[Cob] Coblist Cob insulation

[Jill Hogan]

My cob walls are 400mm to 600mm 2 foot wide and in temperatures of 42 -45deg C in the semi -desert my house is so cool that when I walk out I think hmmmm who turned the oven on, and in winter we drop to freezing surrounded by snow and my house with the fire going is as warm as toast. 
I would not survive this climate without my cob house.
Jill

McGregor Alternative Technology Centre
"MAT"
023 625 1533
www.mat.org.za

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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dean Sherwin 
  To: coblist at deatech.com ; coblist at deatech.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:05 PM
  Subject: Re: [Cob] Coblist Cob insulation


  Unfortunately cob is not a good insulator.  They've run up against 
  this problem in UK even with a "whole house" approach and where 
  temperatures are not extreme.  With the coming energy crisis I think 
  it would not be responsible to build an uninsulated wall.  R30 I 
  should say in Wisconsin.  I have R25 in my new house in SE PA and I 
  wish I had more.   Windows should be as good as you can afford.  And 
  as little glass as possible except south facing.  Even there dont 
  overdo it as windows lose more heat than they gain.  Unless maybe 
  triple glazed.   That's for a cold climate.


  At 03:00 PM 4/21/2009, coblist-request at deatech.com wrote:
  >Hi Bob,
  >
  >In a climate as cold as Wisconsin, it sounds like you would want more
  >insulation than could be provided by a wall consisting of woodchip in
  >clay or lime matrix. Though I don't have specific figures, my feeling is
  >that the matrix will provide plenty of continuous thermal bridging.
  >Loose woodchip in a cavity wall sounds like a better option. Or since it
  >sounds as if you've got a plentiful supply of other types of wood, you
  >could go for cobwood (using woodchip as cavity insulation in between the
  >inner and outer layers of cob).
  >
  >If you did cobwood or else a strawbale structure plastered thickly with
  >cob (like we are doing, in a far milder climate!), you could throw out
  >the timber frame and avoid building a redundant loadbearing structure.
  >(Sounds like you've made that decision already, though.)
  >
  >Robert
  >
  >www.abrazohouse.org
  >
  > > ------------------------------
  > >
  > > Message: 5
  > > Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:44:01 -0500
  > > From: "Bob Smolen" <boka at mwt.net>
  >  ...snip...
  > > Thanks,
  > > Bob



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