Building a cob home

[soulmatenlove]

Things on the cob home have slowed to a crawl, mainly because of the weather, but today we made our own slip straw insulation.

My soulmate created a form that was 8x2. Inside that form he created three sections.
We had to mix clay slurry onto the straw and then place the straw into the forms and then tamp. Now we need to wait for them to dry, which could take up to a month, depends on the weather.











These are going into our floor.
The thickness is roughly 6 inches....which should give us a R value of 10, if we were eager and wanted to do 12 inches, then we would have almost an R20 value.
We were going to do this method of insulation for the gable ends, but because it is so labor intensive and time consuming, we have decided not to, instead we are going to use packed straw. I personally, would like to try cattails...there are plenty out there, so curious if it would work.

Next week, and hopefully the snow will stay away, we will be installing the galvanized/tin roofing.

 

[Marianne]

Great pics! AND you're doing a great job!!

I remember first reading about this years ago. The guy advocated 'building/forming', whatever term you want to use, right in the wall cavity. He said with little support it should be stiff enough to stay there until it dries. I found it interesting, would have loved to have tried it, but DH is pretty conventional.

Bummer about the weather. It's life, huh. But it sure can slow down progress.

 

[rathbone]

I tend not to comment on your post because I don't have anything more interesting to say than "oooh" and "awe". But I am following along. Keep on posting. I am really excited for you.

 

[soulmatenlove]

So, yesterday, I was really excited about the possibilityof using cattail for insulation. With this new motivation I pulled on a pair of rubber boots, got my little girl dressed and told my husband to grab a bag and my gardening shears. We only had to walk a brief five minutes down the road before we hit my first batch. Excitedly, I cut both exposed & unexposed cattails...not too sure what we're to call them, bloomed and unbloomed. Sounds pretty funny. Either way, I was out there cutting and placing them into the bag. I was determined to get a bag full. Some were a little wet from the rainfall, but I figured I would lay them out on a rack and let them dry. Closer to the end of the day, I went and checked on them to see if they were dry, they were so I put them back in the bag and brought them indoors. BIG MISTAKE!!! This evening when I got home from work, I thought I would check them out....I didn't even make it to the bag before I noticed silk worms everywhere!!! THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!!! And there was a spider there happy munching away on them! Gross...So, lesson to self, if it comes from outside, keep it outside!!!
Anyone out there dealt with cattails for insulation?? And how did you handle these little guys???

 

[Britesea]

Oh no! what a mess! I hope you'll be able to get all the wildlife out of your house!

I have been really enjoying reading as your house comes together. My DH has been talking about experimenting with cob also- so you are making converts!

 

[Marianne]

I never thought about using it for insulation, what a great idea. But I did think about eating them. You can even grind a 'flour' with parts of it to make pancakes.
Anyway, what about sprinkling some diatomaceous earth (DE) from the garden supply area at the store in the bags, then giving them a few shakes?

 

[soulmatenlove]

It took a few weeks, but our roofing material finally made it here!
And can you believe we have a few nice days left in Novemeber to put it up??WOW!
My soulmate thinks we can have it up in one day, only if we can keep out 3 yr old little girl preoccupied with something....
First we lay the foam, then sheetmetal and lastly the ridge cap. viola we're done!
I want us on the roof by 7 am....and I hope that we will have a completed roof tomorrow night!
So excited!

 

[dragonlaurel]

Good luck with your roof. You're almost there now.
Keep us updated. Lots of us would love to be doing this ourselves and seeing your progress helps keep the dream alive.

 

[soulmatenlove]

Well, we certainly had a very productive weekend. It is so gratifying to know we are almost at the end, and yet so sad, to see the cob studio being finished.
It was very exciting to learn each challenge and embrace it, in the meantime knowing there was another level to conquer. I loved it all, although, I can't say I was much help in some aspects of the different stages. The most challenging for me, was the drywall stacking of our stone foundation and the rafters, but I made a valiant effort with as much muscle I could muster.

There is plenty more to learn as the building changes with the seasons and offers us new lessons on how to improve our self sufficiency. Next on our agenda is installing a slipstraw floor. Rocket Stove. Inground refrigerator/freezer. Trombe wall. Wool insulation. Cattail insulation. And last, but not least, a solar panel.

I will keep posting on whatever milestone comes our way, and let you know what lessons we learned.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Looks great!