Cob: RE: good foundations

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Thanx Mike, Bill, Amanda, and Marlin:

I sure do appreciate your sharing with me some of your experience.

My books still have not arrived and I am trying to content myself with web
surfing and riffling the cob archives.

Does anybody know if using cement in pressed earth blocks allows you to use
them below grade such as in a foundation? What about rammed tires? Will the
rubber protect the earth from breaking down and keep the rammed earth
rammed?  What makes compressed earth uncompress when it's below grade?

Bill you mention tensile strength of a cob wall. Does this mean that a wall
failure in a freestanding garden wall would likely be cracking. or would the
wall fall over taking the rest of it with it? It seems to me that poor
tensile strength would likely keep damage due to frost heaving localized.

Thanx again;
Michael Fitzgerald
Anthropologist/Woodcarver/Puppetmaker