[Cob] frozen cob

[Amanda Peck]

My driveway would not be a bad sand/clay mix.  It was a bit of a mess.  
Loose gravel, clay, and organic matter by now on top of the surface.

No big deal, except where this happened along the edges of a bank, where 
almost an inch or so of the vertical soil fell off after the water expanded 
as it became ice and loosened the soil.  In a wall this would be quite 
worrisome.  Especially a cordwood masonry wall (which is what Phil was 
talking about here), which is often two quite thin walls with insulation in 
the middle.

But my driveway, and the bank going up on the inside of the circle, aren't 
supposed to hold up my roof, just keep my truck from falling into the center 
of the earth.  I used to love to stomp those little extrusions of ice when I 
lived in red clay (and sand, because it was the Sandhills) country in North 
Carolina.

Michael Shealy wrote up a "Ten things not to do when making a rammed tire 
house" (not sure if it's up on the web anywhere) and the first one was 
"Never ram earth into tires when it's (wet and) freezing."  He'd seen 
somebody try.  Apparently it expanded its way out of the tire as the water 
expanded as it turned into ice.
..................
Joe R. Dupont asks:
Why not do cob when freezing?
If you can keep the cob warm until it is on the wall.. what would happen?