[Cob] Mix

[Dorothy Cordochorea]

Thank you, Janet!

I would be interested in the codes your county is using.  Do you know
whether they are specific codes for your county, or codes from somewhere
else that your county is using?

"Unstabilized adobe"... interesting...

At 4850 feet altitude, and especially on the *north *side of a summit, you
will have a lot of cold, and not very good passive solar warming.  How do
you plan to heat those thick walls?  I'd be afraid that three feet thick cob
under those circumstances would take a good deal to warm up.  Of course,
once it is warm, there's a lot of mass to hold the heat.  Still, there will
be quite a heat differential between the inside and the outside in the
winter where you will be building, I would think.

I am glad to hear that the folks that you are dealing with in Klamath County
will substitute thermal mass for insulation. They aren't the same thing, of
course, but it does suggest greater flexibility on their part than I've
feared we will have to deal with.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences with your county and engineer.

Dorothy

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 7:59 PM, Janet Standeford <
janet.standeford at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Dorothy,
>
> Klamath County. They never said they require this but I know the R Value of
> cob is around 1 per inch that would be an acceptable value where the county
> is concerned.
>
> My Civil Engineer agrees that the walls should be thick or I would need
> insulation. The county did tell me I could substitute thermal mass for
> insulation as well.
>
> I live at 4850 feet in the foothills of the Cascades on the North side of a
> summit so anything that can help hold the heat is a good thing here.
>
> As my foundation will be insulated, they are not requiring an insulated
> floor which will be cob.
>
> I'm not going with straw bale. As I said, the walls are 25' x 10' with a
> 10' x 8' bedroom. The highest South side is 14' and the lowest North is 8'.
> I would think with two or three doors and many windows it shouldn't be too
> hard to make enough cob with several people working on it.
>
> By the way, cob is considered to be unstabilized adobe and the requirements
> are under special codes.
>
> I'll try to find the codes if you remind me next weekend.
>
>
> Janet Standeford OR
> www.buildingnaturally.info (Owned by you)
> A resource for healthy homes.
>
>
>
>