Cob: Re: various cob questions was alt. for PT wood

[Kerry S Tebbetts]

On Thu, 25 Apr 2002 16:23:37 +0900 Darel Henman <henman at it.to-be.co.jp>
writes:

> But, reports are, that earthen walls maintain the inside of the
> structure about 10 degrees cooler than the outside temperatures.  
> The
> 100 degrees outside can not enter the house easily, because cob, 
> eathern
> walls wont conduct it fast enough, plus the thermal mass doesn't 
> change
> temperature quickly.

Can I find these reports on the Internet? 

> 
> You'd still want to use as much shade as possible in the summer.

That probably won't be a problem beings how I'm building in a heavily
wooded area.  In fact, I'm unsure how much winter solar gain I will even
be able to get.  There aren't any hills, except for low rolling mounds
with lower areas in between that stay marshy in the wet season.  Speaking
of which, we live in a really wet area, lots of clay, so the ground tends
to stay wet.  We'll be building on one of these "mounds" though and I'm
hoping that if I'm really anal about drainage, there won't be a problem. 
 Any suggestions?  Also, the house won't be entirely flat.  The north
half will be on the top of the flat "mound' with the southern half
sloping gently towards the marshy area.  

 
> Are you going to get a permit for this place your considering?  Do 
> you
> plan to resell it?

We don't need a permit where we are at.  And we don't plan to resell. 
We're basically building a very small, but livable cottage (about a 200
s.f. footprint with a loft area)

> 
> > What about using the stone foundation and cob to make the 
> footings?
> Cob would not make a good footing.  Cob is clay with straw.  This is 
> not
> meant to be wet for long periods of time.  The ground gets wet and 
> stays
> wet for long periods of time, so cob is out as a foundation.

I understand.  

> >  For
> > instance, build the stone foundation that would go around all the 
> walls,
> > then layer a couple of feet of cob, then use this to insert posts 
> for a
> > frame.  Would that work?  Or is that really too much work just to 
> avoid
> > putting the posts in the ground?
> You don't ever, ever want to put a wooden post into the ground. 
> (maybe
> poisiond PT you could)  Anchor the posts and beams somehow else.  

I was talking about putting the frame within a shallow cob wall which
will be on a stone foundation 1.5 feet above ground.  

 
shae