[Cob] self-building - ovens vs. dwellings

[joe r dupont]

THAT IS WHY YOU BUILD CIRCULAR WALLS.. MUCH STRONGER. 
On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 22:28:54 -0400 Peter Kaulback
<peter at thesilverwheel.ca> writes:
> Certainly with any structure using load bearing exterior walls there 
> is 
> the risk of collapse, whatever the materials used for the wall there 
> is 
> always a risk of injury or death. If a wall is a few hundred pounds 
> or a 
> few thousand the risk is there. Dig a well and see the effects of 
> the 
> earth alone.
> 
> This isn't to say never try without hands-on training, if one is 
> confident in their abilities then I believe one should try. 
> Otherwise 
> nothing gets built. I see many farmers and others in rural locales 
> do it 
> every day.
> 
> As detailed as Kiko was with his oven book so is Becky Bee with her 
> cob 
> building book: The Cob Builders Handbook. Both of which leave much 
> for 
> experimentation and exploration, the best kinds of books I believe.
> 
> On a side note, did you use straw in your ovens interior layer?
> 
> Peter Kaulback
> 
> Ocean Liff-Anderson wrote:
> > It is possible to build an oven with very little instruction, 
> especially 
> > since Kiko Denzer has outlined in excruciating detail all the 
> > information necessary in his book, Build Your Own Earth Oven.
> > 
> > An oven is a simple dome structure, and once fired most of the 
> straw 
> > "cokes" (burns to carbon without any flame) and no longer yields 
> > strength to the oven.  The domed-nature of the oven is supported 
> in part 
> > by the lightly-fired clay center, which now resembles a weak 
> porcelain.
> > 
> > Building a dwelling or other structure where people will be 
> inside, 
> > under a wall-supported roof is another story altogether.  I would 
> not 
> > recommend it.  The roofing and walls of a cob building can weight 
> 
> > several thousand pounds, and while your oven's collapse may ruin 
> dinner, 
> > a building's collapse will definitely ruin your day.
> > 
> > People have been killed when improperly built cob walls failed.
> > 
> >> I have never taken a workshop nor have I talked to anyone else who 
> built
> >> with cob in person and yet I have built an exceptional cob oven 
> all
> >> because of the confidence instilled by the work of Kiko Denzer, 
> Becky
> >> Bee, Lanto Evans, and many people on this very list. I have never 
> built
> >> any building from scratch before, food yes, structures no. Then 
> again
> >> there haven't been any given in this area either :/
> >>
> >> Peter Kaulback
> >>
> >> Ocean Liff-Anderson wrote:
> >>> this question reveals much that needs to be learned...
> >>>
> >>> how can you be "ready to cob" if you don't know why straw is 
> included
> >>> in the mix???  just where have you learned about cob, and from 
> whom
> >>> did you learn it?
> >>>
> >>> in order to mix and build with cob, you need to know several 
> things -
> >>> quality of clay, the right kind of sand, the best quality straw, 
> and
> >>> the right mix of all three, along with water to mix them into 
> cob.  i
> >>> can't believe that there isn't any straw in the state of 
> georgia.
> >>> what do farmers do for their animal bedding?
> >>>
> >>> don't build with cob until you take a workshop, from someone 
> skilled
> >>> in cob building, who can then explain all you need to know - 
> the
> >>> proper way to make a good cob mix, a good foundation, a good 
> roof.
> >>> if you are planning to build a structure which will be 
> inhabited, you
> >>> must do so safely, or face the possibility of a catastrophic 
> failure!
> >>>
> >>> sorry to be the harbinger of doom and gloom,
> >>> ocean
> >>>
> >>> On Jul 12, 2007, at 10:20 AM, Damon Howell wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> What is the purpose of straw in a cob mix? Nobody seems to 
> "really
> >>>> know" what the role of straw is anyway. Is it there to hold the 
> cob
> >>>> together while the wall is still wet (like a free form), or to 
> keep
> >>>> the wall from crumbling incase it cracks later (like 
> reenforcement),
> >>>> or to allow air/water to move through the wall (because straw 
> is
> >>>> hollow)? The problem is that nobody knows the reason they used 
> straw
> >>>> because they didn't leave behind notes on how and why they 
> built that
> >>>> way, and it's been a while since they lived here. What do they 
> do in
> >>>> Africa? Do they use straw "in" the cob? Can any other plants be 
> used
> >>>> as tensile such as long grasses? I'm almost ready to start 
> cobbing
> >>>> but straw is just unavailable in GA right now, and what straw 
> there
> >>>> is has a very high price on it. I'm not willing to pay three 
> times
> >>>> the price for it if there's a substitution. I would love to 
> just go
> >>>> out in the field and get some tall grass if it would suffice. 
> It's a
> >>>> heck of a lot cheaper!
> >>>>
> >>>> Chow,
> >>>> Damon Howell
> >>>> North Georgia, US
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Coblist mailing list
> >>>> Coblist at deatech.com
> >>>> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>
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> > 
> > 
> 
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