Cob: Using Bricks While Building With Cob[Robert]

[Kim West]

Hi Robert. It's good to hear from someone who lives
"nearby"! I hear you about the woodstove in the trailer.
I know of several trailers with woodstoves in them also.
I didn't know all of the specs of getting them in safely
though. I just do not feel comfortable with the idea myself.
This place is over 20 years old and the wood in it is
just about as dry as you can get. If it ever it sets fire, 
there will be no stopping it. Add to that the fact that
we have little stable floor space left, and well, you 
get the picture! Right now we have umpteen pieces of
scrap lumber laid over the holes in the floor, and piles
of old clothes in places to help plug holes and stop 
the cold. At one time I was pouring money into this place 
like it was going out of style. I finally tired of the 
constant work caused by putting new patches on an old 
wineskin, if you know what I mean. LOL! As far as
plumbing and electrical, we live deeeeeeeeep in the woods.
I have one neighbor, the 90-something year old
grandson of the previous owner of our property, and a
part-time neighbor who lives mostly in another state. Both
are about a mile from here, living near the county road.
Since we live so far out, we do not have to worry about 
any requirements for others to do the work. Homeowners
in Arkansas are allowed to do their own wiring and
plumbing, thank goodness! All I really have to worry
about is building wisely and safely and I am doing my 
best to make sure we do that. One thing I had to track
down was a way to determine the safe spans of lumber 
without having to pay hundreds of dollars for code 
books! At this time I am waiting for a free book to be 
sent to us, and in the meantime I found a handy [and free]
little tool called SpanCalc online. I'll be happy to try and
re-find the link if anyone wants it. You may be able to
find it yourself with a search for "SpanCalc". I hope to
be able to keep my geocities site updated as to the progress
of our little project. You can go there every now and then
to stay abreast. http://www.geocities.com/kwest_1961 
Right now I am waiting to hear from some people who are trying 
to help locate some more free rocks, and I plan
to make a few calls to find out about urbanite just in case
we aren't successful. I hope to get the foundation laid as 
soon as the materials are all gathered, but I imagine we
will wait for better weather before we begin cobbing. I see
you have found yourself in a similar situation as we have.
My thoughts will also be with you all, hoping for a better
way some day. Until then, keep your head up, and don't give up.
When it gets this bad, it almost HAS to get better! LOL!

KIm



I am also interested in your project because it is a
true bootstrap
project, we don't have much money ourselves and all
the people we work
with are in similar situations and we are very
interested in low cost
do it yourself building projects.

I could also recommend a couple of listservs of
regional interest,
Okie straw bales at yahoo groups, and retrofit, also
at yahoo groups,
which is about retrofitting trailer houses in a more
sustainable
direction, including wrapping them in strawbales and
putting better
roofs on them.   The retrofit idea is interesting to
me because a lot
of people in this part of the country live in trailer
houses, and by
wrapping them in strawbales and putting in a better
roof, they become
a much more comfortable and energy efficient
dwelling, and you don't
have to hire the work like plumbing and electrical
done because it is
already there in the trailer house core.

I think that you are right that strawbale is more
expensive than cob
for a do it yourself project building an entire house
from scratch
project, however.  In the meantime, we will send warm
thoughts and
prayers your way.  We have an old house in OKC that
we are working to
retrofit with super insulation, but in the meantime,
we keep warm with
two small propane heaters and believe me they are not
central heat and
with our lack of insulation, it gets pretty nippy in
here when we turn
them off at night.  We make insulating curtains for
our windows (using
two layers of blankets with a layer of mylar in
between, aluminum foil
would also work), and it's so cold this morning I'm
thinking, "we
should hang blankets over the walls too".

Robert Waldrop, http://www.bettertimesinfo.org
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House


-----Original Message-----
From: Kim West <kwest at arkansas.net>
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!





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<DIV><PRE>Hi Robert. It's good to hear from someone who lives</PRE><PRE>"nearby"! I hear you about the woodstove in the trailer.</PRE><PRE>I know of several trailers with woodstoves in them also.</PRE><PRE>I didn't know all of the specs of getting them in safely</PRE><PRE>though. I just do not feel comfortable with the idea myself.</PRE><PRE>This place is over 20 years old and the wood in it is</PRE><PRE>just about as dry as you can get. If it ever it sets fire, </PRE><PRE>there will be no stopping it. Add to that the fact that</PRE><PRE>we have little stable floor space left, and well, you </PRE><PRE>get the picture! Right now we have umpteen pieces of</PRE><PRE>scrap lumber laid over the holes in the floor, and piles</PRE><PRE>of old clothes in places to help plug holes and stop </PRE><PRE>the cold. At one time I was pouring money into this place </PRE><PRE>like it was going out of style. I finally tired of the </PRE><PRE>constant work caused by putting new patches on an old </PRE><PRE>wineskin, if you know what I mean. LOL! As far as</PRE><PRE>plumbing and electrical, we live deeeeeeeeep in the woods.</PRE><PRE>I have one neighbor, the 90-something year old</PRE><PRE>grandson of the previous owner of our property, and a</PRE><PRE>part-time neighbor who lives mostly in another state. Both</PRE><PRE>are about a mile from here, living near the county road.</PRE><PRE>Since we live so far out, we do not have to worry about </PRE><PRE>any requirements for others to do the work. Homeowners</PRE><PRE>in Arkansas are allowed to do their own wiring and</PRE><PRE>plumbing, thank goodness! All I really have to worry</PRE><PRE>about is building wisely and safely and I am doing my </PRE><PRE>best to make sure we do that. One thing I had to track</PRE><PRE>down was a way to determine the safe spans of lumber </PRE><PRE>without having to pay hundreds of dollars for code </PRE><PRE>books! At this time I am waiting for a free book to be </PRE><PRE>sent to us, and in the meantime I found a handy [and free]</PRE><PRE>little tool called SpanCalc online. I'll be happy to try and</PRE><PRE>re-find the link if anyone wants it. You may be able to</PRE><PRE>find it yourself with a search for "SpanCalc". I hope to</PRE><PRE>be able to keep my geocities site updated as to the progress</PRE><PRE>of our little project. You can go there every now and then</PRE><PRE>to stay abreast. <A href="http://www.geocities.com/kwest_1961">http://www.geocities.com/kwest_1961</A> </PRE><PRE>Right now I am waiting to hear from some people who are trying </PRE><PRE>to help locate some more free rocks, and I plan</PRE><PRE>to make a few calls to find out about urbanite just in case</PRE><PRE>we aren't successful. I hope to get the foundation laid as </PRE><PRE>soon as the materials are all gathered, but I imagine we</PRE><PRE>will wait for better weather before we begin cobbing. I see</PRE><PRE>you have found yourself in a similar situation as we have.</PRE><PRE>My thoughts will also be with you all, hoping for a better</PRE><PRE>way some day. Until then, keep your head up, and don't give up.</PRE><PRE>When it gets this bad, it almost HAS to get better! LOL!</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>KIm</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>
I am also interested in your project because it is a
true bootstrap
project, we don't have much money ourselves and all
the people we work
with are in similar situations and we are very
interested in low cost
do it yourself building projects.

I could also recommend a couple of listservs of
regional interest,
Okie straw bales at yahoo groups, and retrofit, also
at yahoo groups,
which is about retrofitting trailer houses in a more
sustainable
direction, including wrapping them in strawbales and
putting better
roofs on them.   The retrofit idea is interesting to
me because a lot
of people in this part of the country live in trailer
houses, and by
wrapping them in strawbales and putting in a better
roof, they become
a much more comfortable and energy efficient
dwelling, and you don't
have to hire the work like plumbing and electrical
done because it is
already there in the trailer house core.

I think that you are right that strawbale is more
expensive than cob
for a do it yourself project building an entire house
from scratch
project, however.  In the meantime, we will send warm
thoughts and
prayers your way.  We have an old house in OKC that
we are working to
retrofit with super insulation, but in the meantime,
we keep warm with
two small propane heaters and believe me they are not
central heat and
with our lack of insulation, it gets pretty nippy in
here when we turn
them off at night.  We make insulating curtains for
our windows (using
two layers of blankets with a layer of mylar in
between, aluminum foil
would also work), and it's so cold this morning I'm
thinking, "we
should hang blankets over the walls too".

Robert Waldrop, <A href="http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/" target=_blank>http://www.bettertimesinfo.org</A>
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House


-----Original Message-----
From: Kim West <<A href="http://www.arkansas.net/webmail/src/compose.php?send_to=kwest@arkansas.net">kwest at arkansas.net</A>>
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!



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