Cob: Re: more about Cob insulation idea

[Charmaine R Taylor]

sorry for all my typos folks, I may someday be a legend for my dismal 
typing..but as Darel said, rice husks are sold in huge bags for $8. and 
can be tried, any lightweight "aerated" material is good for a try, 
remember there were NO dang workshops 100-50 years ago, people just used 
their native intelligence to try something.

DO NOT let cost or distance stop you from having the pioneer spirit to 
go try something on your own.

I took some box lids off  large xerox copy paper boxes, and placed a wet 
shredded paper and clay-lime mix into them, tamped flat with my gloved 
hands, and let  dry in the sunshine into nice crunchy looking rectangles 
3" thick, and call them "wafflecrete" and  buttered them with clay-lime 
slip and placed between redwood 2x4s in my old cotage as insulation.  as 
long as the blocks are dry, and a clay slip used there is protection 
from moisture./mold, etc that can happen if WET mixes are placed TOO 
late in a season ( after August) to dry.

trust me ...MOLD happens..I did this in Feb on a cold north wall, ans 
sure enough it could not dry.

so make test bricks of various mixes of what you have, shredded paper, 
chips, rice straw, sawdust, etc...let'em dry in front of the fireplace 
this winter and test them.

Fox Maple says 8-10" is good even in Maine winters, so adjust for your 
needs accordingly.

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