[Cob] Looking for answers

[Dorothy Bothne]

Jeff,
the work is backbreaking hard. especially if you have to lift the cob up to top of tall walls (our home is 2 story).   we've been working on our cob home, mostly weekends, for 13 years, I think we'll finally be ready to move in this summer.  we're working on interior finish.
we arranged for workers to help because we can't do all of this physically ourselves.  one good point is that it's the type of work that doesn't require a lot of skill,  we used my young adult kid's and their friends who were in the late teens and early twenties - all unskilled labor.  it provided a chance for me to teach these young people regarding project management and sense of accomplishment and importance of sustainable design.  We provided lunch, sometimes dinner and had a lot of fun getting covered in mud.  we nickname the young guys and gals who lift the cob up to the cobber our mules.
I can send you photos's if you like, and can answer any other questions offline.  we're in Texas, just north of the Austin area.
Dorothy


________________________________
From: Jeff Houston <jhouston58 at gmail.com>
To: coblist at deatech.com 
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 5:35 PM
Subject: [Cob] Looking for answers

I have a few questions about Cob building. I hope someone can help me out or point me in the right directions. First off is I have a bad back. In fact I am on disability because of it. I can do minor things, but lifting heavy objects repeatedly is definitely not one of them. So my main question is, exactly HOW hard is it to build one of these? I love the idea, and love the concept. I would LOVE to build one of these myself but I am just not sure I am physically able to do it. I was hoping someone could give me an idea of exactly how strenuous, particularly on the back this process is. I do plan to get some help, and maybe they could do the bulk of the heavy stuff but I am just not one to sit around and watch and most likely would try to jump in and do some things I will regret the next day. I dont want to continually be doing something thats gonna lay me up for a few days before I can jump back into it. Now for my next question. I am in North Carolina
 and have been scouring the internet for some workshops here in NC. I found one but the scheduled date for it was like 2011 I think it was, several years ago:) So I think I missed that one! Does anyone know of some ACTIVE resources in North Carolina that I could get up with? It seems everyone I have found online have not been around very much in the last year or two. I apreciate any and all help I can get on either of these two subjects!

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