Cob: Cob Outside Bench

Mon Sep 23 13:27:51 CDT 2002

Hi Amanda and Darel and any other inerested folks

Thanks for the information regarding foundations for cob.  You might like to know that I tried the tamped tire idea for the cob bench this weekend - I worked with the 14 year old young man who does yard work for me - I am in my 60's and that's all I'm going to tell you about my age - which I don't acknowledge.  Anyway, I had four small tires from my Suburu Outback which were worn out.  The young man dug a trench to the top of each tire - 4 tires long, lined the trench with black plastic garbage bags and proceeded to fill the tires - the site yielded a great quantity of clay - and each batch was put in the tire, watered, tamped with feet (he is 6'4" and strong) then done again making sure the insides of the tire were filled.  Then the area around the tires was covered with rubble, stone, dirt mixture and the tires were covered on top with the same mixture.  Well, you could see where the tops of the tires were after all this - the ground yielded.  I guess the machine Amanda spoke of which takes off the top of the sidewalls would alleviate this problem.  And I guess some heavy duty tamping equipment is called for.  We further covered the area with dry wall made on 3 tiers with stones from the creek near by.  This now seems solid enough to put the cob bench on.  
I 'm not sure where this leaves the decision for the foundation of the apprentice house - I could get lots of tires and fill them with dirt from the foundation - but don't know about the yielding.  If I decide to make the foundation with stone, the rocks will be a little harder to gather in great quantities although there are some rock piles left on the property which could be hauled into the site.  

I mixed some cob from the clay with straw and it formed a tight round ball easily.  However, I think I will have to buy some sand as the sand in the creek is full of stones and mud.  I next hope to combine the clay, sand, mud and straw in various formulas to make bricks - ala The Hand Sculptured Home instructions.  That will be done later this week so the sample cob bricks, and the site preparation (4 8 x 10 tarps, buckets, sand, clay, dirt and straw) will be ready for the group coming on Oct. 5th to make the bench.  Next week I hope to have a roof up over the foundation - make of 6 x 6's (4) and steel roofing left over in a shed.  Any more useful advice?  Visit me on the web at www.lapaixherbaljourney.com
and www.sustainabledevelopmentforwv.com
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<DIV>Hi Amanda and Darel and any other inerested folks</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for the information regarding foundations for cob.  You might 
like to know that I tried the tamped tire idea for the cob bench this weekend - 
I worked with the 14 year old young man who does yard work for me - I am in my 
60's and that's all I'm going to tell you about my age - which I don't 
acknowledge.  Anyway, I had four small tires from my Suburu Outback which 
were worn out.  The young man dug a trench to the top of each tire - 4 
tires long, lined the trench with black plastic garbage bags and proceeded to 
fill the tires - the site yielded a great quantity of clay - and each batch was 
put in the tire, watered, tamped with feet (he is 6'4" and strong) then done 
again making sure the insides of the tire were filled.  Then the area 
around the tires was covered with rubble, stone, dirt mixture and the tires were 
covered on top with the same mixture.  Well, you could see where the tops 
of the tires were after all this - the ground yielded.  I guess the machine 
Amanda spoke of which takes off the top of the sidewalls would alleviate this 
problem.  And I guess some heavy duty tamping equipment is called 
for.  We further covered the area with dry wall made on 3 tiers with stones 
from the creek near by.  This now seems solid enough to put the cob bench 
on.  </DIV>
<DIV>I 'm not sure where this leaves the decision for the foundation of the 
apprentice house - I could get lots of tires and fill them with dirt from the 
foundation - but don't know about the yielding.  If I decide to make the 
foundation with stone, the rocks will be a little harder to gather in great 
quantities although there are some rock piles left on the property which could 
be hauled into the site.  </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I mixed some cob from the clay with straw and it formed a tight round ball 
easily.  However, I think I will have to buy some sand as the sand in the 
creek is full of stones and mud.  I next hope to combine the clay, sand, 
mud and straw in various formulas to make bricks - ala The Hand Sculptured Home 
instructions.  That will be done later this week so the sample cob bricks, 
and the site preparation (4 8 x 10 tarps, buckets, sand, clay, dirt and straw) 
will be ready for the group coming on Oct. 5th to make the bench.  Next 
week I hope to have a roof up over the foundation - make of 6 x 6's (4) and 
steel roofing left over in a shed.  Any more useful advice?  Visit me 
on the web at <A 
href="http://www.lapaixherbaljourney.com">www.lapaixherbaljourney.com</A><BR>and 
<A 
href="http://www.sustainabledevelopmentforwv.com">www.sustainabledevelopmentforwv.com</A></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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