Cob: cob; longtime lurker

[Dorothy Bothne]

Hello All,

Preston asked,"  What was the thickness of the walls.  Did you cob freeform 
or use a slip form method. "

The cob walls are ~12" thick, all freeform.

Cat asked," How many years has your building been up, what would you do differently now that it is done??  Any surprises??"

The building has been completed about a year and a half, I've been very pleased with it's performance and the chickens also love their little house.  If I had it to do over again, I wood increase the height of the stem wall to about 3'.  I've had a few problems such as my husband gouging the bottom edge with the tractor and our pot belly pig sharpening his tusk on one corner and also trying to dig his way into the chicken coop (none of which affected the building structurally - only cosmetic exterior damage).  Also, since it was experimental, I tried several different finishes on different parts of the exterior and interior.  Our texas storms take off the lime wash, lime & clay plaster doesn't wash off but crumbles like a cookie if bumped with a shovel handle, plaster of paris is beautiful, but won't completely adhere, creating voids behind the plaster which eventually weaken and crack the finish.  Of all the exterior finishes the longest lasting was (gasp) latex paint over raw cob - but even that will peel off like a rubber skin, especially when water gets behind the surface finish.  I've done a little repair work to the finish in several places.  Last go round I used lime and sand (no clay) to patch some areas and some of the patches have already cracked, mostly in areas with less sand in the mix.  I'll keep experimenting.   No problems observed with the interior finishes.

Dorothy



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<P>Hello All,</P>
<P>Preston asked,"  <EM>What was the thickness of the walls.  Did you cob freeform <BR>or use a slip form method</EM>. "</P>
<P>The cob walls are ~12" thick, all freeform.</P>
<P>Cat asked," <EM>How many years has your building been up, what would you do differently now that it is done??  Any surprises?</EM>?"</P>
<P>The building has been completed about a year and a half, I've been very pleased with it's performance and the chickens also love their little house.  If I had it to do over again, I wood increase the height of the stem wall to about 3'.  I've had a few problems such as my husband gouging the bottom edge with the tractor and our pot belly pig sharpening his tusk on one corner and also trying to dig his way into the chicken coop (none of which affected the building structurally - only cosmetic exterior damage).  Also, since it was experimental, I tried several different finishes on different parts of the exterior and interior.  Our texas storms take off the lime wash, lime & clay plaster doesn't wash off but crumbles like a cookie if bumped with a shovel handle, plaster of paris is beautiful, but won't completely adhere, creating voids behind the plaster which eventually weaken and crack the finish.  Of all the exterior finishes the longest lasting was (gasp) latex paint over raw cob - but even that will peel off like a rubber skin, especially when water gets behind the surface finish.  I've done a little repair work to the finish in several places.  Last go round I used lime and sand (no clay) to patch some areas and some of the patches have already cracked, mostly in areas with less sand in the mix.  I'll keep experimenting.   No problems observed with the interior finishes.</P>
<P>Dorothy</P><p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
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