Plan B Forum

A gaping hole has been left in a house built of cob after an outside wall collapsed.



The side of the cottage built from a combination of mud and straw crumbled in Sampford Courtenay, near Okehampton in Devon.

It is not yet known what caused the collapse but heavy rain has been blamed for similar incidents in the past.

No-one was injured and the road has been cordoned off while building inspections take place.

Thousands of cob houses and farm buildings dating from the 14th Century have survived in the south-west of England.

A number of other cob buildings have collapsed after heavy rain including a section of wall of the King's Head pub in Cullompton High Street in 2014.



A nearby derelict laundrette also fell on to the High Street the same year.

The side of the cottage built from a combination of mud and straw

Jarlaxle wrote:Isn't noon early to be guzzling MD, Ozzie?

rubato wrote:Ground breaking mud and straw construction technology. Post- Brexit England could patent it and get royalties from all over Africa and the third world.

Nice.

Yrs,
Rubato

Cob structures can be found in a variety of climates across the globe. European examples include:

in England, notably in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in the West Country, and in East Anglia (where it is referred to as clay lump)
in the Vale of Glamorgan and Gower Peninsula in Wales
in Donegal Bay in Ulster and in Munster, South-West Ireland
in Finisterre in Brittany, where many homes have survived over 500 years and are still inhabited
Many old cob buildings can be found in Africa, the Middle East, and some parts of the eastern United States.
A number of cob cottages survive from mid-19th century New Zealand

rubato wrote:Yes dear, stone tools were used all over too. Most of us have learned better ways of doing things in the past centuries.

Britain brexited out of terror of having to meet EU building codes. " we can't live without our mud huts! "



Yrs,
Rubato

Making homes out of clay, sand and straw -- a material called "cob" -- might raise eyebrows in earthquake country, but Bay Area devotees are hoping to gain acceptance for what they say is an inexpensive, environmentally friendly and safe way to build.



Right now, their projects are limited by code restrictions to elfin structures that often look like the illustrations in a book of fairy tales. But advocates note that large cob homes have been standing in England for 400 years.

"This is a wave of the future," said John Fordice, a Berkeley architect who operates the nonprofit Cob Research Institute from his Berkeley home. "The advantages to the general public are vast, to say the very least."

Cob walls offer some advantages over conventional wood framing. Clay can be taken directly from the building site, and the owner can do much of the work herself. It's similar in composition to adobe brick, but it is used to make thick, solid walls that are said to be much less vulnerable to shaking.

Ellen Turner, a retired Silicon Valley tech writer, is building a small cob studio behind her home in the east foothills of San Jose. With its circular footprint, round windows and spiral roof, it's half sculpture. Turner said it's going to be a weaving workshop.

The name "cob" comes from an early English word for loaf or lump. Turner thinks there are two reasons for that.

Natural Homes of the USA.
http://naturalhomes.org/usa-naturalhomes.htm

rubato wrote:Compacted earth is an entirely different technology unknown to the primitive British. Compacted earth uses binders and methods, like high pressure compaction, which don't " melt" when it rains. Rather different from your English mud huts.




Yrs,
Rubato

My name is Claudine Desiree and I live in Santa Cruz, California where I have a business called Cruzin' Cob. I build modern day "cob" buildings (using local clay, sand and straw), teach cob workshops, and consult. I support the expansion of these hand-sculpted earthen living sculptures into our current building culture. I support many many people in the realization of their dream to build their own unique natural homes or spaces for very little cost in materials. These buildings are not only healthful, inexpensive and beautiful , they also represent a movement towards building shelter that supports the long-term health of the Planet and the well-being and housing needs of People. How many more trees can we afford to fell and concrete can our Planet absorb?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/firs ... santa-cruz#/