[Cob] plastic jugs charmaine's entry

[Damon Howell]

Charmaine, I also see most people refuse to use refuse. And that's  
unfortunate because our landfills here in America are sky high and  
growing. Why not build houses out of garbage? People smear cow dung  
all over their walls and does it indefinitely smell? No. Most garbage  
is recyclable paper, which can be soaked and used as plaster. Reminds  
me of the time I was telling my uncle about cob. He got all excited  
about the idea and said, "you could put anything you want to in there  
(talking about the cob) and once it dries it's still gonna be hard as  
a rock." He was thinking stuff like old bicycles, tools, worn out  
shoes, and maybe even his kid brothers annoying toys, but I told him  
if it will rot or rust, it's not a good idea to put it in the cob.  
Another thought is a tin roof doesn't weigh much, but a living roof  
does and that's usually the reason to build a wall with high  
compressive strength. A lot of times I think we over do it with worry  
that it's not gonna be strong enough, but the more people build with  
earth and document their victories, the less apprehensive they will  
be. As fill, I'm more in favor of rock and wood than sand filled  
plastic jugs. Wood would probably be easier to get to the top of the  
wall too, which was the original posters concern. It's a good way to  
clean up debris!

Damon in GA, USA


On Dec 14, 2009, at 3:00 PM, coblist-request at deatech.com wrote:

> FILLED WALLS
> The idea of a wall filed with refuse ( similar to the earth ships
> areas filled with cans and junk, covered in dirt)  and some rammed
> earth walls with similar small trash- contained  evenly- hopefully- in
> them,  this HAS been done.  it has ALL  been done, just a matter of
> knowing who, when, and how it worked.
>
> An inventor in CA, a shrink by profession, put out a book many years
> ago that was rejected by cobbers because he tended to use too many
> additives, old paint,  and polymers, etc seen as non organic.
>
> BUT his ideas had great merit  if you were not a purist,  but a
> salvage type builder and if you had a need, and  limited materials.
>
> SO this STILL applies to cob.
>
> His wall  idea- which he tried to patent- and of course could not  was
> this:     imagine making a twin walled metal post and wire mesh deer
> fence-   place  each fence wall just 1 foot or two apart.  Running
> small mesh  wire tacked to the posts, and   filling it up with  milk
> jugs of plastic, other containers filled with sand, dirt, and laid in
> as you dumped in a wet adobe -cob type mix.   eventually filling the
> wall form with mostly "containers" and just SOME cob coating... then
> when done you plaster/spray a heavy   cob mix to  even out the wall
> surface-- make a  little  Japanese  style shingle pitched roof or
> protect the top another way from erosion.
>
> it now has the same  thermal properties as cob ( very low 1/4 R per
> Inch)-  but is has the mass- and the sand in the milk jugs absorbs the
> same heat as the cob does- similar materials.  but  few really want  a
>  full trashwall house.  I am sure people in   (Phillipines,  Mexico,
> China)   areas where tons of debris can be had easily would jump to do
> this- or have done this.
>
>  If you need a fence for privacy, wind break, sound break  is perfect
> to use this idea on.  you can beautify the surface, embed tiles,
> really make it nice, make it curvy since it doesn't need to be
> straight, and is stronger NOT straight,
>
> Insert a small  open ended metal barrel  thru it for a 'window',
> maybe cob in glass  mosaics- those blue glass bottles, 5 gal glass
> jugs,  etc-- add some built in benches, and  have a very pretty 'wall'
> that does the job, is lighter and LOTS less work.   but again, not
> everyone want to think to use these recycled materials, but for ultra
> cheap,   it works.
>
> -- 
> Charmaine Taylor Publishing
> RETIRING in 3 weeks from the bookstore-
> visit for 2 FREE books (pdf) with any order!
> www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
>
>
>
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> End of Coblist Digest, Vol 7, Issue 187
> ***************************************
>