[Cob] Earthbag

[Joseph Kennedy]

Hi guys,

 

I have been lurking a bit in this conversation.  I find earthbags and cob can be very good friends.  I don't think it is so useful to be so rigid in our discussions.  Personally, I find earthbags useful where there is not much clay.  However, the weaker the soil, the more important the bag and plaster become.  I like gravel bags with cob on top as a low tech solution.  Earthbag core for benches, oven platforms, etc. can be a good use as well.  Anywhere you need big dumb mass close to the ground.  With earthbags, the higher you go, the more difficult it is.  And you have to plaster them.  Bags and sun: not good friends.

 

Someone once said that cob is the duct tape of natural building.  I use it in everything - straw-bale, earthbag, etc.  All natural buildings are hybrids of one type or another.  The use of materials depends on climate, what is at hand, aesthetic preference, etc.  I like hammers and trowels.  Nails and screws.  Sheet metal and thatch. 

 

I know Nader invented it, but superadobe is a stupid word.  It means nothing.  There is soil cement (which was mentioned on this list).  Earth in bags, earth in tubes.  Cob of all sorts of flavors.  Best to look at physical principles and see what best applies in any given circumstance.  Cob is not going to save the world.  Neither is strawbale.  Neither is bamboo.  But creative thinking and sharing information might.

 

So: Go cob.  Go Earthbag.  Go straw-bale.  Go build something beautiful and well.  Make sure it can last a long time.  Small is beautiful.  Elegance is a virtue.  Creativity is a gift.  Sharing is a responsibility.

 

My two cents, for what it's worth.

 

Joe Kennedy