[Cob] Question on Planning a Cob Building

[Quinn]

Deborah,

In most (if not all) areas, there are county/city/state codes which will determine some of your concerns -like how many outlets, etc.  As I see it building in cob is not so different from building in anything else in the sense of determining how much space you will need to do your work/ live your life, or where you might want to put a sink or a light fixture.

Think about what you would like:  will a single overhead light do?  Or do you need a light over the grinding wheel?  How about the glazing area?  Can that be at the south-facing windows or is the wheel there?  Does the south-facing wall actually get a lot of light or are there trees/ buildings there?  How about a triangular shaped building with lots of windows at the front/ south?  The back 'point' might be the spray-glazing area which could be closed off with a single curtain.  (If you use a sprayer.)  You would need an outlet there for the sprayer, of course, and one for the grinding wheel if you throw, and one for the wheel itself if its electric, and possibly one higher up the wall for a worktable dremel tool or some other tool you might need in the future.  And a dedicated 220 for the kiln, more than likely.

Think about what you need and build accordingly.  Sounds like fun.

Good luck,
Quinn

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ddenmark" <ddenmark at greentreearts.com>
To: <coblist at deatech.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 8:23 PM
Subject: [Cob] Question on Planning a Cob Building


Hi,
I am new to the list. I have read the first 6 months or so and also this years archives to get up to speed.

I have also order The Hand Sculpted House and spent a lot of time exploring the cob sites in the net.

My question is:
What would be the best or at least a good source of information (books, websites, other?) on the planning stages for building with cob.  Not just the site choice and orientation.

I am talking about the details of a building.  So that everything is planned for.  For example, how to figure out how many nooks and how much space they need to offer to be able to house a person's books or whatever else they may have.  How much built in storage/shelves, how many outlets, and other things that could be tailored for the individual and built into the structure.

I currently plan to build a small cob structure to house my pottery studio.  I think that since building with cob is like a giant pottery/ceramics project it is a fitting first building.  I hope to start the actual building in the spring 2004.  I currently enjoying sketching as I begin to lay out the floor plans for a future home.

Thanks so much for being a valuable information source.
Deborah in NC
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