[Cob] Mix

[Dulane]

Amazingly, I only used about 3 sixty pound bales in my whole (12x12) cob
house. I probably did it wrong, but after I mixed my clay and sand (which is
specific to the local materials) I added 1/10 the total mass of straw. Which
was like a 3" flake per 40-50 lb load. 

I don't know if everyone calls the chunks that straw comes apart in Flakes
or not, but I do. Straw really expands when you pull it apart.

I didn't use any wattle and daub, which would use more straw. I used masses
of straw in corbels.

I think the amount of straw you use has to do also...with the quality of
your other materials. It seems some clays are lighter and mushier, so more
straw might be needed for a dense loaf. And some local sands/soils might be
finer, so more straw might be needed. I think you are looking for the
densist brick you can get that holds its dry shape in all kinds of weather
and bonds together with no crumbling.  

Maybe I should have used more, but there seemed to be plenty of straw to
weave into the mix. I harvested some of the local bunch grass here and used
it in some of the cob. I think it was canary reed grass. I cut it by the
handful (just before it seeded) and threw it on a tarp to dry in the sun for
a few days. 

-----Original Message-----
From: coblist-bounces at deatech.com [mailto:coblist-bounces at deatech.com] On
Behalf Of Janet Standeford
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 8:49 AM
To: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: Re: [Cob] Mix

Can anyone tell me how much cob, by foot measurement, that one bale of 
straw weighing 110 lbs should make?

BTW one of our projects this year if enough people show up will be a cob 
cistern.

Janet Standeford OR
www.buildingnaturally.info (Owned by you)
A resource for healthy homes.



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