Cob: RE: Re: Adobe/Cob maintenance (fwd)

[Shannon C. Dealy]

I assume this was meant for the list

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
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: RE: Re: Adobe/Cob maintenance
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 08:55:18 -0400
From: Patrick Newberry <PNewberry at HFHI.org>
To: Shannon C. Dealy <dealy at deatech.com>

While my house is not yet finished yet (I have about 3 feet left on the
last wall!!!)
My family has been living in it now for year two and I can't see where
cob would 
require any more maintenance than any other building, actually I'd say
less. 

On the wall with lime there as been no errosion from splashing water, on
the pure cob walls
there are only a couple of spots that have had some very minor
(appreance only) errotion. 

As far as the getting old part, heck the most you have to do with the
walls is put some more 
plaster on it. The biggest problem you might have is you can't make or
carry large batches of
plaster, so just make small batches in a wheel barrow. I  mean if you're
too weak to lift up 
a hand full of mud, then your more than likely too weak to paint your
stick home too!

Heck with mud, I just invite the grandkids over and we'd all have a
blast. 
(by the way, I just became a grandpa on July 21, our first
grandchild...Carlos Kordayle Newberry!)



There must be more to the story??

Pat
gypsyfarm. 
http://www.gnat.net/~goshawk


-----Original Message-----
From: Shannon C. Dealy [mailto:dealy at deatech.com]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 3:13 AM
To: Mafalda Stock
Cc: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: Cob: Re: Adobe/Cob maintenance


On Tue, 31 Jul 2001, Mafalda Stock wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I saw a snippet on T.V. of a woman saying that the constant repair she
has 
> to do on her adobe (and presumable cob, too) kills you.  Please share
with 

You don't give any details of what type of repairs that were involved,
but
my wife saw a show recently where the person was complaining about all
the
problems/work maintaining the exterior stucco on an adobe home.
Assuming
what you saw was the same show, I would guess having no other
information
to go on, that the problem is a stucco which is cement based or used
some
other material which prevented it from being breathable.  Unfortunately,
far to many people involved in the design and construction of buildings
both modern and older/more traditional do not understand the causes and
dangers of moisture build-up inside of walls, and make heavy use of
non-breathable materials, even in areas where they are not necessary.
If you seal your walls, moisture can build up near the exterior,
resulting
in: paint bubbles, cracked and peeling stucco, corrosion in metal
framing,
rot (wood, strawbale or other organic materials), mold, mildew, and
probably any number of other problems.  I think I did a rather long
winded
overview of how/why the moisture build-up occurs a couple years ago, you
could check the archives if you are interested in the details.

> the rest of us the comparative experiences you have had with your
buildings 
> requiring constant repair.  Is it true?  It sounds very prohibitive, 
> especially if there are no builders to turn to for this kind of 
> repair.  Conventional homes would not be a problem, except for the
expense