[Cob] Exposed Cob Benches

[Kevin Brown]

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback in regards attaching a roof to cob, it was
helpful. 
The structure I'm working on consists mainly of walls and benches
surrounding an earthen oven. The roof will cover just half the structure
and many of the benches and such will still be exposed. I left one bench
uncovered (unplastered) last winter and spring to assess its durability
and it survived remarkably well considering it was exposed to rather
extreme weather including about 10 in of rain and wet and freezing
temperatures. 
However I'm going to protect it with plaster this year. My thoughts, and
I welcome your feedback on this, is to use a lime plaster (sand, some
clay, horse manure, and lime) on most of the structure. I was thinking
of drilling a couple of drain holes in the benches where they collect
water and inserting PVC pipe through the length of the bench to drain. I
also read about "waterglass"/potassium silicate as a sealer as well. 
Thanks Cobbers; Let's keep it civil. 

Kevin Brown, Big Sky Country Boy






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