June 1982 RAIN Page 21 Dwelling Code ($14.25 ppd. including supplement from Building News Inc., Northwest Division, 4306 SW Admiral Ct., Portland, OR 97221) or read the few sections of your local code dealing with housing. Ask questions. If told to do something you don't want, ask for the code reference for the decisions, ask what exceptions there might be or alternatives. READ that code section. Call the state code department and ask them what alternatives, interpretations or exceptions might apply. 5. Find out if other codes allow what your code doesn't. (See Vitale's book for a good overview of differences). That's the quickest and best support for a code challenge or appeal, or to give an inspector a basis to approve what you want as an alternative. 6. Ask about the appeal process if you get a decision you don't like. Ask about the inspector's authority. See if it is a code or zoning requirement, who can reverse the decision or who has final say in the department. Many decisions get rethought rather than go through the bother of appeal. 7. An architect or engineer's stamp on your drawings is magic. The engineer accepts liability, takes your If I Had a Hammer Tools For Owner-Builders by Tanya Kucak .| And they shall build houses, and inhabit them ... ti They shall not build, and another inhabit. . . — Isaiah, early owner-builder Most people have built their own houses, often with help from family and friends. It is only in the last hundred years that large numbers of people have not participated in the design and building of their shelter. From the kit houses in Sears catalogues of the early 1900s to the boxy clones built by contractors in suburban developments, more and more control over our surroundings has been relinquished and our dwellings have become more impersonal and even interchangeable. It was not always like this. Vernacular architecture and folk traditions — pueblos of the Southwest, for instance — remind us that shelter suited to the bioregion and climate, responsive to the physical and cultural needs of the people, and built with local materials and ingenuity can take on many forms while maintaining a natural and even artistic unity with the environment. When we build our own houses we can experiment exuberantly, exploring passive solar and energy-conserving design and trying out many ideas to see what will work — all of this while remaining rooted in a place. But before we can play with the ideas we need to be inspector off the hook, and lets them know you've had some (supposedly) competent review of your project. It may be a justified necessity if you're doing something really oddball. 8. Lay your cards on the table (usually). If an inspector thinks you're not playing straight, you're liable to have everything gone over with a fine-toothed comb. 9. Get a copy of Edmund Vitale's Building Regulations ($12.95 from Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017). Many details are out of date, but it is an excellent source of how different codes cover different topics, how to challenge an inspector's decisions, how to read the code (what it really requires, doesn't require, or is really vague on), and lots of other good Hps on dealing with inspectors and codes. It's the best detailed source on dealing with codes. 10. Don't blame codes for a bad design. Outstanding homes can be built with no code problems. Codes don't cause bad designs. But not dealing with safety, structural, and other valid concerns until too late can cause an expensive mess with any design. Happy building! □ □ secure in the skills required to build. Owner-builder schools build both confidence and know-how as they demystify the process of building. All of these schools provide the information and the hands-on practice needed to build intelligently and economically. According to the Owner Builder Center, an owner-built house saves 58% of the cost of a comparable contractor-built house — even more if recycled materials are used. All of the schools listed below offer a full range of courses, from short courses in cabinetmaking or plumbing ($50-$100) to semester-long evening courses on housebuilding and remodeling ($200-$300) to 3-week summer intensive residenhal courses ($375-$600). Summer courses are often booked solid six months before they start — classes are generally kept small (30-40) and publicity in national publications like Time and Newsweek stirs considerable interest. Students who have taken the courses are enthusiastic, and anywhere from 30 to 70% of them eventually build, subcontract, or remodel. Cornerstones and the Shelter Institute run bookstores and publish excellent booklists — a good place to find the books worth reading for ideas and solid information. Shelter Institute and the Owner Builder Center also publish quarterly newsletters featuring information on new products and stories about the houses built by their graduates. □□
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