[Cob] below grade

[Copper Harding]

Here I had thought the coblist had slowed down on
interesting discussion this winter.  What a wonderful
bit about building codes and creative thinking. 
Shannon is quite correct about the building code.  And
his warning should be strongly seconded that you
should NEVER rely upon a verbal interpretation by any
official.  Read the material yourself.  Get answers in
writing.

As for the below grade.  A french drain below the wall
as well as another "french drain" only about a foot
down and directly under the eaves is a good start for
keeping things dry.  I have a small place that starts
significanly below ground.   why?  frost line, sloped
site, quite a bit more topsoil than expected (even for
the locality) before I got to the clay I needed to
build with.  Solution:  earthbags below ground and up
as the stemwall, cob on top of that.  Earthbags go
surprisingly fast.  I gave up (relatively quickly) on
about three different stands to hold the bags and
found that 5 gallon pails are god's greatest invention
(sorry guys).  so far draining well and holding up ok.
 We'll see as it's not a finished deal yet and there
are some bales to be integrated (above grade, of
course).

best of luck :)


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