[Cob] styrocob

[Damon Howell]

> There's an ongoing debate between purist and opportunist
> cob builders around natural/man-made materials in cob
> construction.  I have mixed feelings about it myself.  On
> the one hand, a 100% biodegradable house makes a lot of
> sense to me, but so does using materials that might
> otherwise end up in the landfill.
>
> Aside from the aforementioned debate, though, I imagine
> styrofoam could work well as an insulating cob additive.
>
> Brina

I'm on the fence with this issue too. Like with the styrofoam idea:  
We start using it ONLY to find a use of it after we drink our coffee,  
but I'm afraid it will turn out to be successful then the codes will  
come along and say we MUST mix styrofoam in and it MUST be brand new.  
That causes the continued production of styrofoam instead of using  
what's already made. But it is simple and completely ecological to  
build our houses with stones, mud, straw, and wood because they will  
degrade (except for the stones) at a faster rate than any man-made  
materials. If the government was promoting TRULY green living, the  
cob scene would explode and the use of it would be the norm! One of  
the things that fascinate me about cob is how cheap it is but if we  
expect the code people to include cob then we're just asking them to  
MAKE us buy from the building industry. Poor people don't have money,  
so they can't afford standard building materials! Shelter is an  
inalienable right, so the way I see it is I can build whatever I  
want, ever how I want unless the oppressors want to indefinitely foot  
the bill to put me up in something they consider livable (all  
utilities included). I seriously doubt they would do that!
Damon