Cob Code approved cob & Fibrous cement

[Will Firstbrook WCB of BC]

Hi Cobbers, 

I had a recent visit with Ianto after attending Wesak and taking the
kids to Disney.  He is really excited about a workshop on (Maine?)
island near Vancouver Island in Canada. The reason is it will be the 1st
code approved load bearing cob structure in recent history. All previous
code approved cob buildings are post and beam approved with cob in-fill.
In-fact the code inspectors are taking the two week course and are
totally eager and supportive of the project. The implications about this
is that since there will be a precedent it will be easier to get cob
buildings approved.  He also mentioned that due to previous interest
they have added an additional thatching workshop this year. I don't have
the dates handy.

Also on the Earthfriendly and Self-Sufficient Architecture list there is
a real interesting discussion of a new construction material that is
quite innovative. It is called fibrous cement which is 10% cement, 30%
sand, and 60% wet paper. All blended together make a very strong
lightweight highly insulative material that is very cheap and easy to
work with. They usually pour into bricks and mortar them together with
more fiber cement. People are building homes for under $1 per square
foot. If people are interested I can post Allen Gooch's original e-mail
all about this material.

Regards,
Will