Cob: Cold Temps

[Darel Henman]

BB,
  here are some references that should satisfy your requests for more
engineering and structural integrity information.

1.)  Title:  "Earth Construction Handbook: The Building Material Earth
in Modern Architecture"
    Author: Gernot Minke
      Date: July 15, 2000 	Price about $63.00

2.) some day when they get their English pages working.  The
organization far ahead of anything in 
    the U.S. in regards to building with soil.
    http://www.craterre.archi.fr/craterre/anglais/homepage.html

    If you can read French go to: 
http://www.craterre.archi.fr/homepage.html
    They have an extensive list of research publications.

3.) "Buildings of Earth and Straw: Structural Design for Rammed Earth
and Straw Bale Architecture"
                by Bruce King, Ann Edminster (Editor)


4.) "Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction"   by
Paul Graham McHenry


Darel

-----------------

"baco at pacinfo" wrote:
> 
> I like the folksy flavor of all the thumbnail engineering and anecdotal
> evidence, but does anyone know of good source for science based analysis of
> the physical properties of cob? I would sure like to see a structural
> engineer/architect join some of these discussions.

We do have some expert researches of earth and soil materials in
construction as participants to this list. They quickly point out
mistakes.

> My sense is that many of us value off-grid approaches and organic
> approaches, but the simple fact is that sharing "I did it and nothing bad
> has happened so far" stories can lead to some dangerous situations. I looked
> at a cob structure and even my inexperienced and untrained eye quickly found
> a structural problem that could result in a death or injury, and that was a
> structure that acknowledged leaders in the field had a hand in creating.
> 
> BB

No offense BB, but this happens with any and all building materials.  I
saw a guy trying to add a build-on, using no foundation, but just 4x4's
in the dirt.  I've seen bad cement pours.  This is not a problem of the
material, but of the design and usage.  For novel shapes and forms it
would be good to get an engineering check and use common sense.  This is
true for all materials.

Darel