[Cob] wood & cob footings at Emerald Earth

[dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine Taylor]

I'd try ry to avoid ALL dirt to wood contact.. used the strongest old 
redwood you can find, and  or use those metal anchors which hold the 
wood post above the dirt so there is no dirt to wood contact. I saw a 
4x4 anchor for $8.50 at the local hardware store, and it was meant to 
be embedded in cement pier, but  other options could be used too I 
imagine.

also on footings-foundations:  {Locally we just bury redwood straight 
into the ground for fences and posts...an old fence on my property 
finally fell over in a big storm. 3 years ago  . but it took  35 years 
for the posts to fail at the ground contact point. the rest of the post 
was just fine, and I got to reuse them.


FOUNDASTION AT EMERALD EARTH
  { Michael SMith and company have an intentional community there  
www.emeraldearth.org  visit  the site to see the great small cob and 
hybrid homes}

   I saw an amazingly great idea for foundation walls created by the 
folks at Emerald Earth last week.  they got inventive and designed a 
CRIBBED foundation for their light straw clay and cob walls. I was 
really impressed...

A rubble trench was dug to the width of 12-16" wide by 1' deep ( I 
think)  and filled with volcanic rock and local rocks. Then a 2"x 8" 
old growth redwood plank ( harvested from their own trees on the 
property) was   bolted to another  to make a long  narrow box frame.   
All parts were redwood, they used lag bolts. the first frame was filled 
with more volcanic rock, and a second frame was set on top of that with 
a cob-clay mix inside.  so 16" of wood is above ground.  they figure 
25-40 years of life for the  bottom redwood plank until it fails, and 
then it is simply (ha!) unbolted and a new wood plank replaces it.   
they said had they thought it through they may have put the loose rock 
into a sack, mesh or other container so it would not spill out when 
replacement is needed.

I suggested using a lime mortar with the rocks now (for new structures) 
so they would have a good sold  block and no loose gravel to come out.

What I love about this is that is provides a low cost, long lasting 
solution for foundation strength, and used no cement.  So instead of 
struggling with a 200 year solution..they used a good material now [ 
the redwood] and planned for future maintenance...very smart.

  I have images but need to post them up to my www.papercrete.com site  
sometime in July... after  a flurry of events to attend.

somebody remind me to do this and  I am happy to share the images.

Charmaine Taylor Publishing    books at dirtcheapbuilder.com
PO Box 375 Cutten CA  95534 USA  -- 707-441-1632
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com  &  www.papercrete.com
New& Used books: www.biblio.com
  Clint replied to Mike:
>
> On Sun, Jun 19, 2005 at 02:52:31PM -0700, mike poindexter wrote:
> > how do you keep wood timbers from rotting while embeded partaly in 
> cob ?
> > (wood & dirt dont mix well)
>
> Cob is bone dry when it's kept covered by a good roof.  There's no
> moisture to rot the timbers.  And since there's no moisture...
>
> > what about bugs? (termites, ants etc.)
>
> ...most bugs don't like really dry places.  I suppose termites or
> carpenter ants could eat exposed timbers in cob, but they can do the
> same to wood frame houses.  So the same guidelines apply.
>
> 			-Clint
>