Cob Clay, Fibers, & FC

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Sat, 17 Oct 1998, avalonb wrote:

[snip]
> last, but less important, how is cob really different from adobe, other
> than not needing the forms and drying time for the adobe bricks?
[snip]

The straw in cob gives it much greater tensile strength than most
adobes (which have little or no fiber content), and the continuous nature
of cob (as opposed to the discreet mortared bricks for adobe) gives a
wall better strength as well since mortar joints create a built-in
fracture point on the adobe walls (kind of like scoring a piece of glass
before you try to break it).

Shannon C. Dealy
dealy at deatech.com