Worley Idaho building codes?

[banjomike]

I found that a cheaper alternative to burning wood is burning soft coal. Coal requires a wood stove that is built to accept it, but many are, as any stove that can burn coal can also burn wood.

Coal burns longer than our softwoods, and burns hotter. It also needs much less room to store.

I used an antique railroad stove for quite a long time as an alternative to the gas furnace in my first house, purchased in the early 70s; during the day, I would use wood, and during the nights, coal I purchased locally in 100 lb. gunny sacks.
My gas furnace was set at around 50º or less, depending on the cold, day and night.

The old sheep camp stoves were all built as coal burners, and the sheepherders preferred it, as the stove was both a heater and a cooking stove.
Coal allowed them more free time, and was a better cooking fire as it heats up the stove hotter and faster than wood. They all chopped wood too, but more as a back-up than a primary heat source. A sack of coal could always be carried in the sheep camp itself.

The only coal that can be used is the soft coal though- the hard coal will burn a hole through the chimney pipe at the connection to the stove.

Wood and coal are equally pretty messy, and both will stink a house up quickly if the dampers aren't set right. Both emit a lot of carbon dioxide, so good venting and a window slightly cracked open are necessary.

Both require extra attention to fire, too, but any ash bucket will serve to hold coal clinkers with some sand in the bottom and some care not to place a hot clinker too close to the side of the bucket. All buckets need to go outside as soon as possible, to a safe place where anything hot in it can cool down fast and safely.

Given how low the price of gas is and how efficient modern gas stoves are, I wouldn't even mess with wood as a primary heating source if I was living in the boonies full time. Any stove is better than an open fireplace, and the best fireplaces for heating are all very shallow, with the fire essentially burning openly in the room, with a constant stream of cold air at a person's back while the front is getting scorched. A deep fireplace doesn't heat anything but the fire brick that lines it unless there is an internal fire box and a sophisticated convection venting system built into it. Or an electric fan running continually to distribute the heat.

In any house that is more than one open room, I guarantee one of the rooms will always be as cold as a carp all winter unless there's a big opening in a wall to allow the air to circulate. The choice is always privacy over heat (or vice versa).

Pioneer homes built in the 19th century always had two stoves, one in the parlor in the front of the house, and the other in the larger kitchen, in the back of the house.
The stove pipes for both were exposed as much as possible, often taking large twists and bends inside both rooms, so the heat in the stovepipes didn't go straight up and be wasted. The stove pipe in the parlor often went through a master bedroom upstairs fully exposed to heat it, and other bedrooms were heated by the big convection holes covered with ornamental grating in the floors and walls.
Most of life in winter was spent in the kitchen, where the cookstove served as heater, for cooking, and for drying clothes. They were typically mounted 3 or 4 feet away from the wall to allow for a clothes drying rack behind them. The kitchen served as the literal bath room; a copper tub always hung on one wall for bathing, and for clothes washing. This was one reason why the kitchen was always the biggest room in the house. Typically, the tub was used outside for both in warm weather.

All the inside walls were never insulated, as insulation only kept a cold room colder longer. Living in them was a noisy affair, with little privacy and a lot of stink, both from the stoves and from cooking odors and other normal smells of life, but they were comfortable, other than often being quite humid inside. No one ever opened a window to let the steam out, ever.

I've been in many of these homes, especially down in central Utah, that were only electrified. Some still had outhouses, but those that did all had electrification in the outhouse, too, and a civilized walkway to the shack out back. Others that have indoor plumbing- many were designed for a manual water pump in the kitchen- often had a bathroom addition built onto the house. Most of those added bathrooms had continual heating problems that cause lots of plumbing repairs regularly.

All those pretty log cabins one sees in magazines and everywhere simply wouldn't work in off the grid life. Inner log walls would be thought of as being completely crazy to the pioneers, as would the huge window walls that capture the great view of the mountain. The thought of living in the winter without being fully dressed inside the house never entered their minds. Robes, slippers, silk caps, scarves, and light sweaters were always used during the winter months indoors as extra warmth.

They expected to wear warm clothing inside or outside full time until bedtime, and even then, wore night caps to keep their heads warm and at least one full layer of clothing under the covers. Beds were usually draped on all sides to keep the body heat in as well. A person who lounged around in underclothes was either very accustomed to being continually cold or crazy. Or both.
And since fire was such an ever present danger, life in wither was usually very dark most of the time. Any lantern or other lighting was kept to a minimum, and heavy winter drapes always covered the windows, and the windows were always narrow. Tall windows were better than wide windows, because the admitted more light at the top. The lower panes were always draped. Bedrooms typically had only one window, often quite small.

It's a completely different lifestyle than ours today. While it sounds very romantic, it always took a lot of fair weather preparation for the winter, and the preparations always resulted in using up a lot of space inside the home. Outside storage was always as close as possible to the house, as was the outhouse. Nobody wanted to make a trip to the cellar when its 10 below outside.

And all of us who live here know how long our winters are. March is not springtime here- it's late winter, and half of April may be, too, sometimes. Modern conveniences aren't conveniences out in the wilderness; they are all very welcome advantages that make life happier and better for all.

[VeniVidiVelcro]

Originally Posted by teddygorge

Hi everyone! Just was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the difference in codes between CDA Idaho building codes and Worley Building codes. I know they are in the same county but I cant seem to find if they have the same Building codes? My plan is to live in my airstream trailer as I build my home but it may take a few years. I'm planning on doing the entire property OFF GRID so I wont be hooking to grid at all. The locals I've talked to say that they don't see why that would be a problem. The land is in a very wooded area and out of the way. Anyone had experience with this or have any advice? Thanks

Hi it's 4 years later, how did this work out for you?

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by NYCTexas18

Hi it's 4 years later, how did this work out for you?

It doesn’t appear that the OP has been back in four years.
Are you interested in Worley or living off grid?

[VeniVidiVelcro]

Serendipitous. I’m curious about Worley