Cob a cob code mission for all cobbers day

[Jeffrey Kirsch]

I agree. This is the only part of cob that makes me uncomfortable. There are
a lot of cob structures out there in the world, and some are unfazed 
by seismic activity, while others kill their occupants. Heck, if you 
don't know what you are doing, your house might just kill you 
anyway, just to remind others that you can't ignore physics.
 
There is a book by David Easton, "The Rammed Earth House". It 
doesn't address cob per se, but he discuss materials pretty well, 
and one thing I've learned is the design is only part of the picture. 
The makeup of the earth is a major design/structural factor. He 
builds rammed earth houses in zone 4 earthquake areas, and he 
builds the structures and tests the materials to keep the inspectors 
happy, and the occupants intact.

So it probably is possible to build a cob house to these same 
levels, but it will be dumb luck if we are just throwing these 
structures together. To John's point, we need to test our materials 
and get to really know what we are working with. And this will be 
different from site to site. We also need to learn from other earth 
builders. I for one would love to build a flowing cob structure (Antoni 
Gaudi is my role model, design-wise), but I want it to last at least a 
few hundred years (my ego at work). So how do we do this? 

Jeffrey Kirsch
-Plotting an escape from Atlanta

From:           	<Otherfish at aol.com>

- one of the biggest stumbling blocks that I see for cob
> is that we don't really know its structural limits - this stuff NEEDS to
> be tested - so that we can know (not just pretend/hope) what it is capable
> of - there are physical realities to everything - we can push the limits
> of cob or build conservatively - but until we really know - its all just
> guess work & supposition - sooner or later someone is going to push the
> limits a bit too far & someone wil be hurt, injured or worse- I personally
> don't want that to happen - it will be a setback cob does'nt need !  we
> can build conservatively to avoid this possibility - but why do that if we
> don't need to - let's find cob's limits on a realistic level - based on
> what cob's actual properties are - and built to those limits - then we can
> build with confidence - knowing that our buildings are not going to come
> down & kill sombody when an earthquake does its thing -  this is possible
> - it just need the efforts of a dedicated group - like this group - make
> this happen !!!!! just imagine the possibility little houses on the 
> hillside - little houses made of sticky cob - little houses - little
> houses - & they all look just so fine - there's a round one , and a short
> one, and a tall one, and a wavey one - little houses made of sticky cob &
> they all look just so fine
> 
> be fine
> 
> cob on
> john fordice 
> otherfish at aol.com