Cob: Cob/Lime/Borax/Mold/Follow through

Thu Aug 21 11:03:42 CDT 2003

BlankAbout the third day after we started cobbing we were dismayed to discover that the first day's work was moldy. Not knowing exactly what to do we dusted the cob with some hydrated lime and continued dusting the new cob each day. I had thought to use Borax instead but not knowing the chemical composition of it and whether or not it would create more problems than it would solve, we went with the lime. I was afraid that the borax may contain salts and somewhere I read that salts were bad for this I think. Anyway, the mold disappeared and no new growth has been observable by the naked eye so the lime seems to be working. Does anyone here have any experience with mold in their cob or have any idea if dusting every day with the hydrated lime may have consequences/benefits?

Yes, Darel, we do have many pictures of the work we are doing and have been sending some to the people that we correspond with off of the list. We were posting them at a geocities site but it was so slow and ornery that we stopped using it and deleted almost all of what was there. I would like to find a good [and free] site to use to post the progress pics though. Also, you said something to Amanda the other day that gave me the impression that many people start cob projects yet do not follow through. Is that a big problem with people who begin cobbing--not following through?

Kim

  Anyone who would like to try applying an earth/manure finish to cob 
and lath walls is welcome to stop by. I used a saturated solution of borax to 
hydrate the clay and manure. This cuts the odor problem a little and kills off 
all the parasites other bugs that might reside in fresh horse manure. 

-Ed

Good point. I forgot about this. If its too bad a fan might need to be 
used. If you do thin layers it shouldn't be a problem. This might be 
more a problem with cob walls. They might take too long to dry out and 
a mold could start to grow thereon. 

-Darel
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<DIV>About the third day after we started cobbing we were dismayed to discover 
that the first day's work was moldy. Not knowing exactly what to do we dusted 
the cob with some hydrated lime and continued dusting the new cob each day. I 
had thought to use Borax instead but not knowing the chemical composition of it 
and whether or not it would create more problems than it would solve, we went 
with the lime. I was afraid that the borax may contain salts and somewhere I 
read that salts were bad for this I think. Anyway, the mold disappeared and no 
new growth has been observable by the naked eye so the lime seems to 
be working. Does anyone here have any experience with mold in their cob or have 
any idea if dusting every day with the hydrated lime may have 
consequences/benefits?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yes, Darel, we do have many pictures of the work we are doing and have been 
sending some to the people that we correspond with off of the list. We were 
posting them at a geocities site but it was so slow and ornery that we stopped 
using it and deleted almost all of what was there. I would like to find a good 
[and free] site to use to post the progress pics though. Also, you said 
something to Amanda the other day that gave me the impression that many people 
start cob projects yet do not follow through. Is that a big problem with people 
who begin cobbing--not following through?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kim</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>  Anyone who would like to try applying an earth/manure finish to 
cob <BR>and lath walls is welcome to stop by. I used a saturated solution of 
borax to <BR>hydrate the clay and manure. This cuts the odor problem a little 
and kills off <BR>all the parasites other bugs that might reside in fresh horse 
manure. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>-Ed</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Good point. I forgot about this. If its too bad a fan might need to be 
<BR>used. If you do thin layers it shouldn't be a problem. This might be 
<BR>more a problem with cob walls. They might take too long to dry out and <BR>a 
mold could start to grow thereon. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>-Darel<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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