Cob: Re: Re: Time and cost?

[chita jing]

    I get that from the straw baler's list messages for several years, plus
books and web sites. Overall, it seems to cost more than 20% more than stick
built, actually, assuming all new materials. I did only a couple of pro
forma spreadsheets when I was considering using it for a house a few years
back. At that time (around 1992-1993 or so), my local costs would have been
nearly 40% over stick built.

    It didn't take long for me to give up on straw bale because it just
doesn't appeal to me as a building material from a visual standpoint.
However, I do think there are areas where it's the best solution. Further,
just about any building materials and methods have a niche somewhere, under
some circumstance, so it's worthwhile to keep track of them all. There are a
lot of issues in common to all owner-buildable housing.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Vicki Wicker" <vcwicker at asub.edu>


> I'm not seeing how you get a strawbale house costing 20% more than
> conventional stud house.