Cohousing-L Mailing List: Green construction materials

[Marya S. Tipton (sundog]

We are about to enter the wonderful world of home and site design.
Our aim is to build affordable, environmentally friendly homes. Åffordable
is the operating word at this juncture because we have just purchased a very
expensive piece of property. I personally am on a low budget, but I just
can't envision a home with aluminum siding and fiberglass insulation, for
environmental reasons as well as the lethal fumes given off in the event of
fire.
We have looked into things like straw bale and cob, but we live in a very
humid climate and I don't believe it is suitable. Cob is also very labor
intensive, and therefore very expensive. I spoke with Chuck Durrett about it
at the cohousing conference last year in Philly, and he also agrees that
straw bale is not for the East Coast.
We are now looking at getting Deltec round-house kits. But there is still
the  question of siding, insulation and wall infill.
Does anyone have any ideas out there about "green" insulation and wall
infill that won't break the environment, or our budget? Please keep in mind
that we are in a very conservative area and we will be the fist cohousing
community in Pennsylvania, so I don't want to get into anything that will
hang us up at the zoning board any more than we have to. But I am willing to
put up a good fight if I can keep the Pink Panther at bay.
Peace,
Marya Tipton
Hundredfold Farm
Orrtanna, PA
A Place to Grow!
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>From: Lynn Nadeau <welcome [at] olympus.net>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org>
>Subject: Telephone in the common house?
>Date: Tue, Nov 30, 1999, 2:46 AM
>

> I took a telephone in the common house as a given, in our programming,
> and imagine a lot of ways it might be useful. (Some of our 22 homes are
> as much as three blocks from the common house, and several are out of
> sight of it.) ( I assume long-distance blocking would not be a problem
> and would preclude any financial abuse of the system.)
>
> But some people are now questioning whether we should install a phone,
> when we get to that point in the construction process.
>
> Have some of you actual experience of having a common house with or
> without a telephone? With or without a computer that can go on line?
> (another use for a phone line)
>
> Thanks,
> Lynn at RoseWind
>