Thinking of building an earthen home? Cob, adobe, earthbag, compressed earth block ( CEB ), rammed earth, sod or terrón. What ever flavor of earthen architecture you choose, this may be useful in planning the structure and working with local building officials.
Chris Tilt interviews Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley of Cob Cottage Company.
Interested in learning more about building ecstatic houses made of mud? I highly recommend the book The Hand Sculpted House, A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage »
Some of these images came from?
This delicious 900 round foot hand-sculpted building is the work of Austin, Texas resident Gary Zuker. Seems to have come straight out of medieval times. He wasn’t a professional builder when he embarked on creating this master piece, but you wouldn’t know it! I really admire the craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Gary used timber frame and straw/clay infill technique for his wall system. Straw/Clay A.K.A: Leichtlehmbau ( a German term for light straw-clay ), light-clay or my favorite – slippy-straw. Light-clay is lighter than traditional cob, about half the weight per cubic foot and has greater insulating properties. It’s packed into temporary forms and allowed to dry before plastering. Check out Gary’s article illustrating the technique [pdf].
Light-clay generally isn’t load bearing, no matter, that’s where the timber frame structure comes in. A scissor-truss system was used for the home’s roof structure made from pine from a sawmill nearby. Local stones were hauled to create the epic entrance and fireplace. To top it off Delores, Gary’s wife, artfully created stained glass windows for the home.
No collection of Making Cob articles would be complete without “BobCob”. That is: Cobcat, Bobcat cob or tractor cob. Although foot mixing cob can be a tactile treat for your feet, after the 100th ton of mud one thinks to themselves: Is there another way to do this? Well, our friends at Clay Sand Straw have demonstrated that there is another way. Here is a video of Kindra mixin-mud in Hunt, Texas - BobCob style.
Here is a dead simple method for growing your own food, especially in places with short growing seasons. When the weather heads towards freezing a Walipini could create a space 50ºF and above. How? Utilizing the baseline temperature of the earth and collecting solar energy . These underground greenhouses are dug 6 to 8 feet into the earth. Glazing is placed perpendicular to the winter solstice sun for maximum winter growing goodness.
The word “Walipini” comes from the Aymara Indian language and means “place of warmth”. They’ve been able to grow banannas at 14,000 feet elevation in the Andes.
Learn more about the Walipini Underground Green House »
Be sure to look at the Walipini PDF provided by the Benson Agriculture and Food Institute.
Cob Workshops is a free listing for cob building workshops and events.
