[Cob] living tree question

[Amanda Peck]

What I don't know would fill a couple of books.

But I expect it's going to depend on  lot of things.

What kind of trees are they?

What's the root system like, if used as posts, do they rot out quickly, are 
they the kind of trees that coppice (send up shoots from what's left of the 
trunk--around here, cedar and I think pine do not, poplar does, cottonwood 
will send up shoots twenty or so feet away)

Where do you see these trees in your house?  If they stayed alive they would 
need water, air to the roots etc.  If they go down in a tornado how much 
damage will they do?

One of the places I think about putting a house has a couple of huge 
butt-rotted beeches within falling distance.  Unless they get hit by 
lightning or a tornado or an ice storm, they'll stay up for generations, 
but....

A friend who never ever hires out work thought and looked and thought again, 
then picked up the phone to ask a pro to take out a 14" in diameter oak tree 
that had been tiny when he'd built his house inches from it 20 years before. 
  It turned out to be a very simple job, but not if he'd done it the way 
he'd had in mind, or in a wind, or.....

You could always build a multi-tree treehouse.  I've heard of one built so 
as to do no damage to the tree (fastenings that could be changed every 
couple of years, no girdling, no growing around boards, etc.).  Never seen 
one, not in touch with the person who told me about it.


.............
Jimmy Carlisle wrote:
Okay, this may be way out there, I can't find anything close to it anywhere 
on the net, so this is a good place to ask it.  I have a area I want to 
build a cob home.  I also have a few very tall trees I don't want to cut and 
have to try and get the stumps out.  What would happen if I cut the trees 
about 8 ft. high, cut them even, and use them as corner posts for the roof?  
Is this a very bad plan?  I thought of debarking them and puttting a coat of 
varnish on also.
    Are they going to keep growning after I do this?  I thought it would 
look good and blend in well.
     I welcome all comments...

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