Cob sledgehammers and heat retention

[Eric Hart]

At 09:10 PM 12/1/97 -0800, David DeFauw wrote (in response to April's question):

>	A more energy efficient option for a severe cloudy climate might be a wood
>stingy post a beam frame, straw bale walls, a poured adobe floor, interior
>cob pony walls and benches, and passive solar design.  This is a proven
>winner that is permitable anywhere.  It gives the benefits of thermal mass
>and those of super insulation.  It also would work well in earth quake
>country (where are you located anyway).
        I would agree with this assessment.  Thermal mass is ok where the
sun shines but in areas that are cool (Portland) or cold (Minneapolis), it
doesn't perform very well when the sun doesn't shine for days, weeks, or
months on end.  Once all that mass cools down, watch out, is like living in
a tomb!  Stone houses built in Minnesota in the 19th Century were notorious
for being cold in the winter and warm in the summer.  Once the stone cooled
down (in the fall) or heated up (in the spring) it stayed that way and it
took a change in season to change it.  Earthsheltered houses work in
Minnesota and other cold climates but its because you have many feet of
earth around you for insulation.  Houses using hy
        By the way, what is a cob 'pony' wall?  That's a term that I hadn't
heard before.  Is it smaller than a 'horse' wall?  ;-)

Eric D. Hart
Community Eco-design Network
PO Box 6241
Minneapolis, Minnesota  55406  USA
(612) 306-2326
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/m037/kurtdand/cen/