[Cob] Stone Haven

[john fordice]

Ed & all:
See
cobcode.org
You are spot on, meaningful testing is what is needed and funding is  
the key.
Support the CRI mission !!!
Let's get cob legit in a real way !
john fordice

On May 9, 2012, at 3:04 PM, Henry Raduazo wrote:

> 	The problem is that doing tests costs lots of money which Cob  
> Cottage does not have and meaningful tests are impossible. Note: A  
> meaningful test would be to build a structure with steel and then  
> test it after 30 years of exposure to the weather. That would mean  
> something but how do you do it? The Alpha testers in this case are  
> the people who are getting talked into building these steel  
> reinforced cob structures based on short term testing and/or  
> speculation. Americans love steel and concrete! The Alpha testers  
> or their descendants will find out the results of these experiments  
> when their structures experience earthquakes twenty or thirty years  
> from now. I think the best we can hope for is that the steel will  
> not weaken the structures.
> 	I used galvanized nails as light weight hurricane ties to anchor  
> rafters in a wall because I heard that when steel nails were used  
> to anchor wood window frames in cob they rusted to nothing because  
> inside the wall there was not enough moisture to rot the straw or  
> wood, but plenty of moisture to corrode out the nails.
> 	I have built cob with shredded wood in rototiller cob instead of  
> straw. The wood fibers are many times stronger than wheat or rice  
> straws. I have also incorporated strips of split bamboo into  
> structures. It bends and follows the curve of the wall, and has  
> fantastic tensile strength. How would I ever go about proving it is  
> better or worse than regular straw? My test has been running for  
> three years and nothing terrible has happened that is all I can  
> say. I suppose I could remove some of the fibers from the wall and  
> see if they still have superior tensile strength.
>
>
> Ed
>
> I have a photo essay on the wood fiber straw and pictures of the  
> cob walls with embedded rafters if anyone is interested.
>
> On May 9, 2012, at 4:16 PM, dhowell at pickensprogressonline.com wrote:
>
>> Janet: The walls will have rebar as that has been proven to make  
>> cob stand up even better in an earthquake.
>>
>> Damon: This doesn't sound legit, it really doesn't. I believe  
>> they're not taking into account the different expansion rates of  
>> steel and clay and how that will cause clay to shrink away from  
>> the rebar, letting in moisture to rust it away, then you're left  
>> with a cavity. Yeah, that sounds really strong. Sounds to me  
>> they're taking what they know works with concrete and adapting it  
>> to clay, it's not the same material though. And you're right, this  
>> is gonna be what the codes require: weak buildings because of the  
>> lack of foresight and knowledge of natural building materials. I  
>> wonder where the Cob Cottage Company is in all this "cob code  
>> writing" stuff? They probably have much more to offer than most  
>> engineers, because they've been improving cob in earthquake-ridden  
>> zones since the 80's. As a recall their book said to not use  
>> steel. But whatever, I guess I don't much about it myself. I'm  
>> just using common sense which is what most cob enthusiasts do.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coblist mailing list
>> Coblist at deatech.com
>> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coblist mailing list
> Coblist at deatech.com
> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist