I will soon be purchasing some unimproved acreage and to get around Colorado building codes because I could never ever afford to build, I'm thinking of parking a fiver out there:1. orienting it south facing2. covering it with a sufficient moisture barrier3. then building a straw bale U-shaped wall around three of the sides 4. possible building in window holes5. then cobbing over the bale surface with stucco or mud6. then possibly building a small glass atrium over the exposed south wall.Crazy, I know but I'd like to improve the insulation for the wintertime while still keeping it not a permanent structure. Any thoughts on moisture, insulation, or miscellaneous would be greatly appreciated!Thank you. Dana

You really think the codes will allow that?

danablpl wrote:I will soon be purchasing some unimproved acreage and to get around Colorado building codes because I could never ever afford to build, I'm thinking of parking a fiver out there:1. orienting it south facing2. covering it with a sufficient moisture barrier3. then building a straw bale U-shaped wall around three of the sides 4. possible building in window holes5. then cobbing over the bale surface with stucco or mud6. then possibly building a small glass atrium over the exposed south wall.Crazy, I know but I'd like to improve the insulation for the wintertime while still keeping it not a permanent structure. Any thoughts on moisture, insulation, or miscellaneous would be greatly appreciated!Thank you. DanaIf you can't find straw bales you could also use gas soaked rags.

I think so. It's pretty open space out here. I'm just wondering if anyone's heard of this before, or know someone who's buried an rv. Someone crazy =)

Why not get a park model?. Do it they have to pass the codes too?

well it's because I can find a fiver for so much cheaper than anything else.

I'd love your advice on this. | Good Sam Community

36 Replies

kennethwooster
Explorer
Dec 25, 2014
Without knowing any more then I do about your situation, I think I would find a RV park, and save a lot of money, I don't think their monthly fee would be as much as you would have to do to land that had nothing, Water wells cost a lot. septic systems are expensive. and other things.
Mile_High
Explorer
Dec 25, 2014
Sprink-Fitter wrote:
Mile High wrote:
Our church built a small chapel out of adobe covered hay bales. The priest actually was pissed when the FD required a sprinkler system. Silly guy -

PS, you might note that a large percentage of haystacks are lost to lightning strikes in CO - it is a dry climate with high strike occurrences.

Did the church not get a permit to build?

I don't know how you would sprinkler something like that, kinda hard to hang the pipe in hay.

The structure itself (small wedding chapel) was wood timbers. The sprinkler system was fully supported and hung from the exposed timber roof assembly. About 9 sprinklers.

Yes it was built in the city with a permit.
Sprink-Fitter
Explorer
Dec 24, 2014
Mile High wrote:
Our church built a small chapel out of adobe covered hay bales. The priest actually was pissed when the FD required a sprinkler system. Silly guy -

PS, you might note that a large percentage of haystacks are lost to lightning strikes in CO - it is a dry climate with high strike occurrences.

Did the church not get a permit to build?

I don't know how you would sprinkler something like that, kinda hard to hang the pipe in hay.
Mile_High
Explorer
Dec 24, 2014
Our church built a small chapel out of adobe covered hay bales. The priest actually was pissed when the FD required a sprinkler system. Silly guy -

PS, you might note that a large percentage of haystacks are lost to lightning strikes in CO - it is a dry climate with high strike occurrences.
NJRVer
Explorer
Dec 23, 2014
You can do what I saw in GA once.
Someone took an old trailer (circa '40's or '50's) and had it parked on a piece of property and then proceeded to completely surround it with brick walls.
TakingThe5th
Explorer
Dec 23, 2014
Think about writing a How-to book on how to identify all the critters living in the straw. Might make a good source of income. Then on the heels of that success, follow it up with a cook book ...
bpounds
Nomad
Dec 23, 2014
Building with hay bales is actually a well established technique. Not just to surround an RV, but to actually build the walls.

But you do that to an RV and you won't be fooling anyone. It will have become a permanent structure and codes will apply. The only question is how long you can stay under the radar.
vic46
Explorer
Dec 23, 2014
I foresee a cease and desist order forthcoming.
B_O__Plenty
Explorer II
Dec 23, 2014
I think stacking old tires around it instead of hay bales would ad more ambiance. I once saw a mobile home done this way in the middle of a junkyard..why you hardly knew it was even there. If it hailed it would just bounce right off. Literally.

B.O.
MC9
Explorer
Dec 23, 2014
My daughters has a trailer on "unimproved" ranch land in S. Colo. The pack rats? will chew everything except the steel frame. The winter winds move it off its foundation every year.