[GSBN] Anyone ever try a cob/straw-clay hybrid?

Mon Apr 29 19:04:27 UTC 2013

Dear Rolf

Great! Do you have any pictures from this project?
I can`t find it on your homepage.

I have seen Ianto Evans' cob-buildings and read the excellent book  
Building with Cob by
Adam Weismann & Katy Bryce, who do this technique in (wet) Great  
Brittain.

all the best
Herbert Gruber
-----------------
asbn - austrian strawbale network
3720 Ravelsbach, Baierdorf 6
www.baubiologie.at

Am 29.04.2013 um 20:40 schrieb rolf:

> Hello. Here in Norway we built a small Cob-house with double Cob  
> walls.
> We wanted to find ways to build high insulating walls with Cob - for  
> cold climate.
> From inside;  8" Cob -  8" -dry insulation (Perlite)  - 6" Cob.   
> Using wooden connectors
> between Cob walls.  (This is a small load-bearing structure).
>
> It worked fine.
>
> Rolf
>
> Siv.ark. Rolf Jacobsen
> Gaia Tjøme
>
> Ødekjærvei 65
> 3145 Tjøme
> T; 48056168  / 33391900
> E; rolf at gaiaarkitekter.no
> www.gaiaarkitekter.no/tjome
>
>
> 29. apr. 2013 kl. 19:49 skrev Tim Owen-Kennedy <timok33 at gmail.com>:
>
>> I would tend to agree with Paula and Chris, We've not done whole  
>> wall assemblies but sections of wall similarly and it has been  
>> problematic. We have done multi stories of bale with 6-12" of  
>> structural cob exterior, tied to the bales with a light wattle in  
>> the center of the cob.
>>
>> If you are considering a 26" overall assembly I would be tempted to  
>> build one monolithic for ease of construction - cost savings and   
>> balanced drying; concentrating on a mix that maximizes insulation  
>> while barely meeting your structural requirements (including factor  
>> of safety). Insulative agregates and various types of fiber that  
>> are less mold generating. I could imagine cobbing with three or  
>> more mixes that are specified to be denser from the exterior to the  
>> interior and still integrating the whole assembly as you went.
>>
>> Seems to obvious for no one to have tried that before...Hope they  
>> or someone they know are on this list.
>>
>> Either way I'm inspired to do some testing
>>
>> Tim
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 10:32 AM, Paula Baker-Laporte <paula at econest.com 
>> > wrote:
>> My concern would also be that the straw clay would only be able to  
>> dry from one side and that the cob would add to the moisture  
>> content for a long time...too long to dry the wall out safely.
>> Building the straw clay wall first and then adding something like  
>> adobe to the interior could work.
>>
>> Paula
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 10:07 AM, Chris Magwood <chris at endeavourcentre.org 
>> > wrote:
>> My concern would be drying for the straw/clay. We have a hard time  
>> getting straw/clay to dry in our warm but humid summer. We count  
>> on    a week per inch of wall thickness, and that's with both sides  
>> of the wall exposed. Sometimes we have to help things along with a  
>> fan on the interior because the drying is slower in the still air.  
>> With one side of the straw/clay up against cob (which may still be  
>> drying itself?) I would worry about the straw/clay not drying out  
>> at all before it starts to get mushy in there.
>>
>> What about double wythe cob with a dry insulation in between?
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> On 13-04-29 11:38 AM, Bruce King wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> A client in North Carolina (mixed climate, no earthquakes) wants  
>>> to build a large assembly structure on load-bearing cob, which  
>>> doesn't insulate too well.  He doesn't want to use bales with  
>>> thick earthen plaster, either.
>>>
>>> So our idea was to build a wall that would look like this, from  
>>> inside to out:
>>>
>>> 14" -- 18" of load-bearing cob
>>> 8" -- 12" of light straw-clay
>>> lime plaster
>>>
>>> Has anyone already done this, or heard of it?  Any reports of  
>>> comments?
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Bruce King
>>>
>>> (415) 987-7271
>>> Skype: brucekingokok
>>> Twitter: @brucekinggreen
>>> http://www.housetalkgreen.com
>>> http://bruce-king.com/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> GSBN mailing list
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>>> http://sustainablesources.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/GSBN
>>
>> -- 
>> Chris Magwood
>> Director, Endeavour Centre
>> www.endeavourcentre.org
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Paula Baker-Laporte FAIA,BBP
>> Econest Architecture Inc.
>> www.EcoNest.com
>> paula at econest.com
>> Phone: 541.488.9508
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Tim Owen-Kennedy, Owner
>> Vital Systems, natural building & design
>> P O Box 751, Ukiah, CA 95482
>> www.vitalsystems.net
>> 888.859.6336
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>
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