Cob: Window Installation

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Fri, 27 Dec 2002, Andy Spearance wrote:

[snip]
> glass (1,2,3,etc).  This would provide support and also prevent dirt from
> being a problem (assuming you clean the panes before the last side was
> connected).  This is probably more labor intensive but considering the
> problems off breakage or dirt in double panes it may be worth it.
[snip]

The added labor, materials, tools and skill requirements are the reasons
that I think many people embed glass directly in cob rather than framing
it.  It's not that hard if you don't get impatient, I've done it a couple
times, though I have seen even experienced people break panes while
cobbing them in.  I've never seen (only heard about) anyone putting
multiple individual window panes directly into cob to create a thermal
window.  Of course one of the advantages of just cobbing it in is that you
can use odd shaped pieces of glass which do not lend themselves to easy
framing.

It should be noted that if the glass breaks either during or after
building, replacing it is not difficult, you simply carve out the dried
cob around the window, remove the old glass, cut a new piece to fit the
hole (or enlarge the hole to handle the new piece), insert the new glass,
and cob it into place.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using a framed window
(particularly if you can get a used one that is already framed), and
one of the down sides to cobbing the glass in is that you can't open
the window, so probably most people would want at least some framed /
opening windows in their cob houses.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
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