Rethink Your Life!
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The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art



Cob: Using Bricks While Building With Cob

Kim West kwest at arkansas.net
Thu Dec 5 22:30:43 CST 2002


Hi Linda. I'm building in south Arkansas. I believe that cob is cheaper than strawbale, but of course I may be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time! LOL! Building with cob, and recycling everything possible from our present place, all I have to buy is the straw, the wood, and the shingles. Everything to make the cob is in abundance right under my feet, including water coming from a spring. So far I have figured it will cost me nearly $1600 in wood. That is using treated wood which I'd really rather not use, but I do want this place to last as long as possible. As I said, I had to "come down a thousand" when I realized the cost of having to buy materials. At this point in time I have come down to a 16'X16' interior with a second story. This would give my children and me 512 sf of living space, which is almost half what we have now, but will be a much better home for us. Right now I am sitting here freezing my tail off cause the Thermogas man refuses to take a postdated check [postdated for 7 days] for some butane/propane. What is so ironic about this is that out in my shed I have a wood stove that, if I did not live in a mobile home, I could be using to cook and heat this place at this very moment. I refuse to set it up in a mobile home because it is not a saf thing to do. I figure we would fare better in the cold than in a fire, eh? LOL!  Oh well, the wood stove WILL do it's thing once again once we get our new place up!

Thanks again Linda.

Kim

Linda wrote:
Where are you building?  Is Cob cheaper than
strawbale? I have been told 
that cob is more labor intensive than strawbale and
it takes longer.  About 
how much is a foundation?
Tks.
Linda

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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Linda. I'm building in south Arkansas. I believe 
that cob is cheaper than strawbale, but of course I may be wrong. It wouldn't be 
the first time! LOL! Building with cob, and recycling everything possible from 
our present place, all I have to buy is the straw, the wood, and the shingles. 
Everything to make the cob is in abundance right under my feet, including water 
coming from a spring. So far I have figured it will cost me nearly $1600 in 
wood. That is using treated wood which I'd really rather not use, but I do want 
this place to last as long as possible. As I said, I had to "come down a 
thousand" when I realized the cost of having to buy materials. At this point in 
time I have come down to a 16'X16' interior with a second story. This would give 
my children and me 512 sf of living space, which is almost half what we 
have now, but will be a much better home for us. Right now I am sitting here 
freezing my tail off cause the Thermogas man refuses to take a postdated check 
[postdated for 7 days] for some butane/propane. What is so ironic about this is 
that out in my shed I have a wood stove that, if I did not live in a mobile 
home, I could be using to cook and heat this place at this very moment. I refuse 
to set it up in a mobile home because it is not a saf thing to do. I figure we 
would fare better in the cold than in a fire, eh? LOL!  Oh well, the wood 
stove WILL do it's thing once again once we get our new place up!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks again Linda.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kim</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linda wrote:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Where are you building?  Is Cob cheaper than<BR>strawbale? I have been 
told <BR>that cob is more labor intensive than strawbale and<BR>it takes 
longer.  About <BR>how much is a 
foundation?<BR>Tks.<BR>Linda<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>