[Cob] cob extension?

[jane at kirstinelund.dk]

Hi Sophie

I suppose the most important thing is not to try and tie cob to a smooth
surface. If you have such a surface you must "roughen" it (banging on
walls with a large hammer is a lot of fun!) or do something like hammering
in nails to ensure that the cob has something to hold on to.

We have incorporated cob into our old brick house, with success (so far),
using these principles, and we have tied cob to wood structures, both
posts and walls, without any problems. Often the cob will shrink away a
little from the material you tied it to (especially wood), but if there is
enough nails and pins sticking out, or the surface is sufficiently rough,
this shouldn't be a problem.

You might run in to problems if you try to connect cob with modern,
non-breathable materials - or you might not, I haven't tried. And of
course you have to think about drainage, ventilation, stability,
protecting walls from rain, and so on, just like you always do.

Sophie wrote:
> we have a house we want to renovate & extend ... was wondering if it's
> possible to add a cob extension to an existing house?  anyone know of
> any info available on techniques etc for such a project.  i imagine the
> main issue is how you'd tie the new cob walls into the existing walls?
>

-- 
Jane Mondrup
Bjedstrupvej 21
8660 Skanderborg
Denmark
Tlf: (+45) 87 88 51 81