Rethink Your Life!
Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy
The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art



[Cob] un-tapering wall...

Amanda Peck ap615 at hotmail.com
Thu Dec 4 21:54:44 CST 2003



Probably a couple of ways to do it.  One would be to make the walls MUCH 
narrower, e.g., by building them 2x4 stick fashion.  Would it be a good 
idea?  who knows.  If, like me you enjoy sleeping in a 45 degree room with 
just my nose sticking out from the very warm comforter, then it might not be 
the worst idea in the world.  This would mean putting a platform on top of 
the cob walls, putting the stick walls parallel with the outside edges.  It 
might look pretty stupid, though, with that lovely cob finish on the bottom, 
but on the top there are rigid, hard, flat walls with 90 degree angles.

Frank Lloyd Wright loved to cantilever nearly flat roofs out.  they got him 
in trouble because he really did take it too far on occasion. (The house in 
Florence Alabama has had its entry porch roof replaced because it was 
sagging very badly)

But a modest cantilever, with something nicer looking than vinyl siding over 
2x4 and lighter than cob should be possible between floors.  In fact I was 
looking for, and unable to find, a store-boughten plan for a house that did 
that.  I'm not sure of the details.  Floor joists probably just go out past 
the plate on top of the wall.  Wattle and daub and light clay might work 
very nicely for the walls.

..............
Jilly asks:
Have been off building for a little while. Had a question.. how can I build 
my walls so that my upstairs is larger than my downstairs? Is that possible? 
Not by much, but maybe 1-2 feet all around. Or even on one side?

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