Cob hemp in cob

[crtaylor]

>Hello folks,
>
>I have been told that in the early days hemp was used as the fibre in cob.
>Are there any signs of this in any of the old buildings? Does anyone know
>anything about it's use?

Hello Anne, yes hemp and other vegetable fibers were often used in cob and
in wattle & daub building.  The references in historical texts are always
about 'fibres' being used...and it was so pervasively used no one wrote
down what to mix or how much, everyone just 'knew'.   And different locales
of course used what they had the most of, which was practical, and logical
that they didn't talk to someone clear across the country about what to use.


The Scottish Historical society is working in a study now of what was in
cob and daub, and that won't be available for a long while.

Charmaine R. Taylor
Elk River Press & Taylor Publishing
PO Box 6985 Eureka CA 95502  1-888-307-7650
'Books for people who want to build it themselves'
http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/elkriver.html