Cob:

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Sat, 1 Feb 2003, Jill hotmail wrote:

> I am digging, and digging, all I get is sand! How can I mix dirt and
> clay if there is none!!! Should I keep digging down?
> -jill

What you are trying to do is mix earth (whatever is local) with either
sand or clay (or sandy soil or clay soil) depending on the composition of
earth in your area (unless you are lucky enough to have "readi-mix" which
is good for cob as is).  If all you have is truly just sand, that's 3/4's
of your mix right there, so you just need to find a source of clay or high
clay soil, which you may need to have to get hauled in.  Depending on
where you are located, the price can vary considerably, though hauling
usually seems to be at least half the price around here.  One good source
of free/cheap earth in warmer areas can be companies that dig holes for
swimming pools, if you are closer to the pool they are currently digging
than where they are hauling the earth to, there's a good chance you can
get it for free.  Of course you will want to check first to see if what
they are currently digging up is something you can use.

When I lived in Texas for a couple years, I got seventy yards delivered
free the same day that I talked to a company digging a pool about ten
blocks away.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
                      |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
Phone: (800) 467-5820 | Networking, Scientific & Engineering Applications
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