[Cob] Coblist Cob insulation

[Dean Sherwin]

Unfortunately cob is not a good insulator.  They've run up against 
this problem in UK even with a "whole house" approach and where 
temperatures are not extreme.  With the coming energy crisis I think 
it would not be responsible to build an uninsulated wall.  R30 I 
should say in Wisconsin.  I have R25 in my new house in SE PA and I 
wish I had more.   Windows should be as good as you can afford.  And 
as little glass as possible except south facing.  Even there dont 
overdo it as windows lose more heat than they gain.  Unless maybe 
triple glazed.   That's for a cold climate.


At 03:00 PM 4/21/2009, coblist-request at deatech.com wrote:
>Hi Bob,
>
>In a climate as cold as Wisconsin, it sounds like you would want more
>insulation than could be provided by a wall consisting of woodchip in
>clay or lime matrix. Though I don't have specific figures, my feeling is
>that the matrix will provide plenty of continuous thermal bridging.
>Loose woodchip in a cavity wall sounds like a better option. Or since it
>sounds as if you've got a plentiful supply of other types of wood, you
>could go for cobwood (using woodchip as cavity insulation in between the
>inner and outer layers of cob).
>
>If you did cobwood or else a strawbale structure plastered thickly with
>cob (like we are doing, in a far milder climate!), you could throw out
>the timber frame and avoid building a redundant loadbearing structure.
>(Sounds like you've made that decision already, though.)
>
>Robert
>
>www.abrazohouse.org
>
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:44:01 -0500
> > From: "Bob Smolen" <boka at mwt.net>
>  ...snip...
> > Thanks,
> > Bob