Cob: Realistic sized homes

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, Neana wrote:

[snip]
> However, I have two teenagers, pets, lots of 'stuff' and hobbies.  The
> house I am imagining currently is basically round with a 36 foot
> diameter.  It would peak at about 20 feet tall and slope to about 10 feet
> on one side and 15 on the other.  I realize this is generously sized.  My
> question: "Is it unreasonably generous?".  It would be approximately 1500
> sq feet when the large loft is added.

What is reasonable/unreasonable is specific to everyone's situation, and
only you can decide that.  If you are asking if this is doable with cob,
the answer is yes.

> Is that even do-able in a season?  Not finishing the interior.  Just the
> walls and roof.  I am in SEKansas, the summers are long and hot.  The
[snip]

How doable it is depends on what your money/labor resources are.
Technically, given your climate, the bare walls can be completed in a few
weeks if you have a sufficiently large labor pool to do the job.  As far
as the roof, it depends on what your design is, but if it is reasonably
conventional, it should be easily doable in less than a week for
professionals.  In other words, with experienced people and a sufficiently
large group of them, these could be completed in a month.  Having said
that, this is for most people extremely optimistic.  From what I have seen
and heard, most people don't want to spend the money for a large crew and
over estimate how many hours a day they are willing/able to work, so my
advice is usually to go with a design that can be done in pieces.  If you
want your big circle, prep the site for it, but start by concentrating on
building the cob for one room, and if you have the extra labor/energy
after you have built as high as you can on the one room each day, then go
ahead and build outwards from the room you are concentrating on, but even
in the extensions, concentrate on building the maximum height each day.
The goal should be to ensure that you get something completed as quickly
as possible, that way you are less likely to get discouraged, and if
something comes up that prevents you from finishing the building, at least
you will have a usable section of the building that you could put a
temporary roof on and make use of.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
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