[Cob] interior walls, width, curvature

[Amanda Peck]

Not sure how well it works, but we have put in (not yet finished--we can't 
plaster now, it's too likely to freeze) a clay straw wall in 2x8 framing.  I 
think it's going to be fine.  It looked great--until I decided it had to 
have plaster lath on the walls.  We used up some of the privet desert to 
make a fairly widely spaced woven framework inside the 2x8's, then mixed up 
pretty pure clay with chopped straw--to the fairly heavy salad dressing 
stage, nailed form boards on the framing, pounded the mix in (using more 
privet sticks to get it down into the forms).  This gave a nice, not too 
thick (if I'd known that it was going to get expanded metal lath, I could 
have used 2x6's) wall.

.............................................................

Joe Skeesik replied to Tys Sniffen and Paul (snipped)

....A good rule of thumb is, if you have to ask "how thin can I make this 
wall?" Your probably already thinking too thin.

Having said that, if you want to make the most of your footprint and you 
don't want to risk a wall coming down (and improve it's ability to stand up 
to the ground shaking) it's best then to look at alternative construction 
methods. I would opt for wattle and daub for interior non load bearing 
walls. You will retain the cob look (especially if you thicken the wall 
terminal with an oversize bull nose to make the wall appear thicker) without 
sacrificing 10" or more of floor space to accommodate a full cob wall.

The answer to your question about interior walls, lifestyle and noise has no 
single answer. ... However, it isn't just a cost and effort issue. Many 
people feel the communal nature of open designs is a real benefit and opt to 
have a single unified communal environment. Personally I've owned open plan 
homes and older compartmentalized homes. I much prefer rooms and doors.

As to how well cob insulates sounds, I've stayed in a number of traditional 
cob homes in England and I found them very quiet. The walls tend to absorb 
the sound instead of bounce it around like a concrete structure would. 
However, these were traditional cob structures with low ceilings, wood 
floors and VERY thick walls (US cobbers tend to build much thinner).

J
................................
paul wrote:


>Question about the interior walls: Does anybody care about the sound 
>insulation values?  I see a lot of open area designs and it seems like 
>people are not big into privacy.  Is that because of lifestyle preferences, 
>money for doors or is everybody quiet as mice?

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