Cob: i explain about fondations.

[Patricia L. MacKenzie]

I personally like your idea, and would try it myself if I could. Varying 
thicknesses of foundation or flooring are supposedly the key - thicker under 
the load bearing walls (outer usually) or main inner.

As far as other areas go, India has a monsoon season, if I recall correctly. 
The ground does not freeze but may shift with torrential rains. Buckets 
(slang) or inches of water in a short period of time tend to wash away soil, 
or rock for that matter.

It does freeze in other areas of the world, where methods are developed for 
various conditions.

If the ground shifts under, within the wall perimeter or nearby, the 
foundation will also shift, potentially causing wall breaks, cracks or 
movement of some type.

This moves building in general. If the wall is thick enough in layers, quite 
possibly the layers might shift or crack singly, thus not truly affecting 
the actual stability of it. No one wants a collapsed building on top of 
them.


>From: "olivier Tallendier" <oliviertallendier at hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: "olivier Tallendier" <oliviertallendier at hotmail.com>
>To: dealy at deatech.com, coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: Cob: i explain about fondations.
>Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2000 11:20:48 GMT
>
>ok but i am not talking to do not build fondation at all, but reduce the
>masonnery part to the minimum.
>and in my mail i am proposing differents methods
>like i said :
>
>>if the foundation are made to protect the walls from humidity,
> > why not clean the ground, put a mix of stones and lime on the ground
> > ( like a drain )
> > and directly build the wall on it ?
> > after to protect the wall from water why not put stones on the foot  of
>the
> > wall and dig a kind of drain all around the house ?
>
>i have seen some houses using those thecnics.
>
>olivier
>
>
>
>----Original Message Follows----
>From: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>Reply-To: "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
>To: olivier Tallendier <oliviertallendier at hotmail.com>
>CC: coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: Re: Cob: foundation ? why ?
>Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 12:29:37 -0700 (PDT)
>
>On Wed, 2 Aug 2000, olivier Tallendier wrote:
>
> > does cob house need really foundation ?
> >
> > I have seen some house today directly build on the ground.
> > ( i'm still in india )
> >
> > if the foundation are made to protect the walls from humidity,
> > why not clean the ground, put a mix of stones and lime on the ground
> > ( like a drain )
> > and directly build the wall on it ?
> > after to protect the wall from water why not put stones on the foot of
>the
> > wall and dig a kind of drain all around the house ?
>
>All of the reasons I can think of (there may be some I haven't thought of)
>to have a foundation under cob are as follows:
>
>    1 - Prevent frost heave from shifting the building and damaging the
>        walls.
>    2 - Get the wall off the ground so that water from the ground
>        will not seep into the wall.
>    3 - Get the wall high enough off the ground so that rain splash will
>        not errode the wall.  What I am referring to here is raindrops
>        hitting the ground and splattering onto the wall.  In a couple of
>        buildings I have looked at, errosion from this is a significant
>        problem, where wind driven rain which directly impacts the walls
>        has little or no effect.
>    4 - Create a more stable base for the wall if the ground is not stable
>        enough to directly support it.
>    5 - To appease local building authorities so they will give you a
>        permit.
>
>If these items do not apply to your application or are otherwise dealt
>with, I see no reason why you couldn't build it directly on the ground.
>Item three above might possibly be dealt with by embedding large flat
>rocks in the outside of the bottom of the wall, or just plastering the
>outside of the base of the wall on a regular basis.
>
>Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
>dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
>                       |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
>Phone: (800) 467-5820 | Networking, Scientific & Engineering Applications
>    or: (541) 451-5177 |                  www.deatech.com
>
>
>
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