[Cob] insulation

[Bill&Julie]

 Hello Roselle,,  ô¿ô

With ENOUGH ; money, energy, and engineering
a person can do anything ( on this subject ).

Example: A person I have heard of in the Mnpls/St Paul
area, has 2 boilers just to heat their drive way..
And thinks nothing of it...

OTOH,, The ideal placement of a cob house would
be where the average Day/Night outside temperature
would be the same as the target inside temperature.

Not too far from this point can be achived by the
use of well placed windows with blinds, and
a well engineered air handeling system.

On the side)  Termites in South America build
thin flat panel structures, with the broad sides
facing North and South. They open vents in the top
and bottom to regulate the heat.

These are just points to ponder,,, Not knowing
Your air flow, Hours of Sun, and shade,,,
Welllllll  Ideas are a plenty,, but they gots to fit...

As far as insulation goes... If you have time and
ambition, you could test both in your situation.
Try making a 3x3x3 foot structure, and some cheap
thermometers inside and out, and chart, chart, chart.
With, and without air flow regulation.
As in being lived in. If it got too Hot you would open
widows and doors. As it cooled down you would close
them...

Now in the realm of fantisy,,, the ideal would be some
kind of insulation that you turn on and off form a
thermostat. And then have the inside and outside
insulated. That way you could, for a heat gain, turn
the outside insulation off in the heat of the day , to gather
heat. And turn it back on again at night...

Out of the box,,, bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roselle Milvich" <rosellewind at yahoo.com>
To: <coblist at deatech.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 11:32 AM
Subject: [Cob] insulation


> Hi,
>
> I am very interested in cob, and one hurdle I'm trying
> to overcome is the issue of insulation in cold
> climates.  I just heard of someone locally who just
> tore down a cob building because it was a major cold
> sink.  I'm in the san juan mountains of colorado.
clipped***********************************************