[Cob] too much clay

[Georgie Donais]

I just took apart my oven (pics at http://mudandmusings.blogspot.com/) and I
can see that there were spots where my clay/sand mix was way off: too much
sand. It was one of the first projects I ever did, so I was just learning
what a good mix felt like. I think I still mix things too lean clay-wise, in
trying to avoid too much clay. Live and learn.

Georgie


On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Damon Howell
<dhowell at pickensprogress.com>wrote:

> Kristen,
>        The higher the clay content, the more severe the cracking as it
> dries. 2-3 days in full sun will usually dry it completely, but if
> you have a lot of clay you will see cracking within an hour. There
> are benefits to having lots of clay in the mix: it's more water
> resistant, holds heat better than sand, and it's easier on the hands
> and feet. The downer is it doesn't have good compressive strength in
> case you wanted a heavy roof. As far as falling apart when it gets
> wet, it takes a long time for completely dry clay to get soaked that
> much, far longer time than a clay/sand mix. Then you put the straw in
> there to bind it all together and it doesn't go anywhere easily.
>
> Damon in Georgia
>
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