[Cob] reinforcing!! vs do-it-yourself

[Amanda Peck]

Yesterday Karen--doginyard--sent us to a Canandian rammed earth site that 
had developed some sort of insulated rammed earth.  These feature 
two-foot-thick walls with a foam core and enough steel and concrete in the 
mix to protect the house in the case of a big earthquake.   Not sure if it 
would help if a 15 foot crack opened under the house, but....  I think that 
this is PATENTED, don't try this at home, most suitable for a big house that 
someone--they or people they've trained--builds for you.

They've spent a lot of time--and presumably money--working out a method so 
that these vertical layers will not separate.

Cordwood masonry--with or without cob as the masonry--can do this as 
well--there are enough structures built over the years that there is a 
history of how it works (well, including the people thirty miles away who 
had INVASION OF THE ASIAN LADY BEETLES every fall until they concreted over 
the outside of their cordwood!  They didn't insulate their cordwood walls or 
the ones buried in the hill, almost never use heat in winter, have a small 
window AC unit for their whole house in summer).

By the way earthbags, "superadobe," have gotten municipal approval in 
California for at least one seismic area building.

In many parts of the world insulation is not needed for continuously 
occupied high thermal mass structures (vacation houses or once-a-week 
churches could take a long time to heat up or cool down without some solar 
oriented design that works to both heat in winter and not heat up too much 
in summer).

After the rant, here's the "Stabilized, Insulated, Rammed Earth Wall" URL 
again:
http://www.sirewall.com/

For most of us, though, the attraction of cob is that it is DO try this at 
home, inexpensive, completely recyclable, tending to make us think of what 
we really really need in the way of space, with breatheable walls.  If good 
design can make it at least as seismically stable as a stick-framed 
building, great.


........................
Joe R. Dupont wrote:

what about fiberglass insulation and strips of fabric and twine?