[Cob] Re: New book on Natural building

[Lee Shultz]

I had pretty much the same impression while reading the cob part of Building Green. Snell was pretty fair in saying that you have to decide for yourself whether you like the experience of building with cob. Some people find it spiritual, others find it to be a pain and just too slow. I thought he was pretty clear in saying he does not care for it much; he basically said it was the hardest way to build a wall compared to the other techniques they used in the building. I really enjoy building walls with cob; but I like working at my own pace, and I don't experience it as being a difficult, labor-intensive struggle. And I'm only 5' 3", and 120 lbs. But if you are racing the clock, and most conventional and green contractors are, you can get ... well, a heck of a workout. 

Cheers all,

Beverly (Lee) Shultz
Technical Writer
Ojai, CA
Cell Phone: 805-455-2773


-----Original Message-----
From: coblist-bounces at deatech.com [mailto:coblist-bounces at deatech.com]On
Behalf Of Tom Gorman
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 11:48 AM
To: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: [Cob] Re: New book on Natural building


I'm about halfway through Building Green.  Great photography and a  
good 'voice' to the writing.  It's certainly less earthy and somewhat  
less enthusiastic about cob than The Hand Sculpted House but also  
might be coming from a perspective that is more realistic for most  
people.  I don't come away from reading it with the revolutionary- 
gotta-change-my-life feeling I got from "Sculpted," but the perhaps  
more honest it's-gonna-be-a-lot-of-hard-work and you-might-have-to- 
compromise tone is balanced with many inspiring photos.  I'm new to  
the list, but I get the impression from reading the archives that  
most here are thinking/planning/dreaming of building our own houses.   
The building that Building Green is specifically about the  
construction of is really an auxiliary 'guest house,' constructed  
next to one of the author's more conventionally constructed houses,  
so there is less about it being a full-time, permanently live-able  
space, but there are lots of interesting and informative sidebars  
throughout.  I hope that it's glossy-ness and more 'mainstream' look  
and perspective is an indication that cob and the other alternative  
methods are making real inroads into construction consciousness.  I  
personally love the earthy, sorta hippy-style of the Becky Bee book  
and 'Sculpted,' but I think some people who didn't have the kind of  
VW-bus, homemade clothes, carob and organic-garden early '70s  
childhood I did may shy away from the aesthetics of the presentation  
not give cob, etc. the attention it deserves and needs!
Tom
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