FW: Cob: Re: FW: Steel Frame?

[Kristina Buss]

I asked specifically about a cob house not a straw bale. I'm not sure how
straw bale entered into the discussion. I would think insulation would not
be a problem as the COB would completely surround the steel. I did find a
steel frame company that will do a custom frame or you can choose from their
ready-made plans. They even have pricing on packages.

 http://www.profits2you.com/prices.html

My question is how the foundation would work. I would think the steel frame
requires a concrete foundation (or crawl space but, for cob, slab would be
seem the only choice). How would that work with the requirements for the
cob?

My design idea would be like an island style house with a 8 ft. covered
porch around the house. All rooms would have doors opening out to the porch
(we are building in Texas so heat is more of an issue than cold). That would
protect the walls from erosion. I cannot get any of the books on cob (I am
currently overseas) so I'm not sure how all this would work technically. I
have only read everything I can find on the internet. I would like to do it
this way so that I could have as much done as possible before starting on
the walls. Time is an issue for us as we are stateside only for a short
time.

reply to kristinabuss at yahoo.com