Cob: Jelly Roll Design

[Jeanne Leimkuhler]

Robert Carwell wrote:
>
>I have come up with the idea of a jellyroll design.  The seed of this idea
>came from a recommendation to mix cob on a sheet and then to use the sheet to
>manipulate the cob.  I came up with the idea of why not just use the sheet in
>the construction. Sheets of plastic, burlap, hemp, cloth, woven fiberglass,
>are relatively inexpensive.  Why not just mix up the substance, tamp and
>compress, roll this up in the plastic, tie off, and violaŠyou have an earth
>or artificial log.  The size of the log could be determined by the size of
>the workforce.  The log could be laid like earth bags to build the wall.


I think it's great that you are thinking creatively about the building process.
My biggest concern about this idea is that there would be no 
continuity of the wall structure. Each jellyroll would be separate 
from the others and susceptible to sliding apart. What would hold 
them together? The reason cob works is because when finished the wall 
is one monolithic piece of earth.
I'm also not sure if this eliminates any labor issues. It seems as 
though it would take even more muscle to handle the large jellyrolls 
and get them in place, than to put cob on the wall, which one person 
can do.

Robert, where are you located in Indiana? My husband and I run a 
Natural Building group through the Center for Sustainable Living in 
Bloomington, IN. If you are interested, please contact me off the 
list.
Jeanne


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