Cob: code cob

[Darel Henman]

In response to your mention of using wood posts and beams.  I recalled
the Japanese mud wall and post and frame houses they built up to a
hundred years or so ago.  Only wealthy people or important buildings,
temples and what not use it anymore.

Typical wall thicknesses go from about 7 to 10 inches.  For the storage
buildings of important food, books and treasure the walls are thicker. 
It is like the wattle and daub method.  It is reported to work well in
earthqauke prone areas, such as Japan.

Rice straw cut and fermented with the clay-soil for three months or so
is the proper way, but a code says that in the summer at least a week is
needed to ferment the straw.  I can't find out any scientific reason for
this, but...... they do say that doing this oxydixes the metals in the
soil, it turns a darker color, the straws ferments and gets softer for
easily application and workability as well as produces a kind of glue to
help keep the mixed mud from cracking as much.  I've read that the
fermenting straw will smell, and after application for about a week
while it dries.  

Anyway here's some pictures about using the bamboo latice, ####, between
post and beams.

Sliced bamboo is also used for.  Full round bamboo is stuck into drilled
holes in the posts and beams as the intial framework, then sliced strips
of bamboo are woven in and attached with hemp rope.

Here's the bamboo latice between posts:
    http://www.hatukari.co.jp/kabe/pages/01.htm

Here's applying the mud/straw mix to the bamboo latice.
    http://www.hatukari.co.jp/kabe/pages/06.htm

Here's an interesting lime finish with some kind of natural ink in it.
   http://www.kokuchosha.co.jp/sakan/sback/0105sh.html

Another good example shot:
    http://www.mirai.ne.jp/~esnishie/area/waju/sansen/tutikabe.html

Darel

dtebb wrote:
> 
> Here in parts of British Columbia, cob is now permitted but with a post and
> beam structure. There was 1 fully load bearing house built by Cobworks
> (Cobworks.com) that has a permit, but due to the huge amount of interest by
> others to build, the local permits people came up with the post and beam
> compromise, I guess it is what they are comfortable with.
> 
> Ian
>