Cob: Progress, bread box water heater, lime plaster, earth roof

[Waiting4 TheDay]

Hey all,

Yeah, I've been busy.  In the last two days I've shoveled about ten tons of 
gravel...still have five to go!!!  Wouldn't be so bad if the humidity would 
drop a little.  I figure I'll need another 15 tons to finish up, but at 
least this time he'll be able to drop it right at the edge of the 
excavation. Plus I'll be getting one inch gravel instead of 1.5 inch.  The 
driver looked at me like I was a mad man when he seen the big round hole I'd 
dug, and then I told him I was going to fill it by hand.  And why does 
everyone think I'm digging a pond?!?!  (I have a retail nursery set up about 
forty feet away, so everyone who stops by feels the need to ask.)

So far everything has been pretty smooth.  The water line went in okay, as 
did the drain.  I'm going the graywater route tho' the drain line will cross 
directly over my septic line.  The drain will keep full a pond that I'll be 
digging out as I get the clay for the cob.  Since the water entering the 
pond will always be 60 degrees or more, I'm anticipating growing and 
overwintering a number of water plants that wouldn't normally be able to 
take a zone 6 winter.

I'm planning on using a passive solar "bread box" water heater.  Normally 
the back side would be covered in some sort of insulative material with a 
reflective covering, but with the backside being made of cob which would 
absorb and then release heat, I'm wondering if that would be better.  So 
instead of one tank of superheated water I could get perhaps multiple tanks 
of lukewarm water.  Any ideas on this?

Also, in Ianto's book, there's a diagram on page 163 that shows lime stucco 
being applied to "rigid exterior insulation".  Will a lime plaster adhere to 
foamboard?  Will it adhere to plastic?

And another thing LOL.....I've run across some differences of opinion on the 
layering of an earthen roof.  Ianto basically says just lay the membrane, 
some cardboard, and then throw on some soil.  Rob Roy, on the other hand, in 
"Cordwood Masonry Housebuilding" suggests a couple of inches of gravel 
between the soil and the membrane are necessary to facilitate drainage.  I 
tend to agree that gravel is not needed, that the slope of the roof is 
enough to ensure drainage, and that a porous gravel base would make it very 
difficult to keep plants alive during a dry spell.  Besides, the thought of 
carrying gravel up a ladder just isn't cutting it with me right now LOL.  
Any insights?

Chuck

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