[Cob] want flood resistance? - build with concrete?

[Ocean Liff-Anderson]

I've built some concrete-cob before.  It is a very different animal  
from "regular" cob - might resist soaking better.  But the straw - if  
it isn't weakened by the caustic nature of the portland - isn't going  
to hold after the flood.  Asphalt emulsion might be better, and this  
is what the Universal Building Code requires for "stabilized unfired  
clay masonry".  The asphalt might better protect the straw from rotting.

But i think if you want a house which can endure being submerged and  
eroded by flood water flow, the best thing is a poured, rebar- 
reinforced concrete building.  Of course, anything inside your house  
will be ruined, as well as any wooden elements used in roofing.  Then  
after the waters recede, black mold sets in quickly, making the house  
toxic.  Just look at the 1000's of houses in New Orleans, some only  
submerged briefly.  They are completely uninhabitable due to thick,  
black, toxic mold covering every surface...

Rule: don't build in a flood plain, unless you are ready for the  
hundred-year flood, and want to demolish and rebuild after the  
eventual destruction of your home.  You can buy federally subsidized  
"flood insurance" for the inevitable, but it ain't cheap.  Though I  
doubt the feds would ever insure a mud house against the flood!


On Jul 22, 2007, at 8:30 AM, Ocean Liff-Anderson wrote:

> 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?
>>
>
>
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