[Cob] Difference between cob and rammed earth (reinforcing)

[Amanda Peck]

I think Peter's right here.

But are we talking apples and oranges when comparing rammed earth with 
compressed earth blocks?  These don't seem to use "stabilized earth."  But 
the ramming may be many more times that of sombody ramming dirt into a 
slipform.

http://www.defcoinc.com/Adobe/Blockmaker_Hox.html


Peter wrote:

While the general public isn't particularly looking for curved wall
   houses, that's not necessarily a sign that they do not want them, but
   rather that they are not available.  Make houses available that are
   environmentally friendly, energy efficient, aesthetically pleasing and
   that don't look like a collection of boxes stuck together and one
   might find that the general public is actually quite interested - if
   the price is comparable to a "conventional" house.

   And a note about rammed earth - it doesn't have to use portland
   cement, lime works in rammed earth and some soils are apparently
   capable of forming stable rammed walls without the addition of either
   lime or cement.  It's also the case that there are rammed earth
   structures still standing that are hundreds of years old.

   I think rammed earth works better in larger structures than does cob,
   and that much of the division between the two methods of construction
   is really a matter of aesthetic.  Cob lends itself to a very personal
   involvement in, literally, sculpting the structure, while rammed earth
   is more structured, less free form, and in a sense more "mechanical".