[Cob] Fwd: cob greenhouse question

[Malcolm Schluenderfritz]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Malcolm Schluenderfritz <mschluenderfritz at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Cob] cob greenhouse question
To: Howard Switzer <howard at earthandstraw.com>


Hello Howard,

Thanks for the advice.

I will try to post a plan soon.

I am stuck with the 18" base because the foundation is already build. I
agree that it seems something is needed at the North East corner.

The concrete is to use it up and to speed drying on the wall. (An idea from
"The Hand Sculpted House." ) I got huge loads of broken concrete dumped for
the foundation and for retaining walls on other parts of the site. These
are pieces that are fairly good but not quite square enough for those uses.
Spaced widely (so that they do not form problematic joints) in the core of
the wall, it seems that they will allow me to use less cob, which not only
means faster drying, but also less cob mixing and less purchased sand use.

I would think that if cob is strong enough to arch over small niches, it
would be strong enough to take a few pieces of concrete inside the wall.
But correct me if I am wrong.



On Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 8:29 PM, Howard Switzer <howard at earthandstraw.com>
wrote:

> I know John will take good care of you, (do post your plan if you can) but
> basically you got a 16 foot wall braced on one end, right, so sounds like
> you need to brace the other end somehow. Now I expect there will be an east
> wall so you might consider bracing it in such a way as it could serve to
> buttress the end of the wall and you might want to embed some anchors in
> the cob for attaching that bracing wall....or you could just do a cob
> buttress off the end of the wall in the other direction, which is probably
> the better option, just guessing. You might also want to consider battering
> the wall a bit, wider (20") at the bottom than the top (16"), right? Might
> add some more stability. What are the concrete pieces doing in the middle
> of it?  Just trying to get rid of it or something?
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 2:31 PM, Malcolm Schluenderfritz <
> mschluenderfritz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  I am building a small greenhouse, 16 feet by 8 feet, and 8 feet tall. The
>> North and West walls will be cob, and about 18 inches thick. I will be
>> inserting some pieces of concrete as we go, in the center of the wall. The
>> walls are straight, not curved.
>> Do I need to add buttresses to this wall to keep it up, or is it thick
>> enough? The North and West walls already form a corner, so they provide at
>> least a little Lateral support to each other.
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>
>
>
> --
> Howard Switzer - Architect
> 668 Hurricane Creek Road
> Linden, TN 37096
> 931 589 6513
> www.earthandstraw.com
>
> “You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
> To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model
> obsolete.”
> ― Richard Buckminster Fuller
> <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/165737.Richard_Buckminster_Fuller>
>







-- 
Malcolm Schluenderfritz
Secretary,

The Saint Isidore Society,
saintisidoresociety.wordpress.com