[Cob] Cob dome roof?

[Damon Howell]

Yes, the climate he's speaking of is in Gourna, Egypt. So, it's  
probably a bit different that anything most of us can do. I think  
you'd have to be a long time mason or building expert to execute a  
dome roof to keep it from falling in. That is no amateur job.
Damon





On Jul 25, 2010, at 3:00 PM, coblist-request at deatech.com wrote:

> Hello Damon,
>
> you mentioned "a 10 foot circular  mud hut with a dome roof (also  
> mud)".
> I am curious. How would that work? I always thought mud roofs only  
> work
> in desert climates or similar. Or is there a possibility to make it
> waterproof? Where I live (northern germany) it rains a lot and it is
> maritime climate. But there are also very few trees here, so my  
> dream is
> a small hut that uses earth, straw, probably thatch (it's just a
> dream... reed thatch is expensive...), other natural materials and a
> little wood, but as little as possible. This is all theoretical at  
> this
> time. But I like to think about possibilities and I'd very much  
> like to
> try something like this as soon as possible.
>
> I hope this doesn't sound too stupid, it's just an idea I had. I  
> have no
> building experience yet, so it might be a very stupid idea. But I find
> it fascinating, so here it is: A cob dome roof with straw/thatch  
> worked
> in so that the straw/thatch works like a fur. It is embedded in the  
> cob,
> but the long ends stick out in many layers (as on a normal thatch  
> roof),
> making rain water run off and hopefully keeping the cob dry. I hope  
> it's
> understandable what I mean with this description.
> Or a slightly different idea would be to fasten the straw/thatch to  
> the
> cob dome with pieces of wood in about the same way one would normally
> fasten it to roof timbers.
>
> I wonder if anyone has tried/experimented with something like this  
> before?