Cob and strawbale combo (fwd)

[patrick newberry]

At 12:41 PM 9/14/96 -0700, you wrote:
>I think that the blank message we got from Patrick was supposed to be
>a copy of the one he sent to the strawbale list, so here it is for
>those who are not on the SB list.
>
>Shannon Dealy
>dealy at deatech.com

you are right Shannon, Not sure what happen 
the bad part was that I had some extra stuff written as well.


I  plan on adding a cob fireplace as well. 
My question was how thick should the cob fireplace be when it comes through
the roof. I mean with metal chimminies they use the 3 layers thick.  My
wooden beams will pass by the fireplace/stove.

Well I had a bit of a failure as well (today).
I was attempted to build a clay coated straw wall. basicly you lightly coat
straw and press in it  forms. The web site info I read said  you could move
the forms up right away. The walls had a thickness of about 6 inches. The
instructions then mentioned that after the straw dries you can  coat it with
a ferro cement on both  sides. I moved the forms up and when I was just
about  finished the wall collapse. I had not even really packed the second
level. I guess my only alternative is to put  some chicken wire on both
sides and then stuff with the clay coated straw. then coat with a stucco or
ferro cement mixture.

speaking of clay....I started to think a lot more about when I begin the cob
wall. On not so  easy to do thing was to get the clay into a powder enough
substance to mix with the sand. Any tricks to getting the clay in a state to
mix with the sand?

Latter
I'm going to bed  and lick my wounds over this dang wall.
My wife is a little more nervous about this whole thing.
I explained the value of scientific expermentation thus I was able to regain
some credability back.
Plus it's  hard work mixing the clay slip and pouring of straw and mixing
....well you got the picture.

by the way the web site I learn about this altra low cost building technique
is :
http://user.icx.net/~richarda/ulc.html
If anyone has used this method I would be interested in comparing notes to
see what I did wrong.

Good night.