also use this same housing to help Seniors downsize into more easily managed residences.

Again, you have Senior projects that fill this bill, easily.

That’s why I am coming to YOU.

Planning and Zoning was no help at all. They won’t tell me what I can do, they’ll only tell me what I can’t do. And, they want me to draw it all up, first. Talk about adding insult to injury.  Sheesh!

That means to make any headway at all…  I have to attend a Review Board including the City Counsel.

I’ve even considered building houses on trailers so that they could be “moved”, like an RV (much like your “20′ HQ ISBU/Tiny Trailer” project a while back. I can picture a cluster of these units assembled into a quaint “village-type” setting.

Do you have any information or insight into (specifics) on Building codes as they relate to ISBU/Tiny house type buildings?

I need some ammunition…

Signed,

Ambushed in St. Lou…

Hi Ambushed;

I have this posted above my computer:

“If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy…we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world.”
~ C. S. Lewis

Every day, I feel those of us who have dedicated our lives to getting a safe roof over a family’s head are “forging a new world”…

It sounds like you have “another world” to create too… a world based on common sense… and that means that you have your work cut out for you. You are going to get hit with both ends of the stick.

ISBUs, while being a great material for home construction, aren’t embraced by most Planning and Building Departments.

For the most part, they simply don’t understand them, as ISBUs themselves haven’t passed thru millions of dollars of testing to get them the “appropriate paperwork”, and the stigma attached to them (in part because of the “graffiti strewn carcasses” we see as sets for popular movies…) scares the bejeezus out of residents of most neighborhoods. As a result, building codes don’t embrace ISBUs, per see.

It’s odd,  considering that;

It’s common sense… that these massive steel constructs will by far exceed traditional housing construction practices.

It’s common sense… that these ISBU homes, based on Corten Steel and then welded together solidly, will exceed the abilities of a traditionally built “sticks or bricks” (built of thousands of  ‘usually organic’ components all fastened together with nails and staples) home in the face of heavy weather events.

It’s common sense to understand that when you start with a steel box that is already extremely structurally sound and even comes “weathered in”, your building costs can be greatly reduced… provided that YOU use common sense when building that steel home.

Planning and Zoning Departments don’t always work on “common sense”… they work predominantly on that black void we call “bureaucracy”.  

And your neighbors are living in a place that is “even further in the darkness...”

They immediately start thinking that you’re going to further devalue their already rapidly devalued homes. So…

1. You’re going to use “Steel Housing Modules.” Think “Prefab or Modular” housing when you explain what you’re going to do. Using  the terms “ISBU” or “Shipping Containers” just throws up red flags.
2. Scour your zone for projects similar to the one you have in mind. Use them as precedents, just as lawyers use “past decisions” to help validate current arguments. Provide examples of other similar ISBU structures in your area (draw a circle on a map with a diameter of 250 miles to your location and then “Google the heck out of it” ) that have already been signed off by Structural Engineers and Architects and approved for building. It’s easier than it sounds.
3. Make it visual. Find good images and then print them on 24″x36″ posterboards to illustrate your ideas.

And, contrary to what “some” say, there are far more than 100 ISBU structures in America. The “people” who say that are simply trying to shift importance to their own “highly publicized projects” to gain more “self-importance.” Not all of us have “deep-pocketed clients who will throw money at projects trying to get notoriety for their ‘earth-shattering’ forays into Greenness.” Use common sense…

Once you’ve done the groundwork…

Then, argue for the “housing” itself.

You will encounter resistance when you start talking about homes as small as 320 square feet. There are many reasons.

Among them are;

Residents feel “small homes” infiltrating their neighborhood will drive property values down.

People seem to think that only “weirdos and riffraff” live in small homes. You know… Hippies, Environmental whack-jobs, artists, musicians, etc…

Banks WANT you saddled with a soul-sucking mortgage… You wouldn’t know it by hard it’s become to actually GET a loan, but…

City Authorities will have “less home” to tax.

City Authorities will have “less home” to tax.

Wait, I already said that.  Oops…

Laren Corie is one of the leading experts on Little/Tiny House design in the country.

He’s a guy with decades of experience and frankly, I have a great deal of admiration for him. Like us, he’s lived in the trenches for a long time.  Here’s what HE has to say about Little/Tiny Houses and dealing with the bureaucrats:

(I have only reformatted his Laren’s words and corrected a few typos. No actual content has been changed.)  

Here’s Laren’s take;

House size is almost always specified by local zoning, rather than residential building code. However, in the case of “tiny” houses, the building code room size minimums are also a factor. In general they say that there must be:

1. At least one room of at least 140ft² and usually
2. A sleeping room of at least 70ft², and that there must be
3. A bathroom, that also meets a minimum, usually around 35ft².

So, that brings it (along with exterior and interior wall areas) to about 300ft².

However, zoning traditionally tends to require 700, 900, 1100ft² or more.

Dwellings that do not have foundations, and permanent connection to utilities are not under the jurisdiction of the building department.

However, the land that they set on (or is lived on) is under the jurisdiction of the zoning department. Usually, they consider it camping.

Often they allow one such “RV” to set in the backyard, and in such isolated events they may simply overlook one, as an exception. But, multiple tiny houses, on a lot, or even multiples, in backyards, is more likely to be viewed as a threat to the property values of the community, and be portrayed as a breeding ground for criminals and other undesirable elements.

Below is a link to a PDF, written by a law professor. It does an excellent job of discussing this subject, with an emphasis on the history of such minimum size laws, and the fact that there is zero science behind the idea that there is anything unhealthy about living in a smaller house.

Life Together: How Housing Laws Define America’s Families

That is about the best paper, and argument against minimum house size laws, that I have been able to find It is written by a law professor, so it is relatively thorough and airtight.

It basically shows how minimum house size laws have been used for social engineering. That may imply that it would be wise to present any such development as retirement housing, since older people will not be adding children to their households, therefore need smaller dwellings, especially if they are single.

This argument points out a need, that larger houses fail to fill, and is not a threat to the community, that might be imagined from younger people living in tiny dwellings (weirdos and poor people, you know :O)

Another argument might be that there are already homeless in the community, and nice, affordable housing should reduce those numbers.

But, NIMBY (not in my backyard) thinking kicks in, and those in the decision making positions tend to think that making it tough on the homeless, will chase them off, to become some other community’s problem.

It is fantasy theory, without much reality to back it, but it still prevails.

All that said:

Your mission, should you prove to accept it… will be to convince those counsel members that this housing is indeed viable, cost effective, needed and even (gasp!) lucrative for those involved at every level.

This message will self destruct in 5 seconds…

4-3-2-1…

You can learn more about Laren Corie, here:

www.ThermalAttic.com

-Energy Self-Sufficiency Newsletter-
www.essnmag.com

-LittleHouses YahooGroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/

More thoughts on ISBU Shelters…

In a disaster… the first thing to go is usually the utilities.

The Japanese learned that firsthand on March 11, 2001. The tsunami and earthquakes that savaged the region plunged Japan into darkness.

In my house, we’re still praying for those families and counting our blessing… every day.

AS a young adult, I lived in Japan for a time. As a result, I learned Japanese.  I can still read and write Japanese, to this day.

Or so I thought.

I recently read a press release sent to me by a co-worker in Japan, as we collaborate on ISBU Housing Solutions for the Japanese families left homeless by the tragic events of last March.

So, instead of reading the English translation, I decided to “translate” the Japanese version.

A firm called YSMR in Japan has provided a rather interesting solution to what I thought was a “Utility distribution” problem in the province rocked by the tsunami and earthquakes.

The way “I” read it…

Not only did they develop a “utility” box based on a 20′ High Cube ISBU, they used it to create not only space for the required Utilities, apparently they also included sleeping quarters for the personnel responsible for running them, once they are established.

Rather than try to explain it, I’ll let them do it:

They say (in their press release);

“We have collaborated with Daiwa Lease, Japanese pre-fabrication company, to produce an infrastructure free unit as a front-line base when a disaster happens.

Using 20ft ISO shipping container module, it is possible to convey the unite by the existing transportation route: by land, sea and air.

At the moment, in order not to rely on the infrastructure of the site, the utility equipments have to be too big.

So that it occupies the almost all of the container space and there is no room for living…”

From what I read… I figured that they were building generators and other utility equipment into ISBUs. Sounds easy enough. I’ve personally rackmounted support gear into containers. It’s a job that takes careful planning, some skill and a little bit of luck.

So, I know that the gear they need to ship will fill up the entire ISBU, for sure.

And that led me back to the basic question:

WHERE will the workers sleep?

Okay, it looks more like a colander than an ISBU, but…

The box will “transform”.

Note the “now”  exposed photovoltaic panels.

Ahem… but WHERE will they sleep?

They will sleep in “Utility Jail”.

YSMR Goes on to say;

“EDV-01 has been designed to extend its shell above and transform itself to 2-storied after its set-up.

This gimmick enable us to produce a hard shelter which is durable in the affected area as well as to avoid an useless transporting of empty container.”

When I was a kid, I was completely enamored with “All things Japanese”. You know… the architecture, the Samurai, Ninjas and even Sushi. I actually used to yell at my father because I wasn’t born Japanese.

Man… after seeing this, I’m glad he didn’t listen.

Me thinks that the Japanese may be taking this “Transformer Craze” a bit too far…

Can you imagine? I wonder if they’ll have to wear ear protection to sleep?

At  least they won’t get cold.

 Actually, I’m just kidding. I found myself thinking that if they could mitigate the sound pollution and the fumes from any exhaust, this is a clever solution.

I just don’t wanna be the guy saddled with camping out over the greywater and water reclamation modules… Oy.

BUT… That’s not the deal AT ALL.

I received a second email. It had another image. And…

It indeed confirmed that I mistranslated the kanji and I presumed that “Utilities” meant “utilities” like power generation, water treatment,  telecommunications, et all…

That’s what I get for assuming and presuming…

What they meant by using the word “Utilities” was actually “services”…

As in a bathroom, kitchen, etc…

Here’ s the real deal;

From: DigiMov.com

Now… it’s a whole new ballgame…

While this is pretty neat… Um… Can you imagine the expense of building these boxes?

I mean, they are cool as heck, but man… talk about expensive to construct.

And they didn’t start working on this in March of 2011. They’ve been working on it for a couple of years.  And, one of the primary considerations was insuring that you could use the box exterior as a billboard. It even drove the concept of the “punchboard” metal walls that could be backlit with LEDs to allow messages to be sent.

So… even though it’s (in my view) a marketing gimmick as much as anything else…

Maybe we can all combine our grey matter and think of a way to make something like this REALLY work, without breaking the bank. Here’s the original again (click it to supersize the image);

Like most ISBU projects,  it requires very little actual construction on site – once it’s set into place. Once you have it where you want it, you flip a switch and the  hydraulic pump raises the walls in four and a half minutes to form the second floor.

The first floor contains an induction heating  kitchen,  a decent sized shower and a bio-toilet. Climb up the ladder to the second floor and you’ll find a pair of fold-away beds and even an office space with a real live desk.

Boil it down and what have you got?

It’s just a prefab “box over a box”.

Using “drop-in” (removable) flooring panels, it wouldn’t be hard to do this at all. The “hard part” is really just getting your “lift hoists” to synchronize.

If you built an oversized steel box to put down over the top of a 20′ High Cube, you could use the end frames as a mounting point for something like a cable or even a a chain drive lift system.  Using a winch off a 4WD vehicle, you could “pulley and gear drive” a lift system that would run off a truck battery.

Once you got the top “popped” you’d put lockpins in place so that when your three year old terrorist somehow finds his way to the roof to jump up and down, the resulting collapse doesn’t leave you looking like a mere (paper-thin) shadow of your former self…

Okay, maybe we don’t have the budget to install the nifty system that literally pulls water out of the air (to the tune of 20 liters a day). And we will probably leave out the self-leveling legs that cost as much as the container to build.

(Before you ask, YES, I WOULD build them if I could, They’re just cool.)

All that duly noted;

If you could pull this off, you’d have a single, slightly oversized solid steel box to haul back into the woods, to set up your fishing camp, hunting “lodgette”, or even (gasp!) a Fallback Cabin. 

Um… forget about the hydraulic leveling arms. Too expensive, even if you built them from tractor scraps. Use a bunch of  concrete block or even some railroad ties.

Hey, if nothing else, I’ve given you something to think about… like how much you don’t want me translating any of your mail… from Japan.

All images (except those noted) were received from Edo Mitsugawi, LLC.

Youtube footage provided by… Youtube.com

ISBUs to the RESCUE!

Thanks to  YASUTAKA YOSHIMURA ARCHITECTS, it’s happening in Japan:

Image courtesy of YASUTAKA YOSHIMURA ARCHITECTS

The talent at YSMR had a purpose: They were driven to create something called the “EX-CONTAINER PROJECT“. It’s a project to build a house utilizing the ISBU shipping container format that we all love… to provide homes for thousands of families displaced by the earthquake and tsunami hit in Japan on 11th of March, 2011.

The goal of this project was to create  high speed housing that would be lower in cost to construct, all the while providing  higher quality than “the normal temporary” housing.

Here is America, we all remember the disaster that was…  “FEMA trailers”.

Talk about a great use of cast-off containers… Why didn’t we do that HERE? Hmmm?

Category: Newly built

Structure: Steel

Total floor area: Approx. 25sq.m (maisonette type)  Approx. 27sq.m (flat type)

Maximum height: 5,391mm(maisonette type)  2,791mm(flat type)

Structural engineer: Jun Sato Structural Engineer

General contractor: Nichinan Iron Construction

I’ll have my BBQ wrapped in steel, please.

Need a few extra bucks?

Looking for the ultimate lemonade stand to put in your yard?

Got a recipes for Chocolate Chip cookies that the neighbors would kill for?

Take a 20′ High Cube ISBU and turn it into a roadside restaurant or kiosk!

Remember this?

WE talked about this when they dropped it on the sidewalk in Canada.

But, it doesn’t have to be elaborate at all.

Spotted in Nairobi, January 2008 at Lagoon, a bar/nyama choma (roast meat) joint.”

This was passed along by my pal, Owen Geiger –

The King of Earthbag Construction. 

Thanks, Owen!

Doctor, I’ve come down with a case of Solar Shingles…

What ointment do I use for that?

Greetings Campers,

Many of you who read the blog know that I’m big on Photovoltaic power and other power generation systems that make you less reliant on “things outside your yard.”

DOW has come up with a Solar Shingle process that will allow common construction types to install your Photovoltaic power system, right along with your roofing.

It can actually be applied right over asphalt shingles.

While this isn’t an “endorsement”, it does indicate where the market is heading.

All the same rules apply;

It’s still going to be an upfront – out of pocket cost.

It’s still going to take a considerable amount of time to reach your “payback” anniversary.

For most of us, it’s still going to require you to bundle your power system costs with your mortgage if at all possible.

DOW says: “A rooftop installation of Solar Shingles is much more affordable than most people realize. Everyone in the U.S. is eligible for a 30% Federal tax credit and then there are lots of different state and local incentives. In some states, the incentives make it very attractive for the system to not only pay for itself in the first portion of its life, but to generate cash for the homeowner while lowering the home’s overall energy costs. The specific savings and cost for a homeowner depends not only on where they live, but on many other factors like the size and orientation of their home.”

Sound too good to be true?

Check it out HERE.

Man Makes $329,984 from a $16 investment. Thank You, Internet!

They say you can find anything on the internet.

Now, I know they say that because I hear it all the time.

Well, now I’ve seen everything. Kenneth Robinson, a diehard Texas Real Estate man, proved it to be true.

You see,  Robinson used an obscure Texas law he researched online called adverse possession to obtain property rights to an abandoned $330,000 McMansion in Flower Mound, Texas.

From Google Earth

The $16 bucks wasn’t for bandwidth, either. It was used to pay a court filing fee to allow him to get legal access to the property.

Read more about it HERE.

Note:

I thought this sounded really fishy, so I called a real estate lawyer and asked if it was really possible. He said;

“Like others have noted, there is a “hitch” to using the “adverse possession” loophole;  to take advantage of it, the new “owner” must immediately pay all outstanding and current property taxes owed on the real estate.

Now, we’re talking about a house that costs $300+ grand and that’s not chump change in the property tax department. You have to figure on about $5 grand a year, at least.  And there are probably going to be outstanding penalties too.”

So Robinson is looking at being out of pocket somewhere between $30 and $50 grand before it’s all over.

That considered, he’s still getting the home for less than 15% of it’s appraised value.

When I started checking this story out, it became clear that people were really agitated at Robinson for;

(a) figuring out how to do it, and then

(b) actually pulling it off.

The question of the day seems to be;

“Would you even want to live in a nearly free home if everyone else in the community were out to get you?”

Lemme see… I just got a nice home for 15% of it’s value, in a good neighborhood, because I used my wits. The neighbors don’t like it.

Hmmm… Too bad. They’re probably just jealous that they didn’t think of it. 

Further Adventures in ISBU Barn Building

Boy, was you born in a barn?

Um…. nope. Actually, I was born in an airplane…

We’ve been talking about the prospect of building a big ISBU BARN-Style home.

Now, usually, when I’m talking about building an “ISBU BARN”… I’m talking about erecting a big metal building to BUILD ISBUs in.

But many of you have expressed a desire to build a rural house using ISBUs that fits in with the landscape and resembles “the old homestead” that a lot of us dream about… just like in the movies…

Many of you will think this more “stable-like” than “barn-like”. Okay, we’ll take it.

Let’s face it…

There are those among us that aren’t plagued by hurricanes or tornadoes. The ground doesn’t roll and  shake under your feet. That means you can do some things that we don’t normally do… like combining ISBUs with traditional “stick” builds to create “Corten Cool Homes” for “cheap-er”…

Yes, I said “CHEAP-ER”.

And just to prove it, we’re going to dissect one of these homes, in order to look at it under a magnifying glass.

One of the first things that you want to do when you start a build like this its to get it weathered in. That means you need a roof.

I know, I know…

I go on and on about SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels).

But (sigh!)  there ARE other ways to build a roof.

You CAN build a pretty cool roof using standard attic trusses as long as you UNDERSTAND how they are used and you don’t push them beyond their design specs.

Now, it won’t be as cool as a SIP roof, but…

Attic trusses are the most economical (and most popular) method for building roofs that include attic space.

And before you ask, YES, you can put SIPS over Attic Trusses. Coming from “wind country” (I blame my wife…) I like low-profile roof systems with decreased soffit overhangs. It’s less roof to tear off when hurricanes prowl the neighborhood…

But we’re talking about attics;

These spaces can be used for many purposes -  attic storage space as well as useable and residential space.  Beyond the “regular old run of the mill gable” roof… this also makes them ideal for the gambrel roof and cool “woodsy” A-frame roof profiles.

A roof truss isn’t rocket science.

A roof truss is just a load-carrying, spanning member made of wood or steel components (usually 2x material when they use dimensional lumber), connected together with metal plates and shear connectors.

And, it’s pretty straight-forward. You design your roof trusses around the load capacity that you require.

Okay, Lesson One:

Attic trusses don’t just hold up the roof.

They function as 3 separate structural components in your structure system. An attic truss literally becomes your floor, walls and roof.

The bottom chord forms your floor joist. It’s often 2×4, however 2×8, 2×10 and 2×12 versions are available. Most common are 2×4 bottom and top chords.

But wait… there’s more,

When you use attic trusses, you don’t get “a typical floor” like the other floors in your home.

That 2x “Whatever” actually has your roof loading being transferred down through it right along with the floor loading. It will also include the storage loading beyond the knee walls and even the loading for the wall covering (dry wall/OSB/plywood/paneling) that you install on the knee walls.

• Every once in a while you’ll come across a home with 2X6 lower chords.
• Every once in a while you’ll find 2X6 top AND bottom chords.
• And every so often you even see 2×8′s, 10′s, 12′s being used as part of the truss construction.

Now, we’re talking “beefy trusses”. If I was building out in “the wilds” you can bet that I’d sure consider using these “trusses on steroids”.

More wood equals more strength.

Here’s how it normally works:

When we specify a “conventional” roof, plans typically include a roof framing (layout) plan, a cross-section view and what I like to call a “glamour view”.

This is just a guideline to (a) show you what you’re building and (b) it illustrates the recommended truss profile to anyone that asks.  In most cases, this “roof package” is what you’re going to give to your truss engineering firm or manufacturer, so they can build/ship the right trusses to your local supplier.

Okay, I love Hip Roofs… I just love them…

You’ll get a similar package that contains your attic roof plan, based on your projects criteria and requirements.

But it doesn’t stop there:

While you are ordering your trusses through your materials supplier or setting up your project with your builder, you can request adjustments to the profile. This gets really important if you’re trying to match an adjacent building, conform to a local set of CC&R’s etc…

Roofing trusses are a big deal.

Remember, the roofing truss system is integrated into your home’s primary support system.

And now you know that Attic Trusses are indeed STRUCTURAL TRUSSES.

This means that you don’t let idiots cut or drill holes in them under any circumstances. Your plumber doesn’t get to modify them by drilling holes in them to pass PVC or PEX  thru  like he would other 2xX’s in your home!

Stop him/her, or at the very least, take them to task for it! 

They’re screwing with the STRUCTURE of your home.

Why? Because that’s that Attic Truss Floor is NOT just a floor.

Aren’t you paying attention? Huh?

Next time, we’re gonna start learning “ISBU Truss Design 101″.

Stay tuned.

Give em’ an inch and they’ll take… 24.

As we work and toil on projects spanning from Coast to Coast and beyond…

I’m going to take a minute to address something that’s come up a few times in the last 45 days.

So, off to the mail bag!

Dear Ronin:

You’ll be pleased to know that our ISBU Fabrication and construction of our first 20′ High Cube “module” is underway.

However, I have a question;

We’ve elected to use sheetrock in the interior of the home. In part it’s because processing and priming OSB to use as interior sheathing is a real bear if you don’t have “The patience of Job” for all those thin coats.

(Editors Note: Me thinks that my “Woosy Detector” just went off…

Using OSB – Oriented Strand Board (or even plywood – like Birch, for example) instead of sheetrock does bring several benefits to home builders working with a really tight budget. But, it isn’t without it’s “perils”.

It does require more “sweat equity”. Priming and painting OSB requires that you prepare it with thin coats of paint applied in direct sunlight to prevent the furry “blooming” you get as the OSB absorbs the moisture in the paint. There are several easy ways to accomplish this.

However, unlike sheetrock (gypsum board), OSB doesn’t crack, it doesn’t sag and it WILL endure the “road trip” to it’s new home (without requiring repair from “road damage”),  as you truck that ISBU component to it’s site.

Plus, it means that you can hang a picture anywhere you want…

And while some “debate” the use of this material for this purpose, I find that it’s usually the people who have no experience with it that speak out the loudest. But I digress… )

They go on to say (before I so rudely interrupted them);

Our subcontractor wants to move our frame spacing to 24″ (from the 16″ on center that you specified) to save on material and labor.

He says that we can still use the same sheetrock (it’s already sitting here rarin’ to go!) to clad the interior, after he’s framed it out using the new stud spacing. 

Is this true, or should we be concerned?

Signed,

Babes in the Woods…

**

Dear Babes,

Your Framing Subcontractor is DEAD WRONG.

In days past, it was considered “traditional and conventional” to frame out homes using 16″ stud spacing.

Once your framing was completed, your Sheetrock guys showed up with a truck full of 1/2″ gypsum board (sheetrock) and completed your interiors in the traditional “screw/tape/mud/sand” process. If you were lucky, it wasn’t “Chinese Sheetrock”…

And if the sheetrock crew knew what they were doing, it went quickly and pretty smoothly. There IS indeed an art to hanging sheetrock and some of those guys are truly masters of their trade.

However, in “the days we face”, where contractors are milking every job they can for maximum profit (usually not because they’re greedy, but because the industry is taking a pounding thanks to the economy) some compromises are starting to show up regularly.

One of the “new framing schemes”  is to move your studs out to 24″ OC (on center) and then sheetrock over them.

Fewer studs means a big savings in time and materials. If thought thru carefully, this “reduced stud technique” will work structurally.

BUT… if you do that, you CANNOT use 1/2″ sheetrock to “span your gaps”.

That 24″ is a LONG way for 1/2″ sheetrock to span safely.

Your wall performance is going to suffer dramatically.

When you increase the distance between the studs, you need to increase the thickness of the sheetrock to “gain back” what you just gave up.

That means that you need 5/8″ thick sheetrock now.

5/8″ sheetrock is over 50% stronger than 1/2″ sheetrock. That means that it won’t sag, flex, or fail due to pushing a material beyond it’s limits.

You already have your sheetrock sitting there. Unless he’s planning on replacing all your sheetrock with thicker material…

… tell your framing sub to “Shut up and keep framing”… according to the plans he was given.

Otherwise, the sheetrock crew that will come in behind him will discover the pit he dug for them and he’ll probably get a few drywall screws embedded in his head.

If that doesn’t work, call me and I’ll straighten him out.

Note: No subcontractors were injured in the creation of this post.

However, one of them might be kinda pissed off, now that he has to do his job the way it was drawn.