[Cob] self-building - ovens vs. dwellings

[Peter Kaulback]

Certainly with any structure using load bearing exterior walls there is 
the risk of collapse, whatever the materials used for the wall there is 
always a risk of injury or death. If a wall is a few hundred pounds or a 
few thousand the risk is there. Dig a well and see the effects of the 
earth alone.

This isn't to say never try without hands-on training, if one is 
confident in their abilities then I believe one should try. Otherwise 
nothing gets built. I see many farmers and others in rural locales do it 
every day.

As detailed as Kiko was with his oven book so is Becky Bee with her cob 
building book: The Cob Builders Handbook. Both of which leave much for 
experimentation and exploration, the best kinds of books I believe.

On a side note, did you use straw in your ovens interior layer?

Peter Kaulback

Ocean Liff-Anderson wrote:
> It is possible to build an oven with very little instruction, especially 
> since Kiko Denzer has outlined in excruciating detail all the 
> information necessary in his book, Build Your Own Earth Oven.
> 
> An oven is a simple dome structure, and once fired most of the straw 
> "cokes" (burns to carbon without any flame) and no longer yields 
> strength to the oven.  The domed-nature of the oven is supported in part 
> by the lightly-fired clay center, which now resembles a weak porcelain.
> 
> Building a dwelling or other structure where people will be inside, 
> under a wall-supported roof is another story altogether.  I would not 
> recommend it.  The roofing and walls of a cob building can weight 
> several thousand pounds, and while your oven's collapse may ruin dinner, 
> a building's collapse will definitely ruin your day.
> 
> People have been killed when improperly built cob walls failed.
> 
>> I have never taken a workshop nor have I talked to anyone else who built
>> with cob in person and yet I have built an exceptional cob oven all
>> because of the confidence instilled by the work of Kiko Denzer, Becky
>> Bee, Lanto Evans, and many people on this very list. I have never built
>> any building from scratch before, food yes, structures no. Then again
>> there haven't been any given in this area either :/
>>
>> Peter Kaulback
>>
>> Ocean Liff-Anderson wrote:
>>> this question reveals much that needs to be learned...
>>>
>>> how can you be "ready to cob" if you don't know why straw is included
>>> in the mix???  just where have you learned about cob, and from whom
>>> did you learn it?
>>>
>>> in order to mix and build with cob, you need to know several things -
>>> quality of clay, the right kind of sand, the best quality straw, and
>>> the right mix of all three, along with water to mix them into cob.  i
>>> can't believe that there isn't any straw in the state of georgia.
>>> what do farmers do for their animal bedding?
>>>
>>> don't build with cob until you take a workshop, from someone skilled
>>> in cob building, who can then explain all you need to know - the
>>> proper way to make a good cob mix, a good foundation, a good roof.
>>> if you are planning to build a structure which will be inhabited, you
>>> must do so safely, or face the possibility of a catastrophic failure!
>>>
>>> sorry to be the harbinger of doom and gloom,
>>> ocean
>>>
>>> On Jul 12, 2007, at 10:20 AM, Damon Howell wrote:
>>>
>>>> What is the purpose of straw in a cob mix? Nobody seems to "really
>>>> know" what the role of straw is anyway. Is it there to hold the cob
>>>> together while the wall is still wet (like a free form), or to keep
>>>> the wall from crumbling incase it cracks later (like reenforcement),
>>>> or to allow air/water to move through the wall (because straw is
>>>> hollow)? The problem is that nobody knows the reason they used straw
>>>> because they didn't leave behind notes on how and why they built that
>>>> way, and it's been a while since they lived here. What do they do in
>>>> Africa? Do they use straw "in" the cob? Can any other plants be used
>>>> as tensile such as long grasses? I'm almost ready to start cobbing
>>>> but straw is just unavailable in GA right now, and what straw there
>>>> is has a very high price on it. I'm not willing to pay three times
>>>> the price for it if there's a substitution. I would love to just go
>>>> out in the field and get some tall grass if it would suffice. It's a
>>>> heck of a lot cheaper!
>>>>
>>>> Chow,
>>>> Damon Howell
>>>> North Georgia, US
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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