[Cob] Mix

[Damon Howell]

Dorothy, unfortunately, to building officials nearly everyone on this  
list is considered not versed in building, therefore our major feats  
through experimentation doesn't hold up as legitimate testing. I wish  
it was different. I read this "book" of 105 pages written by Hasan  
Fathy named Architecture for the Poor where he writes how unwilling  
building officials are to accept that mud can be used to build  
beautiful buildings that just isn't possible with conventional  
materials. He presents it from the viewpoint of the poor; they are  
suffering because they can't afford the type of home the building  
forces them to build; concrete. Build a 10 foot circular  mud hut  
with a dome roof (also mud), he says. There are people in debt for  
the rest of the productive lives, or just plain can't produce enough  
money to build with these modern materials, that could have a cob  
home, but the regulations are strangling them. Take away the debt/ 
credit and everything that has been bought with it and see what  
people are living in then. Without credit, no one can afford a  
$300,000 home, but they can dig up the earth and build a cob home for  
$2,000!
.
Damon in Ga, USA


I just wanted to comment to the list as a whole how pleased I am at the
amount of useful information that is emerging in this thread and the  
others
spawned from it.  Goldmine!