[Cob] length of straw and general research

[Damon Howell]

To John and Others,
	I see the interest in knowing the minimum length of straw in cob,  
but my fear is when the research results become requirement by  
building departments. Also, we should be able to build a home with  
what we have available right here on our land and not need a trip to  
the store for our materials. If we use store-bought materials  
(additives which are not natural and abundantly available) in our  
research, we'll never be able to build the simple, cheap homes we  
want. On our journey of learning how to make the best cob homes,  
let's keep in mind the old saying "KISS." Us Americans tend to want  
our homes to last forever, but do they? Through all the research of  
modern building technologies, our homes have become less sturdy and  
more susceptible to damage because people just want a cheap house and  
contractors love to cut corners. Cob houses have been known to last  
for centuries and how many of us are going to be around to see the  
demise of them? Not many I imagine. If they're built by sensible  
builders they should last a long time (much longer than a stick  
built). I'm not sure, but I would say the poor folks who built most  
of those cob houses in England didn't go to natural building school  
or do a lot of research into it. They simply dug the dirt up, mixed  
straw into it, and slapped it into a wall. What more is there to  
know? We seem to be so thirsty for the knowledge of how they did it  
back then that we're over analyzing a very simple idea: we can build  
our homes from dirt and it will last for generations as long as we  
keep it from getting soaked with water. What a wonderful idea that  
is. I celebrate everyone who sees the benefits of building this way.

Damon in Georgia