Questions about building a small cabin in Fern Acres Hawaii (Hilo: for sale, 2014)

[OpenD]

Better check carefully, because power line installation can be expensive, and can take a lot of time. More time than you can imagine. Assume nothing.

As an example, my area had old poles, old wiring. Power drops could only be made from the poles, a maximum of 100'. When my property was purchased in 2004, everyone assumed that the nice, new tall poles installed next to the old poles meant a power upgrade was imminent. But it turned out the new tall poles were put up in 1992, and there was no plan to upgrade the wiring or transfer the existing wiring to the new poles. Huhhh??

Finally 2 years ago three residents joined together to pressure Helco to finish the work. What made the deal work was that one of them was in a position to pay for poles and line to get back to his house on a flag lot more than 150' from the road, and he wanted three-phase power for his garage machine shop. But it cost him $25,000. The other two lucked out, because it cost them only $385 each for a new mid-line power drop, made possible by the upgrade.

Seriously... new poles installed 1992, wiring installed on them 2008. That's Hawai'i time for you!

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Haackman2010

Who needs insulation in the tropics?

A lot more people than you think... here in Volcano we have night time temperatures in the low 50s or high 40s this time of year, and heating is very expensive.

In addition, in the summer insulation helps hold down the solar heat gain, and thus A/C costs. That's why if you install central HVAC you are REQUIRED to insulate.

[OpenD]

One general note on the building codes in Hawai'i which may help to understand some of the peculiarities here. Hawai'i still operates on the previous generation building code from 1997 or so. The rest of the country went to a new version of the building code about 7 years ago, but not Hawai'i. My architect, who used to practice in Hawai'i but now lives and works in Denver had to get an associate here chase down a copy of the old code for him here when we started working on my project. He had thrown out his copy when it became obsolete in Colorado.

That's one reason why new materials and techniques are hard to get OK'd here.

[YurtGirl]

2006 IBC is getting primed to be instated soon. There are some glitches we're all looking at and discussing and bringing to our county council's attention. Like mandatory safe rooms in every new residence, for a prime example.

Mandatory insulation was shut down, so that was, IMHO, a great relief. I have nothing against building w/ insulation in mind, just as I have nothing wrong w/ building a safe room. It's a homeowner's prerogative. There's just way too many instances where it is an unnecessary building cost. Our micro climate systems are too varied here in Hawaii to make these mandatory components of building, especially when there are so many ways to economically deal with the issues.

We live and work very close to Volcano and a wood stove works very well to take off the chill. Not expensive at all w/ the constantly regrowing, hard wood, invasive guava growing everywhere.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by YurtGirl

We live and work very close to Volcano and a wood stove works very well to take off the chill. Not expensive at all w/ the constantly regrowing, hard wood, invasive guava growing everywhere.

Wow, are you my neighbor up on Hounani? Been meaning to stop by and say hi. I stayed for a while in a Nesting Bird yurt near Seattle and really loved it!

The US census figures show that 1/3 of the homes in Volcano are wood heated, and 1/3 are unheated. Of course a lot of homes are also vacant over the winter, since this has long been a summer resort area.

On the big Art Studio Tour/Sale a few weeks ago I saw a small soapstone woodstove in use and it was really nice. If you aren't familiar with soapstone stoves, they absorb heat when the fire is burning, then release it slowly after the fire burns out. Really nice for keeping a place warm overnight.

One tip, when the stalks of tibouchina (the tall weeds that have intense purple flowers) make great firewood when thoroughly dried, making long lasting coals.

Unfortunately I can't use a woodstove inside because they aggravate respiratory issues, but I love my outdoor firepit. And next summer I'm making a woodfired pizza oven outside.

[Tauralan]

My husband and I are moving up to our new place in Fern Forest. There is an unpermitted cabin that we will be living in while we bring it up to code to be permitted. We are going to put in composting toilets, I have been researching them and I believe that they are a great idea, no runoff or waste water. We will put in a septic system if that is what it takes to get permitted but we will still have composting toilets because of the practicality and less impact on our environement. I don't understand the negativity regarding composting toilets here.
Other issues I would like more info on is the internet and television. I see Hughesnet mentioned, is there any other suggestions? Thanks

[Balad1]

I see the following ISP will be offering service in your area soon; they are reliable, cheaper and faster then Hughesnet etc.

Aloha Broadband - High Speed Internet (http://alohabroadband.com/internet_access.php - broken link)

[OpenD]

Check out Nature's Head composting toilet, the only one made in the US. Manually operated, no expensive motors to break and replace. Smaller and less expensive and less maintenance required than the competition. $850 + ~$125 shipping from Ohio. And very friendly customer service, unlike the company you were probably considering.

[Tauralan]

Thank you Balad1 and OpenD. Great people on this forum, I have been coming on for a few years now and have picked up some valuable information.

[YurtGirl]

Aloha, OpenD, I'm not your neighbor up there off Hounani, but I've been hearing of that yurt several times in the past couple weeks. I'll have to get up there and check it out! We actually live in Fern forest, the office yurt is going up closer to Volcano just off the highway.
Tauralan, it's possible the reason you find a bit of a negative attitude here toward composting toilets is that a) they aren't permittable. You have to have a septic system or cesspool to permit. b) the reason they aren't permittable anymore is because so many people were claiming composting toilets, only for it to be discovered that the large percentage didn't know the first thing about managing a compost system. Many were defecating in lava tubes and the like. Lava tubes run all over the place, including our streams, rivers, oceans and people's back yards. If you have a good system and you are diligent about making it work, that's great. In this day and age, that diligence regarding waste isn't the norm, so you won't get any support from the building department for compost toilets.

Personally, I never understood why people would spend a thousand plus dollars on a 'composting toilet' that makes the process so difficult, when the humanure system is so simple and eliminates the smell/bug/gross factors quite well for the cost of sawdust, a bucket and a bucket toilet seat. That being said, I love the ease and no fuss of our cesspool. Having had a compost toilet system, I'm thrilled to have been able to move on to a less 'hands on' approach.

A hui ho!