First project, a little overwhelmed--Help?

[mountaindreamer]

I'm planning my first project, but all the detail in Ianto and Leslie's book is overwhelming to the point where I can't remember it. I've never built one, never taken a workshop, never even watched one be built.

What I'm looking for here is some more general suggestions on where to start on my project to help ease me into a place where I can look at all the numbers and have a clue how they relate to my needs.

I'm still in the conceptual stage of designing my building, and I need to know roughly what configuration it's going to work in before I can mentally wrap walls around what the building contains, and thus, start building.

Things I'll need to heat:
A double bed
Most likely a bench/daybed
Water

Now with the water, I don't mean I need enough to shower in. I need to at least be able to heat water for tea, that kind of thing, and while it'd be nice, a full-on cooking setup isn't really necessary, assuming the other person on the lot doesn't experience their facilities totally failing (sadly, not as improbable as we'd previously hoped.)

Also, there's the space constraints. There've been some pesky crackdowns on those who broke code up here, so I need to be sure I build in such a way I'm not required to get permits. The most obvious implication of that is building under 200 square feet, but tiny as possible is my intention anyway.

So! Bed, bench, maybe cooking surface. I'm thinking if I go for anything more elaborate than heating water, I should use a setup with two stoves, one for heating the sleeping/sitting mass and one for the cooking, as last summer it was unbearably (to me) hot up there and... well, you get the point, right? Don't want to boil my bed if all I need is water in the summer.

While I'm sitting around, I'll see about sketching out my vague concept of how I think the building should go, to make more sense.

Suggestions? Please, fire away, and thanks a bunch!

--
Oops, typo in title fixed.

[Donkey]

I would suggest that you build a few rocket stoves outside.
At first just build the J tube, then add bits. Don't use a lot of cob to start with, just seal the cracks and what-not with a slickum of clay/sand.
Fiddle around with pipes, add a barrel, lengthen this, adjust that, move things till the stove stops working, then move 'em back.
Build, adjust and fiddle with the fire going and see what happens when you make various changes.

That's my best advice: get a feel for things BEFORE you design anything. Then, after you've got a design, build it outside and work out the bugs before you re-build it inside (of course only to work out the new bugs introduced by bringing it in).

[mountaindreamer]

Thanks!

A newbee question: is it possible to build the rocket stove outside first, and then later add on and make a (sheltered) bench? If I'm going to be using the materials, I'd like to make it something I can really milk all the worth out of, but I don't think I have time to build a couple benches before building all my stuff this year.

Another question (so many questions!) I got while reading through Ianto and Leslie's book: it seems you can put insulation between the rocket and the floor to make the top heat up faster to use for cooking. But, if you don't insulate under the rocket, it can heat up the floor more as thermal mass. Seems it's pretty much one or the other. Do you know if there's a sort of middle ground that could compromise, or should I plan on two totally separate systems for heating and cooking?

[Donkey]

First Q: of course.. Though, I imagined that you would move all the stuff inside once it's been tested outside.

Last Q: Umm.. The more insulative the material, the less heat will get to the floor.. So, the middle ground would be in materials choice. I suppose that's ALWAYS the case, you're ALWAYS fiddling around in the middle ground.
In my stove here at home I separated functions, one fire for heat another for cooking. It seems to me that if you want to cook in the summer and NOT heat the house simultaneously, you will want to find a way to either make a separate fire that dumps heat directly outside, or make a diversion or gate valve (of some kind) to change the fire-path and bypass heating.

[mountaindreamer]

Ah, okay. I was originally thinking of practice-assembling them outside first and then building inside, as is advised in the book, but I misunderstood what you said.

I think I'll just bank on making two, then. More experience to be gained by making more, as well as avoiding overheating. Last summer involved a lot of shiftily looking to see if the neighbors were there and tossing clothing. Don't know if that's gonna be the norm for temps up there, so best to make sure.