[Cob] Coblist Digest, Vol 9, Issue 74

[Damon Howell]

On Jun 10, 2011, at 3:00 PM, coblist-request at deatech.com wrote:

> the problem with that we have found is that the post expand and  
> contract in the wall and crack the cob/plaster over the posts.
	Seems like you possibly didn't have enough cob around the posts to  
"absorb" the cracks?

> I prefer to educated the building inspectors to the hundred of  
> years old houses, in say Devon and Cornwall in England, with no  
> posts in their walls and if that is not an example of duribility  
> heaven alone knows what is.

	I prefer that method too, but what I've heard is very technical talk  
to throw owner/builders off their game. They don't want 'what ifs',  
they want numbers from certified tests (and after 4.5 years of  
looking I still haven't come up with any REAL answers to their  
questions). Thank goodness Janet has come up with numbers on  
compression strength, which I'd love to have a spec sheet that comes  
from the lab. Even the pamphlet from Devon Earth Builders Association  
that guides cob builders to meet codes; although it has technical  
data it puts all responsibility on the officials and around here they  
don't know what they're looking at when they see a cob wall. So  
without the specifications that come from REAL tests (like the shake  
table test from that Canadian university), getting a cob house  
approved without major delays and setbacks is pert-near impossible.  
I'm a real optimist, don't get me wrong!