Cob: new to cob

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, Ann Walter-Breon wrote:

> I've been on this mailing list for some time, but now I'm planning a
> small cob project of my own, because everyone thinks I'm crazy for
> wanting to build with "mud". I need to know the laws regarding cob in
> Southern Maryland (St Mary's County) and any other info and advice you
> can give. 

I can't tell you the laws in your area, but I do have a write-up I did on
the different approaches that I am aware of which people have taken for
dealing with the building codes.  It may be of some help to you depending
on the type of project you currently have in mind:

     http://www.deatech.com/natural/articles/code_alternatives.html

> I once had a catalog filled with books on alternative building and
> such, but I can't find it now, can someone tell me where to get another

I don't buy many of these books anymore (my library is already to big :-)
but realgoods.com has a decent selection of some of the more recent/popular
titles, and Charmaine Taylor who is a member of this list has an online
natural building bookstore.  I have two different URL's for it, which seem
to have two completely different web site designs, but both are clearly
her's:

     http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/
     http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/elkriver.html

She may be your best choice, since she is always trying out the various
techniques, so she could probably help you select the books you need/want.

> and what books are best?

This depends on what you want to learn, what you want to do with it, and
how much knowledge you already have.  If you are looking for books on cob,
Cob Cottage Company and Becky Bee both have books which are supposed to be
pretty good.  I don't feel qualified to judge the quality of these books
from a newcomers perspective, since I learned to build with cob well 
before either one was written.  I have been told that they make a good
complementary set since they approach cob from different perspectives.
The Cob Cottage book can be ordered from Cob Cottage Company:

     http://www.deatech.com/cobcottage/

Becky Bee's book I believe can be ordered from her web site (Groundworks),
I don't remember the URL, but their is a link to it from my natural
building page:

     http://www.deatech.com/natural/

You may be able to get one or both of these books from Charmaine's site
mentioned above.

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