Cob: Stewing. Long.

[Darel Henman]

Miranda wrote:
> 
>  A mild summer is 100 degrees for a couple of months; a hotter one can
> get over 110 and stay there for a long time.

What are the daily low temperatures compared to the hottest part of the
day, 100 F you gave?

> We can have droughts that last all summer long, with no rainfall
> whatsoever  (I believe the song, Not a Drop of Rain, was written here), or
> we can have a couple of months of rain several times every week, with
> rivers flooding and washing away some structures.
How have you managed so far?   Are you harvesting the rain?

> There are juniper trees and scrub oak all over my acre, with some
> clearings.  Septic tanks are required here, and I'm looking at about
> $10,000 to install one, no way around that.
I'd recommend looking into compost toilets, even California allows them
to some degree. This kind of toilet would also save you about 300
gallons (guesstimate) a month of potable water.
I know some people in Texas use them as well, but don't know about
permits.  If you could use it you'd save all way round and have some
good product from it for your vegetation.

> Whatever I use, cob or earthbags or anything, it's going to have to get
> lifted up high, once I build above my own reach.
Build a one story, use those rigs like painters use to walk on along the
wall at about 4' high or so and no problem.
 
> Earthbags are commonly placed on the wall and then filled, with one person
> handing soil up and another perched on the wall filling the bag.  If I can
> pulley a 5 gallon bucket up to the wall, that almost sounds easier than
> lifting cob, which is exactly the same, only filled with water, much heavier.
Build a conveyor belt type transport, it can hold as little or much as
you want.
 
> Or maybe not.  I really have not decided.
Consider light-clay or wood-chip clay?  What about compressed earth
brick/blocks (C.E.B.)?

> Cob is cheaper;
Not if you count time.
> you don't have to buy the bags or the barbed wire to go between the courses.
Shouldn't be prohibitively expensive.

> With strawbale, you have to buy the bales.
Or if you asked some farmer, he might give you some.
 
> Many of the
> roads around here are made with caliche (we say co-LEE-chee, what do you
> say?)
A hard subsoil encrusted with calcium-carbonate.  Used in Texas as a
home building material as well.   
See the "caliche" section in here:  
    http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/EarthMaterials.html

Darel