thought on cob chiminney.

[Kat Morrow]

>        And, BTW, the description of your (Mark Hoberechts) project was
>intriguing; I've been
>thinking along similar lines. I hope you'll post more about it.

Just to put in a quick word for the Last Straw, we hope have some info and
pictures of Marks project in the next issue (providing he has the time to
get it in).

And as for cob chimneys, we will also have some info from Kingston, NM
about Casa Chica, a little guest house that is a hybrid of most natural
building methods.  It has a beautiful fireplace and chimney built
completely out of cob.  The non-cob components are: the base which is earth
bags, an iron damper and rocks set into the outside chimney to protect it
from rain and to direct any sparks away from the roof (should be a living
roof by next year!).   The  chimney goes up next to a SB wall, we just made
sure there was a good amount of cob between the flue and the wall.  It
works extremely well and is a beautiful work of art.