[Cob] roof first, roof second...posts?

[Lance Collins]

The two principal advantages I think of are:
1) The roof is on early in the project to keep the weather at bay.

2) If you have building permit issues a frame will be easier to get 
permitted than load-bearing cob.

But somehow load-bearing cob (or adobe, strawbale) seems more 
satisfying in concept.



>My wife and I are deep in planning stages for our *huge* cob house project.
>Well, not that huge, but maybe bigger than some.  Anyway, we're trying to
>decide about the roof.  Whether to build it first, and then build the walls
>up around it, or build the cob walls up and use them as the load bearing
>part to hold the roof up.
>
>
>
>Some other facts we are considering:
>
>- We intend to use a metal roof, for lightness. (light roofs seem like a
>good idea here in N. CA- earthquake country

Also good for rain-water collection


>- we have plenty of long, straight trees to make into beams and posts, so
>it's not about size or cost when it comes to that

Converting green trees into seasoned lumber is non-trivial.


>- we're currently imagining a two level roof. if you were looking at the
>short end, it would look like the left (north) half of the house was shorter
>than the right (south) side. I'm actually thinking about two, parallel, (one
>on top of the other) ridge beams.
>
>- there will be solar panels on the south side, so some weight will be an
>issue.
Panels are a dead load,  probably not significant compared with 
coping with live loads,  i.e. wind load, you walking on the roof.


>Anyway, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself; what's the general consensus:
>posts and roof first, or walls first?
Consensus on this trade-off?   Surely you jest.

Lance
(in Aus)




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