Cob RE: light-clay

[John Schinnerer]

Aloha,

-----Original Message-----
>Where can I learn more about it?

  The north wall of the office building of the Permaculture institute of 
Northern California  is built using light-clay (the rest is cob).  I saw part 
of a video showing a workshop in light-clay building at my permaculture 
design workshop.  I still haven't found the article I think I have (it's a 
different one than Paul has offered us).  If I can find source info for these 
and anything else I'll post it...

I've seen other takes on what's in the page Paul has offered.  That is 
actually the thickest wall technique I've heard of so far.  Most of the light 
clay I've seen is 4 - 12 inches thick.  Some of the thinner ones (4 - 6 
inches) are simply conventional stud framing with straw-clay infill.  The 
article I hope to find shows a method of making thicker walls, based on 
timber or stud framing, without using a ton of extra wood; I think the 
thickest suggested was about 12 inches.  The thinner the wall, the less time 
it takes to dry (and the less insulative it is), so the one year drying time 
mentioned in the article Paul has is specific to the very thick walls that 
builder recommends.

John Schinnerer