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The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art



[Cob] Engineered Cob House Plans

Janet Standeford janet.standeford at gmail.com
Fri Feb 12 19:35:34 CST 2010


No. Curvy and rounded isn't so much the reason but the haphazard look of 
many of those is. Actually ungraded lumber can be used if a Civil 
Engineer approves it. I'm using fir off my property and having it peeled 
at a mill for around a hundred dollars. To keep it simple, I'll cut 35 
_7-8 "_ 12 foot poles and 10 _10 1/2" to 11 1/2"_ 12 foot poles. They 
said as log as I give advance notice they will run them through while I 
wait. The store bought lumber I'll use is very minimal.

Oh, btw folks: I have to make a correction. My cob walls will only be up 
to 8 feet with about 6 - 7 feet above that on the length of the south 
side with a slanted shed roof coming off that toward the north. They 
will be 3 feet wide with 14" earth bags in the center. The outer cob 
wall will be 3-4 inches thick with 3/4 inch portland cement over that 
and the inner cob wall will be 16" thick.

I'm getting ready to make mini bricks to find the strongest mix and I 
just found out the psi testing will cost $100 so I'll use my strongest 
mini recipe for those 4 cylinders.

> I don't think curvy contemporary structures are to blame for cob and 
> other materials and methods not being in the code, or that they make 
> it harder for those materials and methods to be adopted. Without 
> standardized materials that offer consistent performance and 
> proscriptive methods of use, the code folks are understandably in a 
> bit of a bind. It's the same reason that ungraded lumber isn't allowed 
> in structural use. For better or worse, stick is a known commodity in 
> the U.S., supported by giant industry and supported over time by sheer 
> numbers. I'm not saying that's good or right.
>
> Mark
>
>
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