[Cob] cob greenhouse and Washington, DC

[raduazo at aol.com]

  Among the projects being considered for the Washington, DC area is a 
bale/cob passive solar greenhouse similar to the storage building we 
constructed last season. I was planning on using rubble filled cinder 
blocks on a rubble trench foundation, but Chris says that he has access 
to a huge supply of tires and would like to try a tire foundation.
  I picked up a copy of “The Tire House Book” by Ed Paschich and Paula 
Hendricks and note that the Earthship structures are made with concrete 
foundations. This seems crazy to me since cob and adobe structures are 
often built on rubble trench foundations. This would negate our reason 
for using tires.
  What I am thinking of doing is providing two courses of rubble filled 
tires on top of the rubble trench. Water which gets into the tires will 
drain into the trench, and the bail/cob wall will set on top of the 
tires. I worry that we are getting too experimental here.
  The bail/cob will cover the tire stem wall with a foot and a half of 
bail on the outside and an eight inch thick heat storage cob wall on 
the inside edge of the ruble filled tires. I wonder how this uneven 
load will affect the compacted ruble in the tire. Will this cause 
uneven settling or shifting? This will be a curved wall, of course so 
the ends should support the middle. Still I worry about the uneven load 
and wonder if anyone has had experience with this?
  Also, a bail/cob greenhouse will have a tremendous drop in temperature 
and moisture across the walls going from the warm moist air of the 
growing area to the cold dry outside air of Virginia’s winters. Does 
anyone know of a cob greenhouse or any a cob structure with huge 
temperature and humidity changes like this?
  The greenhouse is planned for Victoria, VA in Lunenberg County, and we 
are doing tiller and back hoe cob. If anyone is interested in helping 
out I can put you in touch with Chris or add you to my list.
  I also want to try a cob cold frame, but I will do that in my yard. I 
think it is of great importance to grow crops in the winter using only 
the sun for light and heat. Dates are not set, but anyone interested in 
the proposed design should contact me off the coblist.
  raduazo at aol.com is soon going to disappear to be replaced by 
raduazo at cox.net. All of the cob bird house stuff and articles regarding 
tiller cob and bale/cob hybrid structures will be soon be available 
upon request at the new address.
 Ed
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