Cob: how do folks handle other responsibilities during building?

[Otherfish at aol.com]

Tom
You've touched on a critical issue relative to cob.  

Building a structure IS a major undertaking - no matter what the material is.
With cob given the current methods of building, it is even more so.  At this 
time, the labor issue is significant and almost requires one to adopt a labor 
of love to accomplish a cob building.  Either that or hire someone else to 
build it & if you do that the labor issue is still a problem in that access 
to the economy of the low cost materials used in cob will go out the window 
with the cost of paying for all the labor involved.  An intense community cob 
raising might be possible, but given our current culture seems unlikely - tho 
not impossible I suppose.  

My experience with a toolshed in Berkeley on just a weekend basis (not the 
best way to build with cob !! ) has been hampered throughout with keeping 
enough folks interested to complete the building.  The result was / is that 
it has had to be a labor of love or it would'nt have happened.  And it's only 
a permit exempt 120 s.f.
To do anything bigger will be truly daunting if you cannot lay pretty much 
all else aside.

The solution in my opinion is for someone to devise a machine which will 
prepare the raw materials, mix the cob, and place it ON the wall.  When this 
is done, then we will be very close to providing to folks such as you the 
means to build with cob at a low cost amidst the demands of everday life.

Until then, cob will remain the realm of maniacs, lovers and fools ( all 
positive atributes by the way ).

Maybe you can invent the machine.

john fordice
TCCP