[Cob] Sod Good Idea or Bad Idea

[yewberry at wavecable.com]

Knight 231 wrote:
  
>However after doing a bit of digging around 
>I have found very little documentation on 
>sod as compared to cob or rammed earth. In 
>fact the only mentions of sod I've seen in 
>the archives of this list pertain to sod 
>roofs. Is sod just not as popular as cob or, 
>are there significant drawbacks to using sod?

Sod houses (try a Google search for "soddies") were very 
common when white folk began to settle the Plains states. 
 The problems I've read about with the historical versions 
seemed to stem from the sod roofs, not the walls.  Most of 
these roofs weren't sealed particularly well and leaked 
horribly, which could (not surprisingly) lead to wall 
failure.  I imagine if you gave the house a good 
foundation and a good roof, you'd fare must better.  I 
have no idea of the insulation value of sod, but my guess 
is it's probably similar to cob, depending on the root 
fiber content.

I know of at least one modern sod house (used to be a B&B 
but apparently isn't anymore).  You might drop these folks 
a line and ask them about it:

http://www.sodhouse.org

Brina