Cob: NO FOAM And Natural Stains

Sun Feb 17 11:11:05 CST 2002

Foam will be a big mistake. Will not allow natural flow of changes in earthen walls traps mositure and really becomes a problem.

Wheter it is wood that cracks or walls it all has to do with mositure trapped inside material that freezes and expands thus cracks if can not expand..

While I lived in Germany the walls of the house I lived in were of earth/sticks/limbs.2ft thick walls.

One night my landlady came in and opened the windows by morning I had snow on the floors.

This was a very old home several hundred years old.
Later I lived in a newer house that was built in 1840's. I tried to look down from the top of the wall from the attic, But failed to get a mirror and light to determine what we had discovered. There was a possible two walls built with a apox one inch air gap.My hand could feel the gap but not 100% sure if it was all the way down wall.

In Alaska we seen buildings that allowed air to flow underneath the buildings to advoid the heat of buildings to cause problems with freezeing and thawing. If a building could have full strawbales under walking floor would be nice.

If a house in a very cold climate was built with a outer wall of earth blocks with strawbale on the inside and then another earthern wall it would seem to me that this would be great. And solve the problem of cracking etc. Foam / plastic or anything else would allow mositure to build up and further cause break down of wall. Also the straw insultation does not have to be the width of a bale but be compressed due to settlement etc.

Natural stains are available. Those which are water based and have no harmfull toxins.

For the artist on the list. I saw a person go to local newspaper and get the END OF THE ROLL of paper that they throw away. He then too this plain paper taped it on the wall. Then with a picture of a design he laid it on the overhead projector that projected on the paper then he simply outlined it.

Later he took it to a silk screen person that made him a frame with the etched cloth. They laid it on the floors squeezed out the ink and the design went evenly on a not so even floor.

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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Foam will be a big mistake. Will not allow natural 
flow of changes in earthen walls traps mositure and really becomes a 
problem.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wheter it is wood that cracks or walls it all has to do with mositure 
trapped inside material that freezes and expands thus cracks if can not 
expand..</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>While I lived in Germany the walls of the house I lived in were of 
earth/sticks/limbs.2ft thick walls.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>One night my landlady came in and opened the windows by morning I had snow 
on the floors.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This was a very old home several hundred years old.<BR>Later I lived in a 
newer house that was built in 1840's. I tried to look down from the top of the 
wall from the attic, But failed to get a mirror and light to determine what we 
had discovered. There was a possible two walls built with a apox one inch air 
gap.My hand could feel the gap but not 100% sure if it was all the way down 
wall.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In Alaska we seen buildings that allowed air to flow underneath the 
buildings to advoid the heat of buildings to cause problems with freezeing and 
thawing. If a building could have full strawbales under walking floor would be 
nice.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If a house in a very cold climate was built with a outer wall of earth 
blocks with strawbale on the inside and then another earthern wall it would seem 
to me that this would be great. And solve the problem of cracking etc. Foam / 
plastic or anything else would allow mositure to build up and further cause 
break down of wall. Also the straw insultation does not have to be the width of 
a bale but be compressed due to settlement etc.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Natural stains are available. Those which are water based and have no 
harmfull toxins.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For the artist on the list. I saw a person go to local newspaper and get 
the END OF THE ROLL of paper that they throw away. He then too this plain paper 
taped it on the wall. Then with a picture of a design he laid it on the overhead 
projector that projected on the paper then he simply outlined it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Later he took it to a silk screen person that made him a frame with the 
etched cloth. They laid it on the floors squeezed out the ink and the design 
went evenly on a not so even floor.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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