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Cob: RE: RE: Posts embedded in cobFirstbrook, Will wfirstb1 at wcb.bc.caThu Nov 2 15:01:13 CST 2000
Hi Robynn, I'm located near Salmon Arm (actually SunnyBrae/Paradise Point in Tappen) overlooking Lake Shuswap. Where in the Columbia Valley are you located,Invermere? Our design was a little haphazard, we designed as we built. We view the strawbale house as a cabin (learning experience) prior to building our dream home. Which will be a mixture of earthship, strawbale & cob, passive solar whimsical castle. I was going to build a foundation that went 2' above ground and make a 4-5' crawlspace for storage. My wife vetoed that Idea really fast. So I added a 4' pony wall standard 2*6 construction over a cement foundation, So we have a full basement. This is why the bales start around 5' above ground. Check out my web pages for more details of the strawbale cabin & our cobcastle project. Its a little out of date but it gives a good overview of what we are doing. http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148 <http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148> Regarding your design, my understanding is the cob should start approx. 2' above ground at least on the exterior so no water can be wicked up into the cob. Also the foundation that cob sits on should ideally be rough so the the cob is keyed into the foundation and somewhat breathable. Stone & cement foundations work well. You can when making the foundation insert large galvanized nails into the corners (embedded in cement) wherever you want to place the posts. Then drill a hole into the bottom of the posts so it is well fastened to its location. I'm not sure of using the plastic under the cob, tar paper maybe. Personally I wouldn't use it. I have never seen it used. Perhaps under the foundation over the floor area. When I built my earthen floor I put 6 mil vapor barrier down then 5" of 1" river rock, straw, then placed the earthen floor on top of that. Regards, Will -----Original Message----- From: Shawn Honeychurch [mailto:ironfire at cyberlink.bc.ca] Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 8:40 AM To: Firstbrook, Will; coblist at deatech.com Subject: Re: RE: Posts embedded in cob Hi Will Thank you so much for your suggestions. You said you were building in BC interior. Just curious if you were anywhere near us. We're in the Columbia Valley. As for foundations, do you think in the semi-arid region where we are that we would near such a high one? I was hoping to get away with a one foot above ground level (and 3 feet below) foundation so that the house could be low to the ground for easy access. I was thinking of putting plastic (ug) ontop of a footing running the perimeter of the house and placing the posts and cob wall on that. But I worry that this means the wall won't be breathing on its bottom edge and moisture could condense there. Then again, it is very dry out here, so maybe that wouldn't be a problem. What do you think? Great idea with the pegs and stucco wire. That makes alot of sense to me. I'm so glad to have some input into these design problems and be able to address them BEFORE we begin building! Thanks! Robynn -------------- next part -------------- <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <TITLE>RE: Posts embedded in cob</TITLE> <META content='"MSHTML 4.72.3510.1400"' name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>Hi Robynn,</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>I'm located near Salmon Arm (actually SunnyBrae/Paradise Point in Tappen) overlooking Lake Shuswap. Where in the Columbia Valley are you located,Invermere? Our design was a little haphazard, we designed as we built. We view the strawbale house as a cabin (learning experience) prior to building our dream home. Which will be a mixture of earthship, strawbale & cob, passive solar whimsical castle. I was going to build a foundation that went 2' above ground and make a 4-5' crawlspace for storage. My wife vetoed that Idea really fast. So I added a 4' pony wall standard 2*6 construction over a cement foundation, So we have a full basement. This is why the bales start around 5' above ground. Check out my web pages for more details of the strawbale cabin & our cobcastle project. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>Its a little out of date but it gives a good overview of what we are doing. <A href="http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148">http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7148</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>Regarding your design, my understanding is the cob should start approx. 2' above ground at least on the exterior so no water can be wicked up into the cob. Also the foundation that cob sits on should ideally be rough so the the cob is keyed into the foundation and somewhat breathable. Stone & cement foundations work well. You can when making the foundation insert large galvanized nails into the corners (embedded in cement) wherever you want to place the posts. Then drill a hole into the bottom of the posts so it is well fastened to its location. </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>I'm not sure of using the plastic under the cob, tar paper maybe. Personally I wouldn't use it. I have never seen it used. Perhaps under the foundation over the floor area. When I built my earthen floor I put 6 mil vapor barrier down then 5" of 1" river rock, straw, then placed the earthen floor on top of that.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2>Will</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=821125919-02112000><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Shawn Honeychurch [mailto:ironfire at cyberlink.bc.ca]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 01, 2000 8:40 AM<BR><B>To:</B> Firstbrook, Will; coblist at deatech.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: RE: Posts embedded in cob<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Will</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you so much for your suggestions. You said you were building in BC interior. Just curious if you were anywhere near us. We're in the Columbia Valley. As for foundations, do you think in the semi-arid region where we are that we would near such a high one? I was hoping to get away with a one foot above ground level (and 3 feet below) foundation so that the house could be low to the ground for easy access. I was thinking of putting plastic (ug) ontop of a footing running the perimeter of the house and placing the posts and cob wall on that. But I worry that this means the wall won't be breathing on its bottom edge and moisture could condense there. Then again, it is very dry out here, so maybe that wouldn't be a problem. What do you think? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Great idea with the pegs and stucco wire. That makes alot of sense to me. I'm so glad to have some input into these design problems and be able to address them BEFORE we begin building! Thanks!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robynn</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 solid 2px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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