Cob: Thin walls

[Cheryl Bailey]

I have seen rondauvels (spelling?) in Africa and have seen some of their
stages of building.  The one's I saw are made by first lining up a row of
sticks (tree limbs) in a circle and then using that as a framework for
applying mud/straw mix.  The floors and outside are plastered with
manure/clay/sand mix.  Then the roofs are thatched.  I can't remember if
there are any supports for the roof--maybe there was a central pole that
reached to the apex of the roof.  

Cheryl

At 06:56 AM 5/7/00 +0200, you wrote:
>Where in Africa?  I have seen the round, spiral actually, homes in the Masai
>Mara of southern Kenya and the walls are very thin but I think it is
>actually wattle and daub.  That is, some kind of woven brush framework that
>is plastered over.  Unfortunately I did not see any under construction and
>my focus was on cooking fuel and deforestation at that time, not housing
>issues.
>
>Sarah
>Tsfat, Israel
>-----Original Message-----
>From: goshawk at gnat.net <goshawk at gnat.net>
>To: Coblist <coblist at deatech.com>
>Date: ùáú 06 îàé 2000 08:30
>Subject: Re: Cob: Thin walls
>
>
>While  cobbing away yesterday my mind started to wander and wonder about
>building some small
>cabin type rooms near our house for visitors. As I got tired I started
>thinking am I crazy! Then I
>started thinking of designs which for use of a guest room / short term
>visit / moderate weather
>only / room that I wouldn't have to make the walls as thick. Thinking back
>to my time in Africa, I
>figure making circular rooms would allow me to make the thinest walls. Then
>(I guess the mud was
>really getting to my brain), I wondered  just how thin I could make the
>walls. I'm thinking maybe 3
>or 4  inches thick.
>
>Well back to work...
>Pat
>Pat Newberry
>www.gnat.net/~goshawk
>