Cob URL

[John Schinnerer]

Aloha,

-----Original Message-----
From:	timjt at awod.com [SMTP:timjt at awod.com]
>This site looks interesting.  Though it's not directly involved with cob,
>it has things which cobbers might still be able to use:

http://www.timberframemag.com/

>This is Goshen Timberframes, located in North Carolina...

Nice site - thanks for the tip!

>...Agriboard, a
>3.5" thick fiberboard made from agricultural byproducts, i.e. straw etc.
>The manufacturing process uses heat and pressure, no chemicals.

Just a caveat on sustainability here...there is no such thing as a "byproduct" in *sustainable* agriculture.  Straw that isn't composted locally and put right back into the growing soil it came from is a net export of nutrients that must be replaced by chemical or imported organic nutrients (which are also unsustainable).  And the manner of farming that produces the straw in such large "commercial" quantities to feed such a panel factory is itself unsustainable.

I'm not suggesting these aren't better alternatives than stick-frame and sheetrock!  I'm inviting one and all to consider the larger consequences of these ideas.  For example, if every developer (or even one big one in the US alone) suddenly decided to build only straw-bale (or Agriboard - more likely...) homes, there would be an immediate national or worldwide shortage of straw and all the consequences thereof...:-p

John Schinnerer