08-12-2013, 05:02 AM
Good to hear! It's wise not to contribute to the monopoly that is helco.
julie, who has a topic on yurts in this very forum, had a good idea to make the base out of cement. I'd recommend the DIY version over the commercial / 'legal via county' options, unless of course, being 100% legal by the county is important to you. Also I'd recommend the Humanure Handbook, it's a great starting point for composting your waste. i'm still scratching my head on this one too Rob... I'd say forget the pyramid roof it'll cost you way too much if your thinking what I have in mind..pretty sure yurts come with dome roofs already which is pretty aesthetically pleasing. I'm guessing since you're planning offgrid / yurt money is short, but if thats not the case then by all means, hire a contractor to build your pyramid roof, i'm sure it will look awesome and we will all want you to post pictures for us = ) Hmm. no Judging from me, but I'll issue some advice, you probably want to keep your waste issues all to yourself. with the above read i'll assume from this point forward that you are probably not to keen in following the counties rules 100%, again no judging here. The county would not provide permits for some of the things that you want, like having 'no cesspool' or having a compost toilet (disclaimer: unless it's one of the several thousand dollar commercial models). Also I doubt you could get any of your other permits finaled missing a cesspool etc.
My house, while not a yurt, is ~ 4 ft off the ground. I think my neighbor has a varying height of between 10-20 ft because of the slope/elevation they built on. Pros: the higher you go the more windflow you'll have access to and in my opinion there seems to be less bugs/critters in houses built raised off the ground. Cons: Higher buildings are innately less stable (they sway with the wind/earthquakes, both of which are frequent in puna), also they will cost significantly more as you are using more materials.
I personally wouldn't try to mount solar panels on a roof of a yurt, nor have I ever seen that done. I'm guessing you'd want to build a single pitch carport or storage shed or combo to mount the panels on, having that additional area to catch water on would be nice as well. I don't have an exact number for you, I'd suggest contacting melissa fletcher at yurtsofhawaii.com 808-895-8640... Anyways hope you do your research before buying try the 'search' feature in the top right hand corner to unlock a wealth of stored information on building in puna, and perhaps answer some of the questions you have.
Aloha!