Cob diverse advice for frugally4u

[John Schinnerer]

Aloha,

-----Original Message-----
From:	Frugally4u [SMTP:Frugally4u at aol.com]
>...a spring fed pond ( we'd like to build near it)...

...one suggestion (Ianto's, as well as mine) is to always build in the 
"worst" place on one's land (from an ecological/aesthetic standpoint), so 
that all the most beautiful and ecologically complex parts of one's land are 
not disturbed by the building and resulting activities.  One can always take 
a short walk to be in these places, but if one builds on them they will no 
longer be those kinds of places.  Permaculture principles also offer a lot of 
guidelines towards where to build, based on the flow of land, water, 
vegetation, sun, wind, human and other animal species present, land usage 
patterns, etc. etc.

>Build the greenhouse bottom walls of cob, then lumber & plexiglass for the 
top
>part.

The cob will need a foundation (stone, concrete, etc.) to keep it well above 
grade (knee-high is the usual recommendation) and dry.  For efficiency and 
longevity, glass (double-pane) will serve much better than plexiglass.

>* How long does cob have to cure before you can move in? I've read up to a
>year - is this true?

I've never heard this - thick light clay walls need to dry thoroughly before 
they are plastered (up to a year, I've heard, depending on thickness), but 
cob, although it may take a while to "fully" dry, can be lived in immediately 
as far as I know.  It has to dry enough to build on as it is built, which 
means that once the last bit is done the rest is already "dry enough."  If 
you were going to plaster the exterior walls, you might want to wait months 
or years before doing so because that might slow down the "full" drying, but 
that wouldn't stop you from living in it.  The two structures I've worked on 
were going to be in use as soon as they were done enough to move into and 
use.

John Schinnerer