[Cob] Cob, Plate, log joists and rafters

[Amanda Peck]

Think about some sort of plate on top of your cob wall as well, by the way.  
It's in the books. It evens out the load, and might prevent some of the 
rafters from wearing little ditches in the cob during high winds.

You MIGHT get the kind of uniformity you need to just nail floor or roofing 
to log joists, IF you had a big monoculture loblolly (in the East) pine 
plantation on your land so you could pick and choose your logs for size, 
straightness and uniformity of taper so your floor, or roof surface would be 
flat.  But in a young mixed hardwood forest like I have?  No, no. The trees 
are not straight enough, there's not enough uniformity in size or taper to 
be able to do that.  And different species are going to shrink differently 
as they dry.  AND you're a lot more likely to be able to afford young mixed 
hardwood woods than you are a nearly mature pine plantation.

Also consider:  how do you plan to get these logs up?  Tim used a boom pole 
on the tractor for a lot of them when he was just standing them on a 
foundation.  You're talking about lifting them 8-12 feet in the air.  It can 
be done, a bunch of different ways, but the idea needs to be considered.

I was going to ask about drying, but if they are cut at the beginning of 
your process, your logs probably will dry before the wall is finished.  Dry 
logs weigh a LOT less than green.  And they've already done their shrinking.
....................
Jilly wrote:

I thought that once I build up the cob wall, I would have to place some sort 
of support beam (log from land site preferably) across the top.

Say, one down the middle of the "house" and then every so many inches 
thereafter to cover one half of the downstairs (intentions here are for a 
loft sleeping area). On top of that, I place my floorboards, going in 
another direction.

For the roof, I do the same, only I cover the entire span of the house. Then 
I layer my insulation, roof support and so on. Right?

The thing is, I didn't want to look up to the boards. Exposing the log is 
okay, but not all those floor boards. I think it would take away from the 
beautiful cob walls.

That site was just to show the ceiling plastered, but the logs exposed. 
Never mind their building process, I think it was a log home site. I just 
want the cob.

jilly
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