[Cob] birth of the home building professional

[GlobalCirclenet]

I'll ignore that "You may be careless and clueless, but maybe the rest of
us aren't." 

I'll answer that "Why is one form of traditional building tiny thick-walled
houses "nothing to it" and the other a sure route to sickness and mold?"  

It ought to be obvious.  Adobe doesn't mold and mildew from absorbing
moisture like strawbale.  I thought everybody understood that the
"plastering" Mexican women are doing is simply repairing adobe cracks with
more adobe. THAT's why there's nothing to it. It's EASY. Surely no one
thinks they're plastering strawbale. The original writer was arguing that
since Mexican women "plaster" their houses, why anybody can plaster
strawbale.  Might say, that doesn't...hold.....water......

The bottom line is, people who need cheaper, alternative construction
simply don't have the luxury of taking the attitude of some people out
there - the attitude that well I'll learn from my mistakes and do it over
if it's not right, and so forth. Most of us can't afford mistakes and can't
afford to rebuild. We can't take months off work to try some latest fad in
home building just because it's cool and we can feel trendy or
earth-friendly. If you want earth-friendly, build with earth.  Like maybe
COB?

paul at largocreekfarms.com
http://medicinehill.net
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/24/2004 at 8:49 AM Amanda Peck wrote:

>Why is one form of traditional building tiny thick-walled houses "nothing
>to 
>it" and the other a sure route to sickness and mold?  Why is plastering
>the 
>buildings the same thing.
>
>Remember that Heart House is under 200 square feet.
>
>Sure I know people who fit the description of a cartoon up in some
>friends' 
>place:  Guy meditating in his dome, wind comes up, dome goes down, he 
>exclaims, "I knew I should have used longer staples in my balsa wood!"
>
>Some of them hung out their shingles as experienced professional builders,

>whether or not they had learned from their mistakes.
>
>I also know amateurs (comes from the same root as "amour!") who study and 
>re-study the books and then go by them, annoying the pros who stop by to 
>watch because they don't go by what is standard streamlined procedure
>among 
>real builders.  Who is right?  couldn't tell you, both work.
>
>Consider the people on this list--single mothers juggling job and
>children, 
>some retired, some on fixed incomes without the support of a market
>garden.  
>Lots of people are reporting on their experience with workshops, most of
>us 
>I would think are starting our buildings with a wall, a bench, an oven, or

>by helping a friend. There are at least three who qualify as pros in
>natural 
>building, probably more than just me with a couple of years of
>construction 
>experience.  You may be careless and clueless, but maybe the rest of us 
>aren't.
>
>None of us are going to build with balsa wood--it's too expensive!
>
>...........
>Paul wrote (snipped):
>
>I used the term "playing around" to denote careless,
>clueless messing around with methods and materials people know nothing
>about, and that probably covers 99 out of a hundred "alternative"
>self-builders - the people who don't put their failures and disasters up
on
>the Internet for all to see.  I'd say it's a shame NOT to think they're
>detrimental to the movement.
>
>It should be noted that those "women of Mexico" who replaster their houses
>every year live in one or two  room adobes without heating, cooling,
>sanitation, or building codes.  Adobe is very forgiving, and you don't get
>mold and sickness if you don't plaster it right.  Bottom line: it doesn't
>matter if they do a good job or not. Nothing to it.
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! 
>http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Coblist mailing list
>Coblist at deatech.com
>http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist