cob planters RE: Cob and Earthships

[wfirstbr at wcb.bc.ca]

Hi Dave,

I wonder about making the earthship style planter out of cob and then coating it with multiple coats of linseed oil. This should water proof it somewhat, like the earthen floors. After that a coat of waterproof plaster or some waterproof paint of some type.

There was an earthship I toured through that used thin long burlap bags (6" diameter) filled with stabilized earth and pined to each other using rebar & barbed wire to create the planters. They then coated the sides of the planter with cement. They also did this with some of the interior walls as well, although they used an adobe/cob plaster for the walls.

Regards,
Will

-----Original Message-----
From: Renewables at aol.com [mailto:Renewables at aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 1999 7:22 PM
Cc: Firstbrook, Will
Subject: Cob and Earthships

 The same way goes if you construct a gray water planter
using cob.  You would have to have some type of water proof liner and put up
with the consequences when in eventually breaches.  Also, the possibility of
dew point or humidity between the liner from the cold gray water and the cob
planter will probably give you problems.  It is probably best to choose
another material for this use.  Cement and cans works best for the earthship
planters, but I have resolved to not using either one of them and have decided
to use only natural materials.  As of yet, I don't know what those ideal
materials are.  My future house to be as I can envision it right now has no
internal gray water planter or greenhouse.  That might change, but for now I
will plan for a small 450+ SQ. ft round house with living roof and external
attached greenhouse for flowers and starting plants (as well as a larger
growing dome for other greenhouse stuff).  I am still learning myself.  We are
waiting until our son graduates from high school in a few years before we
built and to avoid a sickly long commute from where we want to build.

A cob novice,

Dave & Sheila Knapp ... who may be living in SW WI sooner than we think due to
the company I work for (while paying off our debts and saving up a grubstake)
being the victim of a hostile take over!
Winnebago, Illinois
http://www.bigfoot.com/~renewables/