[Cob] Flood resistance - NOT!

[Ocean Liff-Anderson]

Harry McCormack of Sunbow Farms (one of the founders of Oregon Tilth)  
laughingly reminds me that he was here in the flood of 1970, and that  
there were VW busses floating down South Third.  Elevation at the  
road doesn't mean much when the road is 6 feet under water...

Haven't seen the Mud Bog yet, it's happening this afternoon. (Kinetic  
Sculpture races at daVinci Daze)...

On Jul 22, 2007, at 8:11 AM, paul wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ocean Liff-Anderson"  
> <ocean at woodfiredeatery.com>
> To: "paul" <dotpaul at paulleblanc.net>
> Cc: <coblist at deatech.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 10:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [Cob] Flood resistance - NOT!
>
>
>> one of the cardinal rules with cob:  never build in a flood plain.  
>> basically, flood is catastrophic for cob.   ianto has some great   
>> "before and after" shots of a beautiful, completed cob that he  
>> helped  build for some folks in texas - who insisted it was a  
>> "hundred year  flood plain" - turned out the year after the  
>> building was finished  was the hundred year flood.  totally  
>> destroyed.
>>
>
> So, zero hope even with a little cement mixed in?  Even with  
> "creative" plastering?
>
>
>
>> don't do it.  of course, my restaurant's cob was is also in the   
>> hundred year flood plain.  and the last "big" flood was in 1970.   
>> but  you never know...
>
> You guys have the Willamette river nearby, right?  It seemed to me  
> that you had the elevation out at the road to avoid flooding,  
> though.  I guess not.
>
> Did you see this year's Mud Bog?
>