[Cob] Cold weather cobbing

[avjyoung at shaw.ca]

I am winter cobbing at the moment, doing the floor inside now the walls are 
done. We mix a big load with, backhoe, then cover well with lots of tarps so 
it doesn't freeze. This works if temps are around freezing, but a hard frost 
would get it, especially if it stayed really cold for a long time. For the 
cob that is already down, I keep a tub with water in the house. When that 
gets really cold or starts to freeze, I fire up a little propane gas heater 
for a bit. We are putting the woodstove in as well, so we can keep the house 
warmer and help to dry the cob. I put extra straw in the mix during the 
winter to balance the straw decay from the longer drying times. A couple of 
years ago we had -6 temps for a month (unusual here in coastal BC), and the 
cob that was done and drying got damaged with frost heave. It will need a 
lot of clay slip and plastering to repair, so you need to plan to keep what 
has been done already from freezing as well as the fresh cob,

Good luck, hope that helps,

Anna
Cob - bale timberframe in Victoria BC