[Cob] -- Traditional Cob Cottage

[davidsheen at davidsheen.com]

Lori,
After having visited several 500-year-old cob cottages in Devon and
interviewing their occupants, I would highly recommend NOT taking cues
from their layouts.
#1, They were generally originally built as one-huge-room houses, then
subdivided later as the country culture changed.
#2, They are cold unless a lot of wood is burned to heat them.  We have a
lot less wood than we did 500 years ago, and a lot more knowledge.
... Okay, 4-5 feet is way overkill, please don't do this.  What you could
do is 2-3 feet of cob max, plus another foot of light straw-clay for
insulation value?  Just a thought...
There are a couple of shots of interiors of old U. K. Cob in my photo
essay located at:
http://www.ilovecob.com/ashan/ukcob
Good luck with your project!

On Sep 19, 2006, at 10:20 AM, davidsheen at davidsheen.com wrote:

I am also very interested in photographs of the INTERIORS of the
traditional cob buildings,which I cannot seem to find anywhere,if anyone
has some,please share-:).I am very curious about the layout of the rooms
inside,kitchens,bedrooms,lofts,etc.I know it is probably more practical to
do so in a cold climate,but I really dont want to build with strawbales,as
cob is more manageable for me to build myself,and I dont want to do all
that framing.So,I am wondering,if I make very thick walls of cob,like 4-5
feet,if that would help with the insulation issue-or,if it is possible to
build cob walls for 3 feet or so and then make a pocket close to the
interior to fill with maybe 4-6 inches of
 straw,and then continue with more cob,the straw being for added
insulation.Any comments would be great-thanks