[Cob] Urea as Binder in Cob (long post)

[Yun Que]

Cat here!  Dry wall may be a local term only used in this country....”Dry stack”, would be brick stone or chunks of cement, laid without mortar but locked by shape and proportion.  In this country many dry stack walls were built and are still standing.  Immigrant Chinese were masters at dry stack.  Also seen some incredible walls and French drains done by Mexican stone-masters, in California. I walked the top of a 3' high by 2' wide wall that was as tight as a puzzle, not one stone tittered.  Magnificent work, very beautiful! Early English and Irish settlers also had this skill in the North East US.  Stones cleared form the fields became their walls.  Farmers will tell you a new field “grows lots of rocks!”
   The foundation of my farm house is a dry stack of hand cut lime stones.  some have eroded from water damage from the hillside.  They are still supporting the house well and it's about 100 years old.  

	Manure is easy to come buy in this area folks give it away.  Great for the garden and greenhouse!...as long as the animals are feeding organically.  Make a test to check the ratios needed for the earth in your area.  
	Urine is pretty interesting stuff.  It's used in eye washes, cosmetics, shampoos, and for wounds  as a first aid.  Critters will drink their own urine when they are sick.  Seems to nourish  and hydrate them while they fast to heal.  I would opt not to use manure or urine from flesh eaters however, it seems to take much longer for the the bacteria and elements to digest it.
	 I may be talking out of the side of my neck, but bacteria that digests proteins can't be all that good to have around.
	 I don't see manure from grass eaters or vegans being detrimental if it was included in your project. I knew an artist who mixed his urine in his paints....Don't know why?  Maybe just to mark his territory LOL.

Good luck with your project.

for the good of all C.
----------------------------------------> Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:02:56 -0700> From: qi4u at yahoo.com> To: coblist at deatech.com> Subject: Re: [Cob] Urea as Binder in Cob (long post)>> Hi Mahavir,> This sounds like a wonderful project.> I have not built a cob house. I do not think it is> generally safe to build a drywall foundation, if by> drywall you mean gypsum board, which is usually used> in fairly dry non structural applications and interior> location. I have seen it used on what looked like the> exterior of a commercial building during construction.> It may have been eventually covered with something and> it was installed under a big overhang. It was the> green kind of drywall that was used in slightly wetter> locations such as bathrooms and kitchen interiors. The> latest that I have heard about drywall is the use of> paperless drywall that is likely less toxic than I> assume the papered drywall is. I do not understand how> a foundation would be made from drywall, would it be> several gypsum board sandwiched together until a 6 or> 8” wall is formed? What is commonly done is concrete> rubble is put into a foundation trench, if I> understand correctly. I imagine that you could use> rock rubble if that is more plentiful in your area. Do> you have access to a lot of drywall?> As I recall, I have heard that the common weed> purslane has urea in it that might be able to be used> as a fertilizer.> Purslane is almost like a succulent plant and I have> seen local (to southern California) succulent plant> leaves put in a trash can with water to make what the> builder called musulage (unknown spelling). He let it> soak as long as possible, days or longer and used that> to mix with the earth.>> I would consider making the walls think and low and> thinner as the wall increases in highth and the use of> a beam in the top of the wall, if I were doing it. I> would also make test samples of earthen bricks to see> how strong they are with different mixes and what> happenes to them when they dry.>> Cheers,> Shody>> --- Mahavir Mahedu  wrote:>>> Hi everybody,>>>> I am planning to build a cob house with thatched>> roof in India.> >> __________________________________________________> Do You Yahoo!?> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around> http://mail.yahoo.com>> _______________________________________________> Coblist mailing list> Coblist at deatech.com> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist

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