[Cob] 500 yr old cob/ pestering them? plus history in USA

[Dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine]

On Jul 22, 2007, at 3:14 PM, hms.mommy at juno.com wrote:
  This draws attention to an underused resource: people who are or have
lived in historic cob homes.  I wonder if there might already be a list
or other organization to which some of these people belong.  Do any of
you know of such a thing?

_____________________

Hello to all  -  Many origianal earthen homes in the USA are not in the 
SW, they are on the East Coast from the 1600s on.. most in the  
1700-1800s thru the 1960s....

As far as pulling a list together- homes exist as rammed earth, hogans, 
pueblos, farm building, shed of clay wattle & daub.  it MIGHT be fun if 
a  dedicated  history oriented cobber or bookish sort would take this 
on to make a full and detailed information  list compiled from 
researching what is in print  already.

  there is a un-funny story written back in the late 1940's when Anthony 
F. Merrill    wrote the FIRST real book on Rammed Earth**  it  goes 
[something]  like this:            "  ........ if you approach a rammed 
earth house  in curiosity , and you are welcomed in and shown about, 
high and low,  and boasted to,   -then you know it is a new owner happy 
with his choice.........but if he sics  his dogs onto you, rebuffs you 
with curses,  while he slams and bolts his door.. then has owned it for 
a while-- and and wants to discuss it  NO  further.

So my friendly caveat is to not  to EXPECT or  stress to any such  
owners of old old homes   that they should, or  MUST be on a list, 
ostensibly  for the better of  ALL or not...  but leave them to their 
privacy if they choose..      in most cases they may say yes to address 
and contact, BUT with security issues  these days  letting a  
'stranger' into  a peron's home ---well???  it is still their "castle" 
and privacy reigns.


** author Anthony Merrill, : The Rammed Earth House- the rammed earth 
method of building offers ease in constuction, economy in materials 
costs, and proved durability. copyright 1947, Harper & Brothers, est. 
1817 as publishers- the book is small 6 x 8" hardbound buckram cover 
with plastic 2 color dustjacket- Index and many many b&w photos of real 
homes and clear illustrations of formworks of wood nd simple materials. 
  very low tech, low cost, and pefect for a poverty ridden country in 
the dust bowl days.
A.  Merrill  ALSO mentioned   cob,  pise-wattle & daub, and builders   
such as
1.  Thomas Hibben in 1936, who LEARED from  S.W. Johnson-who  first 
wrote in 1806!!  a US GOV report on RURAL Economy- promoting how PISE 
for farm buildings, were  an IDEALsolution--- Hibben took it from 
there.


2.  USDA booklets- on #535-Adobe & earth brick   #535  in 1934, #1720 
Adobe & Sun Fired-1926 , and #2012 -Rammed Earth Walls for 
Buildings-Bulletin #1500 in  1926

  3- Then there was  #2014 Modern Pise Building:House building with 
compressed or rammed earth - A revelation for the Farmer and 
Settler-1923 by Karl & Inez Ellington  with many photos and  nterviews 
with home owners

3. then  Dakotian  Elbert Hubbell- who built on Pine Ridge Reservation 
with Nãtive American and wrote about it-
  http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/foncolearbri.html   Earth Brick 
Construction 1943

4.  Dr. Ralph Patty of SD EDU- http://www.agmuseum.com/  and the house 
page is:  http://www.agmuseum.com/rammedearth.html
    and Scottish  chemist Thomas Graham who discovered and named the 
gels, and viscous unsolids  "colloids" in the  mixing of clay, marl, 
lime, shells, egg white , natural glues, etc  ---- then came T A 
Miller- and us USDA Gov

5. Finally-  #19 Adobe Construction Methods: Manual 19 : by LW 
Neubauer. has been updated siince the 40s thru 1964-

there are other titles not mentioned.  but UKs "Clay & Cob Buildings" 
by John McCann of  Shire books is in print frm 1983  ( sort of as of 
2004 reprints)

there are European booklets too...especially good is the Australian 
booklet- and o by modern photographer- Ted Howard, "Mud & Man- Earthn 
construction in Austrassia"-- an AMAZING book with some color, but 
mostly B&W, he only printed up 1,000 from his personal funding. Now he 
is an old man, and may have just a few copies left.



  Charmaine Taylor Publishing
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