[Cob] cob and northern climates

[Amanda Peck]

The book Hand Sculpted House has a fair section on Straw Bale and Cob.  The 
issue is thermal mass as opposed to insulation.  You also might want to read 
up on cordwood masonry--Rob Roy, one of the leading proponents, is in 
upstate New York.   Both Roy's new book and the Hand Sculpted House may well 
be found in your local bookstore, they're less than two years old.  But here 
are links.  The Hand Sculpted House is amazing--beautiful book, sweeps the 
reader along with its vision and passion.  I've been reading Rob Roy for 20 
years now--one of the authors who got me hooked on the ideas of 
do-it-yourself building.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1890132349/qid=1068785310/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6977152-4198211?v=glance&s=books

And this year's Rob Roy:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865714754/qid=1068785932/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6977152-4198211?v=glance&s=books

One of the old cob houses is in Montreal.

The authors of both Serious Straw Bale, and Straw Bale Building are 
(eastern, not BC) Canandian, as I recall. Here are the Amazon links for both 
(handy for information, but not necessarily the best place to buy--I'm 
currently a bit irritated at them.  www.dirtcheapbuilder.com really does 
give better service!).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1890132640/103-6977152-4198211?v=glance&vi=customer-reviews

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865714037/qid=1068785185/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6977152-4198211?v=glance&s=books

Here in Tennessee, we can quite easily have years that go from zero to over 
a hundred F.   Surely you are talking about places like Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
where a friend remembers from her high school days the sound of frozen tires 
going whump whump whump until they thawed out in the morning when it was 
around minus 40. (that's the temperature where F and C are the same!)

The finish questions are pretty good ones.  Questions to ask would include, 
how were the old Nebraska houses faced--did, for instance, they just use 
something else up past the expected snow depth?   That is a possiblity, one 
that some of the very old cob houses in England did--they look pretty 
strange with some of the plaster off--stone up six or eight feet.

But remember that lime IS considered a "sacrificial layer."  For a good 
while people restoring old adobe buildings thought that concrete was the 
final answer there.  Wrong.  Whole walls a hundred or more years old failed 
because they tried that.  You were just supposed to renew the outer coating 
every year or so.  And if you feel you cannot do that....


............................
Lyndsay Elliot writes:

    I am very interested in cob and have done much reading on the internet
    but I have found little information about building with cob in
    northern climats.  Is cob practical for this climate?  Also books on
    the subject are difficult for me to get a hold of this far north.

    Moisture issues. How does one contend with snow and keeping exterior
    walls from eroding? Will a lime exterior finish be able to cope with
    about 3 feet of snow sitting against it all winter? Will exterior need
    to be replastered every spring?

    How much does cob contract? climate here varies from 90F-0F.

    I have determined that plain cob walls would be very cold in winter,
    but I am wary about strawbale hybrids after reading that they may only
    last up to 20-30 years.  Also there seem to be moisture concerns with
    strawbales.  Snowmelt makes the ground here very wet, i read that
    stone in the walls below the straw will keep it from whicking up
    moisture but I am concerned that this would cool the house too much
    during the winter.
      _________________________________________________________________

    The new [1]MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*

References

    1. http://g.msn.com/8HMAENCA/2737??PS=
_______________________________________________
Coblist mailing list
Coblist at deatech.com
http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist

_________________________________________________________________
>From Beethoven to the Rolling Stones, your favorite music is always playing 
on MSN Radio Plus. No ads, no talk. Trial month FREE!  
http://join.msn.com/?page=offers/premiumradio