[Cob] cob stables

[Dean Sherwin]

cob sounds perfect for stables.  In its home county, cob was used for 
numerous farm buildings and I never heard that it could not stand up 
to horses & cattle.  On my brother's farm in Devon there is a cob 
barn and the walls are very strong, I cannot imagine it being felled 
by a kick.  But I also understand that where thoroughbreds are 
concerned it is not uncommon to line the stalls with wood anyway, to 
protect both them and the walls whatever they are made of.
Interestingly there is a recipe somewhere for painting cob walls and 
discouraging cattle from licking them to get the salts from the 
earth.  The damp tongues will certainly wear away the walls!  It may 
be in Clough Williams Ellis' book, Building In Cob Pise and Stabilized Earth.
Dean



>Message: 2
>Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 17:29:18 +0100
>From: Andy Dunn - Luibh <andy at luibh.ie>
>Subject: [Cob] cob walls for stables
>To: coblist at deatech.com
>Message-ID: <092B14D0-7C10-4E04-AEA1-2AA43A5AC052 at luibh.ie>
>Content-Type: 
>text/plain;       charset=US-ASCII;       format=flowed;  delsp=yes
>
>Hi there,
>
>We're planning on building a few stables hopefully over the next few
>months, and are going to use cob in some form. One of the questions we
>have is whether cob on its own (with lime plaster), would be strong
>enough to withstand horses kicks, or if we should include some
>powdered lime to the mix to make it even stronger.
>
>There is a great tradition of building with cob in this local area, as
>many of the old cottages are built from the grey/yellow 'daub' in the
>ground, which unfortunately makes bad quality land for farming but
>great for building.
>
>Im quite a purist and would ideally just use clay/sand/straw but my
>wife is concerned that wouldn't be enough to withstand a full kick
>from a large horse.
>
>Any advice much appreciated.
>
>--
>Andy Dunn
>
>www.luibh.ie
>andy at luibh.ie
>00 353 86 0230879
>
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>End of Coblist Digest, Vol 7, Issue 127
>***************************************



Dean Sherwin CPE
Certified Professional Estimator
LEED Accredited Professional
CONSTRUCTION COST MANAGEMENT
3, Cherry Street
PO Box 11
Media, PA 19063-0011
(610)892 8860
fax (610) 892 7862
costman at verizon.net