Cob: cob over traditional house?

[Charmaine R Taylor]

Are you going to leave the siding (safer) and just go over it with a 
surface material?

are you one or two story? roof type?  

Getting the cob to stick with lathing and attachments may be an issue, 
especially if small roof overhangs will allow water to reach the walls 
constantly.  You may be better off to simply treat the surface siding 
per US OSHA regs ( ie paint plaster) and then paint the house an adobe 
color.

for drafts you might have to surface the inside walls and plug up 
outlets, etc., or possibly fibercrete the outside ( clay sawdust 
plaster) ,  and cover with a lime-clay plaster tinted very earthy

I have a small studio building made of redwood, and while I love clay it 
is inappropriate to put OVER my studio walls, so I ended up replacing 
the ugly chipped "baby blue" paint with a warn adobe color that matches 
the actual redwood shingles I used on the rest of it..and it looks 
great...  compromise is sometimes in order.

what part of the country are you in?

Ms. Charmaine  Taylor/ Taylor Publishing
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
http://www.papercrete.com
PO Box 375, Cutten (Eureka) CA 95534
707-441-1632
tms at northcoast.com