[Cob] cob and outside showers

[Amanda Peck]

That works.  And it works a lot better than the cottage I lived in in 
Honolulu years ago, where when you stood in the front door you looked 
directly into the shower.  That had a shower curtain, and the shower was 
tiny, both of which did contribute to the mold problem.  Nice view, though.

Only slightly off topic, I'm reading Gernot Minke's book on building with 
earth--translation of his mid-eighties book as published in Germany.  I 
noticed that some of the pictures looked remarkably like his house featured 
a couple of years ago in Natural Living or some other magazine.  He has a 
couple of earthen sinks which have apparently been in use all that time.  
They are likely to be all different, but might have a little concrete 5%, 
say, stabilization, and/or asphalt emulsion, and/or his favorite, "double 
boiled linseed oil."  I'm not quite sure what that is exactly, mind you.  
The book is driving me nuts--they chose to translate the generic word for 
subsoil as "loam."  Which we tend to use as "topsoil" complete with organic 
matter.



...................
Pat wrote (snipped):

There is a drain of course in the shower with drains the water. It's
been in operation now for around 6 years or so and we have not had any
moisture problems. A couple of reason for that. One is there is very
good air flow. The back of the shower wall  is not sealed but if you
stood up and looked over the wall you would see the front door. Thus the
air flow is a big factor. Unlike  you I live in Georgia with lots of hot
humid days and this can make for mold. I've never had a mold problem
here. Also since the cement is only locale in the shower area, the cob
area around this can breath and thus this is a local enough area that
moisture does not seem to get trapped and thus I've never seen any
evidence that water as passed through the cement shower walls to the cob
walls.