Cob: suggestions??

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Wed, 2 Oct 2002, Aile Eagle Bear wrote:

[snip]
> wall... wood wall is lined with lava rock...which I have an over
> abundance of... and all this has been filled in with cob
> material...minus straw...as no load bearing needed  (I have a natural

The straw is primarily for tensile strength rather than compressive/load
bearing strength, and given the likely expansion/contraction of the metal
stove inside the cob, you might need the straw to help hold it together.

> good sand/clay soil mix where I live  so have merely added some lime to
> soil and added water...mixed and shaped....)  I have a short pipe with
> draft control... and plan to place cob around this three feet of
> pipe...then form rest of pipe with cob... also I thought I would try and
[snip]

Don't know how well this will work, but I think you would be better off
using stove pipe inside of the cob for the entire run rather than trying
to form a pipe out of cob.  The stove pipe will give you a form to work
around, and will prevent any exhaust from the stove getting out into the
room.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
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