[Cob] Washington DC area

[Raduazo at aol.com]

We are getting close to finishing the cob playhouses and the straw bale  
bicycle shed at Clarindon. I am thinking about having a final cobbing workshop  
September 1 and 2 to get the roof rafters on the playhouses and a straw bale  
plastering party on September 9 where we will demonstrate the ever popular Cob  
Cottage cement mixers.
    If you think you would like to come  and particularly if you need 
directions to Clarindon please give me a call  or send an E-mail
Ed @ 703-360-2316
One note on the Straw bale bicycle shed:
    The straw bale bicycle shed is an experimental  building where we used 
temporary load bearing straw bale walls and we have  laminated 8 inch thick cob 
walls on the interior surfaces of the bales. The  initial structure consisted 
of an 8 foot and 6 foot high curved bale walls  supporting a living roof. Wire 
ties run from the foundation and around the  roof beams. Plywood was nailed 
on the beams and a living roof was planted on the  roof membrane. There is no 
compression of the bales other than  that provided by living roof.
    We then built an 8 inch thick cob wall on the bale  interiors.
    There are two reasons for doing this. The  first is that lode bearing 
straw bale walls are not code approved in most states  and the cob wall will 
independently support the roof should the bales  deteriorate. The second is to 
test out a passive solar wall configuration where  the bale acts as a super 
insulator and the cob acts as a mass storage means for  solar heat.
    It should be noted that the cob wall and  the bale wall have separated by 
about one inch at the top. This should  not affect the concept in that the 
cob wall is fully capable of taking over  support of the roof and the wire bands 
still act as a hurricane ties for the  roof. I will jam cob down between the 
two walls and both walls are  sound, but I would have much rather had them 
stay together and act as  a single unit.
    The lower layers of cob showed no tendency to  separate, but they were 
built slower with several days of drying time  between each successive layer of 
cob.  I think the separation was  caused by building too fast and too wet. 
Nancy and I put up 2000 pounds of wet  cob extending one wall two feet, and the 
other wall 2 and 1/2 feet in a single  day with wet rototiller-mixed cob. 
    Fast mixing and application is essential to making  cob work 
economically. In the future I think it would be a good idea to  provide something like 
brick ties extending from the bale to the cob  walls. And particularly from the 
wire bands to the cob. Next time I plan on  putting some dead man anchors in 
the cob and tying them to the bales.
Ed