hello everyone cob is the best i have a question im looking to start a cob house in mexico baja california in valle de guadalupe near ensenada but i have zero experience with cob have ok experience with cinderblock homes wich is the standerd in mexico so my question is were can i go to learn how to build a cob home from the ground up willing to go enywere on the pacific coast to learn can some one tell me of a good work shop or clases i can go to i am also willing to work with a builder for room and board only if i am given the chance to lear this skill thanks poquito3@yahoo.com.mx u can contact me here
Hola soy Matias estoy por empesar una contruccion en cob, si alguien me entiende y puede darme una idea con respecto a los cimientos pensando tambien en la instalacion de un baño seco o compostero.
Gracias
Matias Rizzone
Buenos Aires
by the way, I just found out in the 2009 straw bale homes book that you can in fact use any stalk from any long grass if you take the seeded part out. Never feel low on resources if you are creative!
By the way, thanks for all the responses…and to answer, we live in northern Canada, in Alberta. The winters last 6-8 months and it can get to -40C with much snow. I wanted to know about the grass thing because we are making a small proto-dome in town to practice which will function as an earthen sweat lodge :). Thanks again!
Are you sure that cob won’t hold up against rain and snow? What about all the reports of using lime-based render to make them last for a century or more? It just seems to me that even when building straw, people are still inclined to hover around other conventional ideas, such as the square design. Geodesic domes are known as one of the strongest most efficient designs on earth, and if we could just insulate and cover them with earth, we would have a extraordinarily cheap model that anyone could build. There must be a way to make it permanent…
Cob alone won’t hold up ( with out constant maintenance). I’m glad your building a prototype sweat lodge. That will be a great place to experiment! Try it with just cob, and see how it performs. Though your right a healthy coat (x3 +) of lime plaster, would prolly be your best bet.
Me and my spouse are planning on making a cob summerhome/home around a straw-bale geodesic dome. I was wondering, is there anything that can be selected as a substitute for straw in the cob such as grass? If someone knew what purpose each of the separate components serve specifically it might give us all some great perspective on how this stuff really works.:)
Any help? Thanks!!!
I haven’t done any building yet, so I’m sure you’ll get some more experienced cobbers to answer this question. From all the information I’ve read (many different sources), the straw in the cob will act as your insulator. Without it, the thermal mass (ability to maintain heat or cooling) will be much less efficient. If you’re in a milder temperature maybe you could omit it, but that I’m not sure on. Straw also lends added strength to the walls and allows for corbeling, which means you can add shelves and other small structures like benches, etc, to the walls. There’s a ton of info about it. If you guys are building I HIGHLY recommend you check out the book “The Hand Crafted Cottage”. Totally informative and fun to read.
The sand or aggregate is the rock; the clay is the stuff that holds it together or the binder and the straw is for tensile strength; holding it all together kinda like rebar in concrete.
The thermal mass or earthen battery, is a slow moving temperature moderator. It collects what it’s given in terms of heat or cool, then gives back that ‘energy’ as it seeks equilibrium with the immediate surroundings.
Cob with out straw has more ability to store energy. Straw, depending on how much is added, think of light clay, can create insulation. Which instead of storing energy, resists the transfer of energy.
Sand, clay and straw is a proven mix.
I haven’t heard much on the topic of grasses. I’d like to use hemp some day, as I believe it would be superior to straw.
I don’t want to burst your bubble, but I don’t think a earthen exterior finish on a straw bale dome is going to work out very well, unless your in a very arid climate.
You may have to use a acrylic coating, or something to keep from replastering every year or more. That or use a cement based stucco, which isn’t very good for the bales. Or come up with a shingle system for the dome – maybe use used aluminum printing plates? Anyway – the cob won’t hold up by it’s self.
I don’t speak from experience here but I have read about a technique that is used a lot in Germany. They mix wood chips varying in size with clay slip and then pack the mix into forms similar to how rammed earth walls are done. I think it is called light clay. There is an article in the NY Times about an Austin man who built a cob house using a kind of light clay/cob technique that I thought was very informative, though he did use straw. Why do you not want to use straw?
You cannot use grass when green. I know this for sure because grass or any other still green plant is still food for moldy microorganisms.
Now perhaps if you had grass that dried out until all that’s left is brown cellulose, it could probably provide the tensile strength necessary depending what type of grass. Straw is basically from grass anyway because most grain plants are essentially grasses. There are just some that are better than others. Anything long is good for the structure of strong cob walls so dried out lawn clippings would NOT work well.
But this does have me thinking that dried out lawn clippings just might be great for finishing plaster…in fact, I’m eager to try and get back to you all about it.
I hate to ramble…who am I kidding…but I’ve read a little about old school British cob and they don’t seem to use straw at all, but without it they need to build slower and thicker. The straw gives Oregon cob it’s superior strength and moldability.
We are a house of three at the southernmost edge of Sellwood in Portland, OR, putting the finishing touches on a recently erected chicken coop. All that’s left to do is the cobbing. We’re looking for an experienced individual who would like to either work directly with us for an hourly or set wage, or perhaps lead a class/demonstration in our backyard on the materials and methods involved. Interested cobbers: please send all inquiries to newmy51 [at] gmail [dot] com or contact Danny at 5056709090.
Does anyone have experience with organizing and running a collective or cooperative community wood fire bread oven? Building a wood fire bread oven and baking is not an issue, I have done it, it’s the organizing and business end I’m wondering about. How feasible would it be to have a wood fire oven available at specified times of the day for home bakers to bring in their dough and pick it up a few hours later? It’s done in France, Italy, and North Africa, why not Wisconsin USA? Let’s chat so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Hi all, none of these posts look too old, so here’s hoping.
I just discovered cob and am determined to use it, at least for an outbuilding at first. I’m in central TX and my property has a lot of caliche, not too far down. Is this material suitable for making cob? It seems to have a lot of clay content but I couldn’t find a resource that could give the yay or nay regarding caliche.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Ryan,
Good Question! I posted http://ilovecob.com/archive/caliche-and-cob, maybe you could report back with your experiments?
I’ll do a few test batches my self…
Cheers, Mic
How is your project going? I want to do some building with cob and am looking for connections/info. I recommend a book called Alternative Construction-Contemporary Natural Building Methods by Lynne Elizabeth and Cassandra Adams.
I am a part of a homeschool co-op and am dreaming of building a small schoolhouse in my back yard. I live in the city and don’t have the extra soil to spare for the cob. Can anyone give me ideas of cheap or free resources?
Anna, I’d check with local construction / excavation companies. They may have clay rich soil they need to remove and/or will deliver sand for a fee.
You might ask them for broken up concrete, or ‘urbanite’, for the stem wall. They pay to dump this stuff, so you might be helping them out.
Check http://craigslist.org or http://freecycle.org for materials; often free if YOU remove them.
Hi! I’m so happy to find this message board!
My husband and I are getting ready for our first cob project (we eventually will build a cob house but not yet!) and are wondering about an outdoor fireplace. Do we need to dig a 2ft trench just like we would for a house? Does it need that much foundation?
Thanks so much! Glad to be part of the posting.
Cheers-
Leslie.
I am only the coordinator for the project. I do not really know any of the details of the construction process. Our volunteers from various cob construction companies are handling the actual project. However, I do know there is a lot of instructional information on line. Good luck to you and if you are ever in the Austin, Texas area come visit us. Take care…
May you be blessed immensely, peace be with you,
Barbara “Schatze” Hausenfluck
For The Love of A Mother’s Child
Leslie, I don’t think you’ll need a 2 foot trench, but you’ll want a good footing.
Check out Kiko Denzer’s book Build Your Own Earthen Oven http://www.handprintpress.com/
Thanks for your response. Maybe we’ll try tigging a trench at 1 foot instead. Is that what you mean by good footing?
Also, I think we just want to do a fire pit, as opposed to an outdoor oven, maybe even something similar to the back cover picture on The Hand Sculpted House… I’m probably over thinking it and should just get to work!
Thanks again, so happy to be talking with you about it.
ps. anybody know any experienced cobbers in Missouri? Thanks!
Hi – I’m an art student from Australia and I found your website when researching about cob. I need to make a sculpture somehow connected to that word. Do you think it is posable to make a 200mm-200mm sculpture out of cob? Is that too small a size to work with? Your advice would be greatly apprieciated.
Cob mixture can be used much like play-dough. In fact, once the cob storybook castle is completed on the faire grounds, it will be used as a cob teaching workshop where faire going kids will learn about the green building technique through a project of building their own miniature castles to take home. If you find yourself planning to visit the Austin, Texas area we would love to have you come play with us and be part of the magic of our Cob Castle. Take care….
May you be blessed immensely, peace be with you,
Barbara “Schatze” Hausenfluck
For The Love of A Mother’s Child
Cob isn’t that different than clay. I definitely think you could make a sculpture that size. Experiment with different clay / sand ratios, and see how they dry out.
hello!
My partner and i will be building a homestead on my dad’s land, northern interior of b.c. nearest town would be smithers about an hour away.we really want to craft a cob house up there but my dad says it’s not temperate enough, do you have any suggestions on building in a fairly cool climate? it can reach about 70 below with the wind in the winter. we have 82 acres of virgin forest, a lake and lots of grasses i think it would be ideal. any advice would be great!
I am finishing a bale-cob building in the cold climate of Wisconsin. Very cold at times! -30 F and colder.
The bale-cob building I built is round and completely insulated with straw bales. All cob areas around the windows and doors are also insulated on the exterior with about 4″ of various insulation materials that I have come with and applied in different ways(chopped up extruded foam, and wool/lime). I plan to use a perlite/lime finish as well on these areas. The stem wall sits on a rubble trench and is comprised of chicken feed sacks filled with gravel and sand and a little cement. I built this building in order to see if it will all work. Many people have said that cob doesn’t work in a freezing climate, and I see no examples of shallow rubble trenches in cold climates either. This building has been up now for one year and seems fine so far. The foundation is a FPSF (frost protected shallow foundation) rubble trench and the heat source comes from a rocket stove. This is all an experiment to see what happens. I have put too much time and effort in this. Well not really, it’s all been very fun running workshops and meeting people from all over the midwest and so has been worthwhile and exciting.
I will talk cold cob and what I have experienced with interested seekers. I have only built bale cob sturctures so far and this building makes three. Give me a call and I’ll tell you what I know. 651-428-5493.
My husband and will be building a small test building next summer -quick question to those more knowledgeable. Would Kentucky climate be good for a cob home? Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to take up the tires. I already filled them with earth very rich in clay, but I’m not planning on working on it again until spring. It freezes here every night.
But I’m still a bit confused, is a foundation under the tires nessery, because i’ve also looked at earth ships and how they are layed on top of the land.
If I did put a foundation under the tires would it have to be the width of the tires?
Would tires just filled with concrete or rock work?
The Taos Pueblo has been built with out a rubble trench or ‘footing’ too. Something to be said about drainage and a stable footing for massive cob walls. Depends on the site conditions.
hands to the earth..projects of rebirth..rally forth
I’m offering a workshop in Jan, 2010 in Mali, Africa. We will build an earthen dome schoolhouse and learn earth bag, cob, and local Dogon earth building practices. Sign up and details go to http://www.earthenhand.com.
Here is a poem about the Earthen Hand name:
Earthen Hand
The Hand of the Earth.
Her hands. Move us. We are her hands.
Earth in Hand
Ear then Hand to learn
Hand covered in mud.
@ Lydia,
6 meters isn’t that small if you ask me (work-wise).
About your tyre foundation… I’d recommend knee high. It would be best if there was a layer of rock underneath – a rubble trench that extends below frost line. And rock in the first course of tires. This keeps the damp from penetrating up into the wall and provides drainage.
If you already have a course down, then consider a capillary break in the next layer. I haven’t worked with tire foundations much. I here tell the earthship walls are placed directly on earth.
You can build cob if it’s not freezing… it might not dry out very fast though.
Hey, i’m currently building a cob house and have looked everywhere for answers to my questions i have. I hope you might be able to shed some light on them.
I’m building a small living space out of cob,about 6 by 6 meters. I’m using old car tyers as a foundation, i only hav one layer so far, how many would be recomended? Is one okay layer?Are they okay layed flat on the ground and filled with clay? or should they be dug into the ground?
Hi Heather,
I like your ambition and thoughtfulness. It sounds like many of your goals are similar to what the Natural Building Network works towards. I’d approach the office and see if they know of any people or organizations in your area. Also City Repair is a organization to check out if you haven’t already.
I live in Sacramento CA and currently there is NOT a network of natural builders. There’s one person I know of working with Cob, there are 2 strawbale homes in the 5 surrounding counties, and a few faux finishers who’ve tentatively branched into earthen paint and plaster.
My haunch is that this will grow but it needs water. I want to pioneer a Sacramento/central valley natural building network with a few goals in mind.
To form a cooperative of builders/artisans who are committed to building naturally,
To start a school/class where the skills can be shared with a new generation and with eachother.
To work with structural engineers to give these building methods credibility with inspectors.
And to educate the public of the safety, beauty, and durability, of a well built natural home.
This is alot to do and I have never ever tried such a thing before. Any advice from people who’ve successfully created a movement in their community?
Hi Heather,
A few months after your post, I’m curious if you have been able to start anything. Brain Baker in sacramento has workshops on cob. I’m going to be taking on some projects soon, but have never done any cobbing. My gf has helped make a bench in Davis years ago. I’m looking to build a bench in my back patio, and cover an old brick fireplace. I would like to hear what you have learned and any connections you have made.
hello everyone cob is the best i have a question im looking to start a cob house in mexico baja california in valle de guadalupe near ensenada but i have zero experience with cob have ok experience with cinderblock homes wich is the standerd in mexico so my question is were can i go to learn how to build a cob home from the ground up willing to go enywere on the pacific coast to learn can some one tell me of a good work shop or clases i can go to i am also willing to work with a builder for room and board only if i am given the chance to lear this skill thanks poquito3@yahoo.com.mx u can contact me here
Hola soy Matias estoy por empesar una contruccion en cob, si alguien me entiende y puede darme una idea con respecto a los cimientos pensando tambien en la instalacion de un baño seco o compostero.
Gracias
Matias Rizzone
Buenos Aires
by the way, I just found out in the 2009 straw bale homes book that you can in fact use any stalk from any long grass if you take the seeded part out. Never feel low on resources if you are creative!
@fireseed, I found a couple of links you might be interested in, regarding the domes:
http://ilovecob.com/ashan/goodbadmuddy/gbm13.htm
http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/creativeEcology/altBuilding/geodesicDomes.htm
By the way, thanks for all the responses…and to answer, we live in northern Canada, in Alberta. The winters last 6-8 months and it can get to -40C with much snow. I wanted to know about the grass thing because we are making a small proto-dome in town to practice which will function as an earthen sweat lodge :). Thanks again!
Are you sure that cob won’t hold up against rain and snow? What about all the reports of using lime-based render to make them last for a century or more? It just seems to me that even when building straw, people are still inclined to hover around other conventional ideas, such as the square design. Geodesic domes are known as one of the strongest most efficient designs on earth, and if we could just insulate and cover them with earth, we would have a extraordinarily cheap model that anyone could build. There must be a way to make it permanent…
Cob alone won’t hold up ( with out constant maintenance). I’m glad your building a prototype sweat lodge. That will be a great place to experiment! Try it with just cob, and see how it performs. Though your right a healthy coat (x3 +) of lime plaster, would prolly be your best bet.
Me and my spouse are planning on making a cob summerhome/home around a straw-bale geodesic dome. I was wondering, is there anything that can be selected as a substitute for straw in the cob such as grass? If someone knew what purpose each of the separate components serve specifically it might give us all some great perspective on how this stuff really works.:)
Any help? Thanks!!!
I haven’t done any building yet, so I’m sure you’ll get some more experienced cobbers to answer this question. From all the information I’ve read (many different sources), the straw in the cob will act as your insulator. Without it, the thermal mass (ability to maintain heat or cooling) will be much less efficient. If you’re in a milder temperature maybe you could omit it, but that I’m not sure on. Straw also lends added strength to the walls and allows for corbeling, which means you can add shelves and other small structures like benches, etc, to the walls. There’s a ton of info about it. If you guys are building I HIGHLY recommend you check out the book “The Hand Crafted Cottage”. Totally informative and fun to read.
By the way, where do you live?
ps. do not substitute grass for straw. :)
The sand or aggregate is the rock; the clay is the stuff that holds it together or the binder and the straw is for tensile strength; holding it all together kinda like rebar in concrete.
The thermal mass or earthen battery, is a slow moving temperature moderator. It collects what it’s given in terms of heat or cool, then gives back that ‘energy’ as it seeks equilibrium with the immediate surroundings.
Cob with out straw has more ability to store energy. Straw, depending on how much is added, think of light clay, can create insulation. Which instead of storing energy, resists the transfer of energy.
Sand, clay and straw is a proven mix.
I haven’t heard much on the topic of grasses. I’d like to use hemp some day, as I believe it would be superior to straw.
I don’t want to burst your bubble, but I don’t think a earthen exterior finish on a straw bale dome is going to work out very well, unless your in a very arid climate.
You may have to use a acrylic coating, or something to keep from replastering every year or more. That or use a cement based stucco, which isn’t very good for the bales. Or come up with a shingle system for the dome – maybe use used aluminum printing plates? Anyway – the cob won’t hold up by it’s self.
I don’t speak from experience here but I have read about a technique that is used a lot in Germany. They mix wood chips varying in size with clay slip and then pack the mix into forms similar to how rammed earth walls are done. I think it is called light clay. There is an article in the NY Times about an Austin man who built a cob house using a kind of light clay/cob technique that I thought was very informative, though he did use straw. Why do you not want to use straw?
You cannot use grass when green. I know this for sure because grass or any other still green plant is still food for moldy microorganisms.
Now perhaps if you had grass that dried out until all that’s left is brown cellulose, it could probably provide the tensile strength necessary depending what type of grass. Straw is basically from grass anyway because most grain plants are essentially grasses. There are just some that are better than others. Anything long is good for the structure of strong cob walls so dried out lawn clippings would NOT work well.
But this does have me thinking that dried out lawn clippings just might be great for finishing plaster…in fact, I’m eager to try and get back to you all about it.
I hate to ramble…who am I kidding…but I’ve read a little about old school British cob and they don’t seem to use straw at all, but without it they need to build slower and thicker. The straw gives Oregon cob it’s superior strength and moldability.
Hi ilovecob.com!
We are a house of three at the southernmost edge of Sellwood in Portland, OR, putting the finishing touches on a recently erected chicken coop. All that’s left to do is the cobbing. We’re looking for an experienced individual who would like to either work directly with us for an hourly or set wage, or perhaps lead a class/demonstration in our backyard on the materials and methods involved. Interested cobbers: please send all inquiries to newmy51 [at] gmail [dot] com or contact Danny at 5056709090.
Thanks!
john i can help if you still need thats a great idea bryan36b@msn.com
Does anyone have experience with organizing and running a collective or cooperative community wood fire bread oven? Building a wood fire bread oven and baking is not an issue, I have done it, it’s the organizing and business end I’m wondering about. How feasible would it be to have a wood fire oven available at specified times of the day for home bakers to bring in their dough and pick it up a few hours later? It’s done in France, Italy, and North Africa, why not Wisconsin USA? Let’s chat so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Hi all, none of these posts look too old, so here’s hoping.
I just discovered cob and am determined to use it, at least for an outbuilding at first. I’m in central TX and my property has a lot of caliche, not too far down. Is this material suitable for making cob? It seems to have a lot of clay content but I couldn’t find a resource that could give the yay or nay regarding caliche.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Ryan,
Good Question! I posted http://ilovecob.com/archive/caliche-and-cob, maybe you could report back with your experiments?
I’ll do a few test batches my self…
Cheers, Mic
How is your project going? I want to do some building with cob and am looking for connections/info. I recommend a book called Alternative Construction-Contemporary Natural Building Methods by Lynne Elizabeth and Cassandra Adams.
I am a part of a homeschool co-op and am dreaming of building a small schoolhouse in my back yard. I live in the city and don’t have the extra soil to spare for the cob. Can anyone give me ideas of cheap or free resources?
Anna, I’d check with local construction / excavation companies. They may have clay rich soil they need to remove and/or will deliver sand for a fee.
You might ask them for broken up concrete, or ‘urbanite’, for the stem wall. They pay to dump this stuff, so you might be helping them out.
Check http://craigslist.org or http://freecycle.org for materials; often free if YOU remove them.
Hi! I’m so happy to find this message board!
My husband and I are getting ready for our first cob project (we eventually will build a cob house but not yet!) and are wondering about an outdoor fireplace. Do we need to dig a 2ft trench just like we would for a house? Does it need that much foundation?
Thanks so much! Glad to be part of the posting.
Cheers-
Leslie.
I am only the coordinator for the project. I do not really know any of the details of the construction process. Our volunteers from various cob construction companies are handling the actual project. However, I do know there is a lot of instructional information on line. Good luck to you and if you are ever in the Austin, Texas area come visit us. Take care…
May you be blessed immensely, peace be with you,
Barbara “Schatze” Hausenfluck
For The Love of A Mother’s Child
Leslie, I don’t think you’ll need a 2 foot trench, but you’ll want a good footing.
Check out Kiko Denzer’s book Build Your Own Earthen Oven
http://www.handprintpress.com/
Michael,
Thanks for your response. Maybe we’ll try tigging a trench at 1 foot instead. Is that what you mean by good footing?
Also, I think we just want to do a fire pit, as opposed to an outdoor oven, maybe even something similar to the back cover picture on The Hand Sculpted House… I’m probably over thinking it and should just get to work!
Thanks again, so happy to be talking with you about it.
ps. anybody know any experienced cobbers in Missouri? Thanks!
im in the austin area and would love to talk cob
bryan36b@msn.com
Hi – I’m an art student from Australia and I found your website when researching about cob. I need to make a sculpture somehow connected to that word. Do you think it is posable to make a 200mm-200mm sculpture out of cob? Is that too small a size to work with? Your advice would be greatly apprieciated.
Thank you – Gabrielle Goswami.
Cob mixture can be used much like play-dough. In fact, once the cob storybook castle is completed on the faire grounds, it will be used as a cob teaching workshop where faire going kids will learn about the green building technique through a project of building their own miniature castles to take home. If you find yourself planning to visit the Austin, Texas area we would love to have you come play with us and be part of the magic of our Cob Castle. Take care….
May you be blessed immensely, peace be with you,
Barbara “Schatze” Hausenfluck
For The Love of A Mother’s Child
Cob isn’t that different than clay. I definitely think you could make a sculpture that size. Experiment with different clay / sand ratios, and see how they dry out.
Charity seeks people interested in promoting cob construction…see posting on craigslist:
http://austin.craigslist.org/act/1112202745.html
hello!
My partner and i will be building a homestead on my dad’s land, northern interior of b.c. nearest town would be smithers about an hour away.we really want to craft a cob house up there but my dad says it’s not temperate enough, do you have any suggestions on building in a fairly cool climate? it can reach about 70 below with the wind in the winter. we have 82 acres of virgin forest, a lake and lots of grasses i think it would be ideal. any advice would be great!
Hey Elyse,
Brrr. You might check into ‘Bale Cob’ or Straw bale for added insulation. Sounds like a beautiful place!
I am finishing a bale-cob building in the cold climate of Wisconsin. Very cold at times! -30 F and colder.
The bale-cob building I built is round and completely insulated with straw bales. All cob areas around the windows and doors are also insulated on the exterior with about 4″ of various insulation materials that I have come with and applied in different ways(chopped up extruded foam, and wool/lime). I plan to use a perlite/lime finish as well on these areas. The stem wall sits on a rubble trench and is comprised of chicken feed sacks filled with gravel and sand and a little cement. I built this building in order to see if it will all work. Many people have said that cob doesn’t work in a freezing climate, and I see no examples of shallow rubble trenches in cold climates either. This building has been up now for one year and seems fine so far. The foundation is a FPSF (frost protected shallow foundation) rubble trench and the heat source comes from a rocket stove. This is all an experiment to see what happens. I have put too much time and effort in this. Well not really, it’s all been very fun running workshops and meeting people from all over the midwest and so has been worthwhile and exciting.
I will talk cold cob and what I have experienced with interested seekers. I have only built bale cob sturctures so far and this building makes three. Give me a call and I’ll tell you what I know. 651-428-5493.
brYan
Hey BrYan,
Do you have any pics? Sounds like a cool project. I know what you mean about the time! Tis a labor of love…
I have a question that I hope someone can answer, I live in Dallas Texas. I want to buy some land outside of Dallas and build a cob house.
Does anyone know if fire ants are a problem for cob houses?
Hi Lisa,
Kindra Welch has cob experience in your area.
http://claysandstraw.com
My husband and will be building a small test building next summer -quick question to those more knowledgeable. Would Kentucky climate be good for a cob home? Thanks in advance!
Faye,
You might ask…
Howard Switzer, Architect
Linden, TN 37096
http://www.earthandstraw.com
Thanks for the advice Michael.~
Unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to take up the tires. I already filled them with earth very rich in clay, but I’m not planning on working on it again until spring. It freezes here every night.
But I’m still a bit confused, is a foundation under the tires nessery, because i’ve also looked at earth ships and how they are layed on top of the land.
If I did put a foundation under the tires would it have to be the width of the tires?
Would tires just filled with concrete or rock work?
Thanks alot for your help.
x
The Taos Pueblo has been built with out a rubble trench or ‘footing’ too. Something to be said about drainage and a stable footing for massive cob walls. Depends on the site conditions.
hands to the earth..projects of rebirth..rally forth
I’m offering a workshop in Jan, 2010 in Mali, Africa. We will build an earthen dome schoolhouse and learn earth bag, cob, and local Dogon earth building practices. Sign up and details go to http://www.earthenhand.com.
Here is a poem about the Earthen Hand name:
Earthen Hand
The Hand of the Earth.
Her hands. Move us. We are her hands.
Earth in Hand
Ear then Hand to learn
Hand covered in mud.
@ Lydia,
6 meters isn’t that small if you ask me (work-wise).
About your tyre foundation… I’d recommend knee high. It would be best if there was a layer of rock underneath – a rubble trench that extends below frost line. And rock in the first course of tires. This keeps the damp from penetrating up into the wall and provides drainage.
If you already have a course down, then consider a capillary break in the next layer. I haven’t worked with tire foundations much. I here tell the earthship walls are placed directly on earth.
You can build cob if it’s not freezing… it might not dry out very fast though.
Have you read the ‘Hand-Sculpted House’?
Hey, i’m currently building a cob house and have looked everywhere for answers to my questions i have. I hope you might be able to shed some light on them.
I’m building a small living space out of cob,about 6 by 6 meters. I’m using old car tyers as a foundation, i only hav one layer so far, how many would be recomended? Is one okay layer?Are they okay layed flat on the ground and filled with clay? or should they be dug into the ground?
Is it okay to build cob in the cold UK winter?
Thank you. I hope you can help.
P.S wonderful little webpage you have going.
Hi Heather,
I like your ambition and thoughtfulness. It sounds like many of your goals are similar to what the Natural Building Network works towards. I’d approach the office and see if they know of any people or organizations in your area. Also City Repair is a organization to check out if you haven’t already.
Let us know what happens!
http://naturalbuildingnetwork.org
http://cityrepair.org
Mic
I have a question for anybody to weigh in on.
I live in Sacramento CA and currently there is NOT a network of natural builders. There’s one person I know of working with Cob, there are 2 strawbale homes in the 5 surrounding counties, and a few faux finishers who’ve tentatively branched into earthen paint and plaster.
My haunch is that this will grow but it needs water. I want to pioneer a Sacramento/central valley natural building network with a few goals in mind.
To form a cooperative of builders/artisans who are committed to building naturally,
To start a school/class where the skills can be shared with a new generation and with eachother.
To work with structural engineers to give these building methods credibility with inspectors.
And to educate the public of the safety, beauty, and durability, of a well built natural home.
This is alot to do and I have never ever tried such a thing before. Any advice from people who’ve successfully created a movement in their community?
Hi Heather,
A few months after your post, I’m curious if you have been able to start anything. Brain Baker in sacramento has workshops on cob. I’m going to be taking on some projects soon, but have never done any cobbing. My gf has helped make a bench in Davis years ago. I’m looking to build a bench in my back patio, and cover an old brick fireplace. I would like to hear what you have learned and any connections you have made.
Greetings and Salutations!