Cob in Snow

[Speireag Alden]

Sgrìobh PEACE!:

>Actually, not where we live, or are going to live.  We live in the Tahoe
>basin, on the southern side, and that very rarely gets below 0.

    Ah.  Yes, I know it well.  I was thinking that you might go farther north.

>Tahoe doesn't get all that much snow, not by many standards, but the other
>does.  It sounds like I'd have to agree and cob might not be the best
>choice.  Very sad, we were so into the curved walls, nooks, etc.  We really
>enjoyed the /feel/ of cob.

    Well, with wide eaves the snow amounts might be manageable.  At Tahoe
they aren't quite as compelled to measure it in large units like feet and
meters.  Nevertheless, on that count you want to plan for the high end, and
Tahoe does get nailed occasionally.

    There are lots of ways that you can get curved walls and nooks.  Straw
bale construction permits such by playing games with the stucco and
plaster, or with the bales themselves for curved construction.  In an
underground house, you won't care what the outside looks like where it's
below grade, so it can be straight and the inside could be curved by use of
stucco-like materials.  You could get lots of thermal mass inside the
envelope that way.

    There's also nothing to say that you can't use cob for interior walls,
if you plan ahead.  An excellent way to get thermal mass inside, to have an
organic feel, and perhaps to provide some structural redundancy in an area
where the ground has been known to move.

>>    There are plenty of ways to build in your climate, but I think that if
>>you rely only on cob you'll be disappointed, and cold.

    And you call yourself a high mountain person.  :)  You probably
pre-strain your coffee instead of straining it through your teeth, too.

>I know absolutely nothing about straw.  It always worried me, but only
>because I'm unimformed I'm sure.  See, I have horses, and see how straw can
>decay and can't picture putting something that decays so quickly into
>something that I hope will stand through several generations, let alone my
>own lifetime.  Am I wrong?

    Detailing is important, but that's the case with any building material,
especially in climates with big temperature gradients (like snow country).
With proper details, the straw will be golden in a century.  There are
extant straw bale houses dating from the early 1900's still doing fine,
with no sign of decay.  This isn't the straw bale, list, so I won't go into
great detail.  Suffice it to say that it's straw, not hay, that it's
partially enclosed in stucco, and that you keep moisture out of the wall.

    I used to run pack trains in the southern Sierra, and compete in
gymkhana, so I know that I'd be sceptical too, but straw bale houses work
if they're done right (and that caveat applies to any kind of house).

>>Small
>>footprint for ease of building and heating.
>
>What does "small footprint" mean?  Sorry to sound clueless.

    Sorry.  "Footprint" means how large the portion of the house which sits
on the ground is.  A smaller footprint is held by many environmentally
conscious types to be good for several reasons:  it fights our rampant
American consumerism; it's easier to heat and to keep clean; it's less
expensive to build, resulting in an easier task for the owner-builder
because it's easier to build and has a smaller mortgage, if any; it removes
less square footage from the ecosystem.

>>Take a close look at going
>>underground, which would be very effective in your area.
>
>Oh, I don't know about this.  I'm a HUGE fan of windows.. BIG BIG fan.  I'd
>not do real well in a house without windows, or at least not very many.  I
>know that isn't very condusive to keeping well insulated, but windows were
>the one thing we were more then willing to spend on, and go over board
>with, as in purchasing those double pane insulated windows.  I lived in a
>wood house in Tahoe that had those old single paned windows and they let if
>far too much cold air.

    That's the standard reaction all right.  :)  Several points:

    *  You need not go all the way underground.  You can get a lot of
mileage from berming the house on three sides, or from constructing so that
the basement is actually comfortable living space (see Rob Roy's books; he
harps on that), or both.

    *  Properly designed, an underground house can have more light and more
windows than a conventional house.

>>    I'd also look seriously at a masonry stove, which is another
>>application of the thermal mass idea.
>
>Thank you for this suggestion, and we'll look into it.  I wanted something
>like this, but wasn't sure what it would be yet.  Thanks.

    You might look for _The Book of Masonry Stoves_.  I don't recall the
author.

>New Hampshire has wilds?  *Grin* *Duck!*  Just kidding..

    Yep.  In New England, they're an important part of the ecology; they
help cull city folks from the eastern seaboard out of the gene pool.  :)

-Speireag.
0>>>>>>(---------------------
Speireag Alden, aka Joshua Macdonald Alden
Joshua.M.Alden.91 at alum.dartmouth.org
Usually found somewhere in the wilds of New Hampshire.
Nach sgrìobhaidh thugam 'sa Gàidhlig?