Cob Building

[Ty Livesay]

Does anyone have sources for cob building? I am in the Conway South Carolina Area, have some small acerage with a clay bottom pond, and want to build a small cob house?

Please shout out if you can help

 

[Beekissed]

http://www.cobprojects.info/

 

[Boogity]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Try Permaculture Discussions and search for "cob". Also there is lots of info. on U-Tube. Good luck and please keep us up to date on your progress.

 

[sonoii]

thanks for sharing, Beekissed.

 

[dagamoor]

Does anyone have sources for cob building? I am in the Conway South Carolina Area, have some small acerage with a clay bottom pond, and want to build a small cob house?

Please shout out if you can help

A fabulous resource is "The Hand Crafted House", although we have not actually started our cob project yet this book I believe is invaluable.
Give it a try if you are still looking for something.

 

[Emerald]

I can't wait to hear more! the only thing I've done close to cob is my clay earth oven. it works well. but man that is a lot of work for a whole house! but it would be snug!

 

[dagamoor]

I can't wait to hear more! the only thing I've done close to cob is my clay earth oven. it works well. but man that is a lot of work for a whole house! but it would be snug!

I am aware that building a cob house is probably the most work-intensive form of housing, but this is a trade off towards the benefits and the joy of the actual work and personal achievement. This is not something done without due consideration and determination, two things I DO have.

do you have photos of your clay earth oven?

 

[Emerald]

I hope it doesn't come up too big here.. and I'm ashamed to say that it still needs another layer but I just this fall got the extra material to finish it and then it got cold so now it is my next spring project.. I have baked bread in there but only one at a time. without the insulating layer it just doesn't stay hot for the time needed for more than one loaf.

and it makes killer pizza and pita bread

 

[Corn Woman]

I hope it doesn't come up too big here.. and I'm ashamed to say that it still needs another layer but I just this fall got the extra material to finish it and then it got cold so now it is my next spring project.. I have baked bread in there but only one at a time. without the insulating layer it just doesn't stay hot for the time needed for more than one loaf.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb1/emeraldwitch_2007/phonepicsjune17048.jpg
and it makes killer pizza and pita bread
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb1/emeraldwitch_2007/phonepicturesjune2909019.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb1/emeraldwitch_2007/phonepicturesjune2909017.jpg

Nice oven Emerald, I am considering making one. But I don't have much spare time to tackle a project like that. Did you use sand to form your oven?

 

[Mickey328]

Our soil here is mostly clay, so we'd have plenty of resource there, but at this point, we don't need to build anything, LOL. We've also been looking at papercrete...it's a really interesting idea...many of the advantages of cob, plus it's much lighter...and keeps lots and LOTS of paper out of the landfills. We're cutting through out foundation from the outside so we can access our crawl space without totally emptying the closet in the spare room and climbing down the rickety ladder. Hoping to use some of that space as a root cellar. We're discussing making papercrete bricks to use to shore up the sides and set a foundation for an access door.