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Aloha,
New to this forum, so plez excuse my flubs.
Heading to my lot in Hawaiian Island Paradise Park, anyone live there ?
Just gonna build a small place to retire from the mainland ratrace.
Lived on Maui and in Honolulu for years until the cost drove me out.
Just want to blend in with the land scape, no bulldozing, small foot print.
Grow much of my food and listen to the rain. Any idea how much the county
will give me problems building a small bamboo home with composting toilet?
Also, cost of trying to get building permit. Don't want to **** off county folks
building what I need to live an easy life.
I don't know about Hawaiian Paradise Park but generally if you are out of sight of the neighbors and no one makes a complaint to the Zoning folks, you can do it for years. My opinion, from what I've seen.
I don't know about Hawaiian Paradise Park but generally if you are out of sight of the neighbors and no one makes a complaint to the Zoning folks, you can do it for years. My opinion, from what I've seen.
That post was made 5 years ago, so I don't think it matters to the OP now.
But to answer the question, the county is fine with approved compost toilets... that is to say, manufactured ones, not home-grown... and bamboo houses are fine with an approved building permit. There are a number of them around.
OpenD, will you share your source on the 'approved' composting toilets, and also which composting toilets are 'approved'? I had heard something about that a while back but was never able to find evidence of that in the codes.
Also, I was fairly certain that any permitted residence has to have an engineered cesspool or septic system. If you pay the $3,000 - $7,000 for that, why pay $1,000+ for a buggy, high maintenance, composting toilet to bypass that good and expensive disposal system? That's always been my take on the topic, anyway. The manufactured composting toilets will never work as well as a properly done humanure method either. It's a ridiculous cost for what seems to just complicate the relatively simple issue of recycling waste.
Bamboo is not an approved structural material. You can permit a home that has a lot of bamboo used in it, but bamboo is not the the main structural components, i.e., posts, beams, main supports, etc. There is only one 'bamboo house' business that I know of that makes the claim that they are permittable and that's the folks on Maui, but if you do a bit of Q&A, you'll find that the claim is a bit misleading. Yes they are permittable. No they are not made entirely, or even structurally, out of bamboo. I haven't researched that since a couple of years ago now, it's possible that some of this has changed, but I highly doubt it, or it would have made some headlines.
It's an 'ancient' bumped thread, but some interesting discussion materials.
OpenD, will you share your source on the 'approved' composting toilets, and also which composting toilets are 'approved'? I had heard something about that a while back but was never able to find evidence of that in the codes.
It's not in the building code, but it's something I was told by the county is effective policy, and that I also found mentioned on a county site, along with a listing of some approved models. I'll have to see if I can dig up that reference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YurtGirl
Also, I was fairly certain that any permitted residence has to have an engineered cesspool or septic system. If you pay the $3,000 - $7,000 for that, why pay $1,000+ for a buggy, high maintenance, composting toilet to bypass that good and expensive disposal system?
Well, the EPA keeps putting pressure on the county to stop permitting new cesspools, because of groundwater and coastal water pollution issues, and supposedly they've stopped permitting them on Residential zoned lots. Now it supposedly has to be a septic system, even if it uses a seepage pit instead of a conventional leach field.
But with a composting toilet you theoretically only need a greywater disposal system, something like a mini septic, which should be much simpler and cheaper to put in. But there's not a lot of clarity yet about what the requirements for those will be, and only a few have actually been approved so far.
As far as your characterization of composting toilets, my experience is different. The latest models I've used are neither smelly or buggy, and there's virtually no maintenance with the manual models except emptying them periodically. As I've pointed out elsewhere, Ed Begley Junior has them in his Beverly Hills mansion, and many thousands are in use in Europe and Canada, and the technology has evolved. Sanmar and Biolet are the best known brands, but they've both European and both have now copied features from the less expensive Nature's Head, made in Ohio, which has a basic model for $875 which can be shipped UPS to Hawai'i. See the two reviews from Hawaiian customers on this page: Nature's Head Composting Toilets
And one last thing... since composting toilets use no water, and toilet flushing is typically the top water use in a Hawaiian home, a composting toilet seriously reduces the total requirements for catchment or water haulage. Ecologically it's a win win, and since a humanure system is not approved, it's the way to go if you're committed to reducing water pollution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YurtGirl
Bamboo is not an approved structural material. You can permit a home that has a lot of bamboo used in it, but bamboo is not the the main structural components, i.e., posts, beams, main supports, etc.
I'm not advocating for bamboo, just watching what's happening because it has promise as an ecologically sound building material. There's a consultant in Kurtistown who invented a patented connector system for building with bamboo, and a borate treatment (??) for termite resitance, and using these he designed the big shelters that are used for the recycling stations at Hilo dump, using only "lumber grade" giant bamboo for structural support. Can't think of his name right now, but there's a plaque on one of them with that info. So there's some potential for the future I think.
Interesting post, but I just want to be able to afford to live in Hawaii especially in the winter months.
Aloha,
I suggest you use the Search function to dig into the archives here, which are filled with thousands of threads on every aspect of Hawaiian life. Once you've gotten your general questions answered, the ones everyone asks, the good folks here can help you with more specific questions that are unique to you.
Bamboo is not an approved structural material. You can permit a home that has a lot of bamboo used in it, but bamboo is not the the main structural components, i.e., posts, beams, main supports, etc.
OK, just found some notes that under the 2006 IBC any material can be approved for structural use if a Hawai'i licensed engineer signs off on the plan.
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