Building a cave house in Chicago (Union, Lee: houses, construction, general contractor)

[doogenhousaer]

I live in Chicago and have recently become enamored by the idea of building a cave home for eco-friendly reasons. Ideally it would be nice to make it as small as possible since I am only one person. Was wondering what the policies Chicago has regarding digging up to 20ft down on purchased vacant lots, and any other red-tape I can expect to encounter undertaking such an unusual venture.

Here is along the lines what I'm looking to build. Something to that degree. But much smaller.

http://www.nipunscorp.com/2012/03/17...g-cave-houses/

[chet everett]

Even the most "green friendly" members of the Chicago adminstrative bueracracies are not going to change the fact that Chicago has narrow lots, shallow water table, a maze of buried gas, water and sewer lines, alley and sidewalk requirements and among the most "trade union required" building code in the nation. Honestly this is absolutely the wrong place to think about such a structure.

Years ago I remember seeing all kinds of "earth sheltered structures" in the alternative magazines but these type structures are really much better suited to less urbanized areas -- think Sante Fe or Sun Valley...

[doogenhousaer]

chet everett,

Narrow lots are not too much of a problem since I don't mind doing something small. The water table on the other hand could be an issue. Do you know how shallow it is in ft? What do you mean by "trade union required?" Meaning if I bought my own materials and went about digging and building my own house I'd need to pay someone from a union to sit and watch me build my house? Why would a union be necessary in doing anything? I understand I would need to abide by the chicago building code and energy standards.

[chet everett]

The Chicago building permit process is tied into a massive building code that is notorious in rejecting things that are seen by the unions as too "do-it-yourself" oriented. In many place the labor saving newer products are specifically prohibited.

It is not so much that you have to pay a union member to watch you build your home but if you need to install all electrical wiring in hard conduit, have to sweat all your plumbing connections, have to follow a specific nailing pattern and joist schedule for framing, finish al masonary in a specificed labor intensive manner and all the other details that basically mean you will not be able to use newer lower labor techniques then you end up spending so much that you might as well just hire the union tradespeople that will not be pestered by city inspectors every step of the way that a DIY would... And since the union tradespeople likely will not even be aware of how to build a "cave home" you are sorta out of luck in Chicago. As far as I know even the LEED and similar alternative energy designs are hard to get approval for in Chicago unless you are talking about the big commercial style stuff -- smaller residential projects in Chicago overwhelmingly rely on traditional methods becuase of strict permitting / inspection requirements.

[thegrid]

all the union hyperbole aside, there are major physical limitations to your underground construction idea. this is not the land for such projects unless you have major funding and a team of engineers.

how about a tiny house?

[ChicagoMeO]

So easy - even a caveman could do it!

[Attrill]

Building permits don't have any connection to Unions, and in general most are fairly reasonable as long as you're dealing with a sane person during the approval process. It is also very easy to be the general contractor for any project, all you have to do is sign the paperwork. I've been the GC for two large projects on our house.

That said, building codes in any large city are fairly complicated and you need to work with someone who knows them well before you submit anything for approval. For me that was our architect. I hired licensed and insured sub-contractors for things like building the foundation, working on the gas and water lines from the street, etc.

So it can be done, but due to many reasons I don't think a cave house would work in Chicago. The narrow lot widths and water table alone make the project a non-starter.

[chet everett]

No one said that the building permits are issued by union tradespeople or any other direct direct link, but anyone that has done anything more complicated than a dog house or basement make over in Chicago has almost certainly had to get a permit which is not just a formality -- the city will send out inspectors to verify every specific detail of the project. If you have a "connection" you might sneak by, but more and more even that is possible...

Personally I don't have a problem with this -- I know folks that have been injured by improperly built porches and the safety factor of having licensed architects, engineers, and contractors alone makes this a good idea give the devastation that could come from neglecting building codes.

That said I also know from personal experience that there are places that are much more open to building techniques and products that are far less labor intensive that are not approved for use in Chicago.

[NARFALICIOUS]

I'd love to live in a house like that. Unfortunately, you'll have a hard time finding a suitable place in the Chicago area for that.

[Vlajos]

The island of Thera in the Aegean has beautiful cave homes. The OP will have better luck there.