[Cob] RE: Oiling Cob [long email]

[Dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine Taylor]

Petroleum was living plant/animal, etc, long ago,
+++++++++++

  Shody-  A woman whose company produces  adobe blocks   always says  
bitumen ( the other name of asphalt emulsion added to adobes)  is 
actually "Composted dinosaurs" which makes me laugh, and think of the 
La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles .

Charmaine Taylor Publishing
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
PO BOX 375 CUTTEN CA 95534  USA
Tel:  707-441-1632
New Books-DVDs-CDs on Natural/House Building

  here is an email from her  I have kept:

Date:  Fri Nov 14, 2003
Susan M. Jerome, owner  Mule Creek ADobe, Inc
Re: [adobe] Which Stabilized Abode block is best?

This is a partial reprint from the archives and my personal auto-pilot: 
At first, I was absolutely horrified by the thought of asphalt 
emulsion--I'm one of those people who hates putting gas in the car due 
to the fumes. I also own the ranch  where our(adobe block) yard is, and 
  I raise grass fed beef cattle, milk goats and  garden organically. I'm 
a real tree-hugger, card-carrying.

  Initially, you need to  remember that petroleum is essentially 
composted  dinosaurs and flora. When it is  extracted from the Earth, 
it is refined into a whole spectrum of fuels and  solvents.  Asphalt 
emulsion is the most simple and crude of these components and is 
already  40% water. Asphalt emulsion is the only water  soluble agent, 
and is considered  non-toxic by the EPA and DOE.

  It is not flammable, and the volatile portion evaporates completely 
after two days  (before we take it out of the forms).  There has never 
been any documented outgassing from dry blocks--and our adobes have to 
be cured 30 days out of doors  before they can be sold. I am not 
contributing to additional petro exploration or  pollution by using 
AE---it's going to exist as a by-product of all that gasoline, gas,  
diesel, jet fuel anyway.

Using AE in adobe has been going on for nearly 60 years now without a 
single  problem. If anything, I am using a product which would 
otherwise be dumped.  There's only so much road paving that can be 
done. If you go the totally natural  route, your adobe will not be 
weatherproof. You will have to stucco it. That means  covering it with 
oh, gee, tar paper, and then chicken wire to hold the stucco. The  
chicken wire comes from metal manufacturing, and a thousand years from 
now, it  may wrap around the foot of some poor horse and cause some 
problems.

The ruin  created with Mule Creek Adobe will be pushing up daisies, 
lots of them, and not a  mutant in  sight.

Hans Sumpf in CA, the leader in the stabilized adobe resurgence has 
been making  AE stabilized adobe for nearly 40 yrs.There are some types 
of adobe made with cement or which have recycled paper, etc. added. I 
truly believe that our adobe is  the greenest stuff out there, when you 
consider all the added protection that oldfashioned adobe requires. 
Cement adobe requires 300 times the industrial energy  that ours 
does--cement has to be mined, crushed, ground and baked at 3,000  
degrees F for 36-72 hours, and cement contains tiny amounts of arsenic.

Ever see  what cement will do to human skin? Those alkalai burns impact 
Earth as well-- soil  pH damage and water run off. We're using a 
naturally occuring waste product and  the sun. Even the water 
evaporates right back into our ecosystem here.

Any augmented building method is a  a compromise, and as humans, we 
tend to be  short-sighted on what our  technology is going to do 
20,50,100 or 1000 yrs. from  now. But Ireally  believe that Asphalt is 
a better choice than  portland. Every adobe  maker uses a different 
recipe. Adobe which melts doesn't have enough AE, and the  maker is 
probably trying to cut corners.

We display our bricks in aquariums, too, at  the home shows, complete 
with fish. I  have bricks which have been sitting in a live  creek as 
stepping stones for over three years and they're  intact. Please 
remember  the subtle tempering of language is strong propaganda. There 
is absolutely no  evidence to support negative assertions about AE 
(asphalt emulsion, CSS-1).

I would be happy to provide the Hazmat and MSDS sheets I have. I am 
hoping  tofacilitate a study by idependent petro engineers at some 
point soon. We need this  clarified, and the "urban myth" squelched. 
Please know you're invited to come tour  our yard any time and continue 
this discussion. And, to be really blantant, please  check out our 
prices,  which are 23 cents less and within the next month we will be  
delivering.

If you want to make your own, we will rent you a few forms over the 
winter. One general note to our gentle readership--if you  are planning 
to build with adobe, it is traditional and a courtesy to inform the  
adoberia in advance, so that they can fulfill your order when you're 
ready to start.  This business is not   like Walmart with 50 billion 
concrete pavers.....  :>)

Also, reading the archives helps prevent redundancies........Thanks 
very much
Susan M. Jerome, owner                   Mule Creek ADobe, Inc.      PO 
Box 33    Mule Creek, NM  88051                   (505) 535-2973    
gefjon at gilanet.com      www.mulecreekadobe.c