Cob: Flooding questions

[lightearth at onebox.com]

The little cottage outside of Austin, TX that I visited years ago was later destroyed by a 500 year flood? I believe? Evidently it stood for several days with water against it before it began to give way and parts of it were OK but substantial damage. The quote from the person that knew a lot about the little building was that it would have probably stood and dried out again if it the water had been allowed to rush INTO the building, thereby equalizing the pressure. 

In this case the flood waters receded in a couple of days but the softening of the walls and the pressure were too much for it.

Marlin

-- 
     Marlin Nissen
   - Outta The Box-
  lightearth at onebox.com


"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"  - Emerson



-----Original Message-----
From:     "R M" <teachingmama8 at hotmail.com>
Sent:     Fri, 22 Aug 2003 11:40:38 -0700
To:       <coblist at deatech.com>
Subject:  Cob: Flooding questions

I hope I'm not being a pest here, but we just had a 100 yr flood here in Vegas and it has prompted some questions.  A friend of mine (the same one who wanted to build the goat shelter) and her neighbors, who were NOT in a flood zone (and therefore couldn't have purchased flood insurance if they'd wanted to) got flooded because nearby highway building messed up the flow of water so it didn't go where it was supposed to.  She had water a foot high on her walls for five or six hours, one neighbor had water, mixed with manure from a neighboring farm, 3 feet high.  

I have two questions:
Would standing water for several hours be enough to collapse the walls of a cob home?

How cautious should you be with building?  I suppose a stemwall several feet high would definitely protect from this kind of situation, but is it worth the extra work when you have no reason to expect to need it?  How paranoid should you be when planning for eventualities?
Thanks,
Rachel