[Cob] cobscrap logistics

[Rob Hayes]

Marlin,  
That's a great idea & I don't know where I was when you'd mentioned it before.

There are everywhere many more dumpsters full of TONS of this sort of material & I know not to pick too much of it up for firewood.  But the beauty of having the occasional nails protruding is that they will ADD to the attachment to the building mass!

I was just wondering what to use for the farms' missing shed endwall to keep the chooks feeling safe.  Now, I can more easily visualize a cobscrap hipwall with window sill and those recycled window sashes mounted above.  

2 questions:
a.) Since the roof load is carried by the adjacent walls - how many "courses" or layers of urbanite recycled concrete sidewalk pieces would be good for the first ground  contact layer?  I wonder if my trusty old 3/4 ton Dodge p/u truck could be called into service  for compacting them.  Or should some stone or lime consolidated crushed gravel be placed there and have a trench first?  There is some roof overhang there, luckily, and fortunate site drainage slope.
b.) if the cob exterior starts out with a say, 3/4 inch thick layer, should a chicken wire mesh be held out 1/2 inch for reinforcement?  Won't thin cob layers on the 2x4 "ends" tend to jump off after slight impact or after drying?  Or should some strawy cob mortar be caused to stick out from between the wood scraps courses enough for the cob plaster connection?

I'm ready for the logistics of setting up a barbecue on the other end of the shed.   Even if it rains and invited people get there late - something good is likely to happen. I like the "extra thermal mass on the inside" idea too - another rainy day project waiting there in a blue tarp scrap for those willing and able..  


Marlin Nissen <marlin_nissen at yahoo.com> wrote:

"...my take which I've mentioned before is to use 2X4 cutoffs as the 'cordwood' and have them all cut to the same size with a chop saw.


Benfits of 'CobScrap'


1. They're uniform in length
2. don't need ANY drying so they won't shrink
3. free in the construction dumpsters/waste going to the landfill
4. if you Cob OVER the ends of them the wall will look just like a Cob wall!
5. you end up with an insulation gap between the 2 walls - bonus
6. from my estimates you have to make about 50% LESS Cob - less mixing
7. the walls are lighter/dry quicker so you can go higher on the wall much quicker
8. if you build a bigger INNER wall you have a good thermal mass INSIDE your structure where you want it to regulate temperature swings
9. the wall looks EXACTLY like Cob!
10. there's 1000's of anchor points for cabinets and other attachments to the cob wall, JUST below the surface of your walls.

=========================  "The past has vanished, everything that was uttered belongs there;
                   Now is the time to speak of new things."                    ~ Rumi "...
.............................................................................................................................

and thanks, for making room for Rumi too.


If the door is shut
right in your face
keep waiting with patience
don't leave right away.
Seeing your patience
your love will soon
summon you with grace
raise you like a champion.                - Rumi