[Cob] hybrid bales bags

[Joe Skeesick]

Personally, (and I'm sure many will disagree) I don't like any of the hybrid
systems. I think you're asking for trouble with this sort of design. No
matter how organic you shape you're walls it is the completion of the "box"
(or circle) form of the house that gives cob its strength. The omission of
one wall from this system by creating it out of another source seriously
degrades the over all strength of the structure. The other systems mentioned
also suffer for drawbacks that bring into question the integrity of those
structures over the long haul.

Contrary to a previous post about the only advantage to cob is you don't
have to buy bags there is significant strength advantages to cob over "super
adobe" which has built in lateral shear lines engineered into the structure
itself. The strength of super adobe is completely dependant on the bags
used, deterioration of the bags results in structural failure of the wall in
time. It will be interesting to see what the longevity of these structures
are.
 Along those same lines I have issues with strawbale after viewing several
failed structures using this system.  I do not believe that most of the
strwabale structures build today will have a life span of over 30 years,
most much less than that. There are some good strawbale systems out there
but most of them involve similar skills and resources as any modern stick
built house and just aren't accessible systems for a solely owner built
home. Now some people don't mind if their house comes down in 10-20 years,
in fact some on this board might see that as a benefit and if so that's
fine. My goal in building however is in creating a homestead to pass to my
children. Hybridizing cob would seriously degrade the possibility that there
would be anything to hand down to them, where as a proper historically build
cob home will provide not only myself, but generations of my family with a
home... makes all the work worth it.
J


-----Original Message-----
From: coblist-bounces at deatech.com [mailto:coblist-bounces at deatech.com]On
Behalf Of Jilly
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 3:29 AM
To: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: [Cob] hybrid bales bags

Oh I DO have the book, The Hand-Sculpted House.
That is where I first was given the impression to use straw-bale or hybrid
system.
I understand how to use straw bales for a small area. But to create the
entire north wall or large span, I was not sure. Also, was not sure if it
was superior to earth bags.
If I make the north wall all straw bale, load bearing (is that really safe?)
won't it compress when I add the roof? So how much higher should the top of
the bales be in compared to the cob? Precompresed bales?

Also I was questioning using all straw bales, then covering with earthen
plaster / cob.. or earthen bags and doing the same. Wondering about
strength, ease of building, insulation, cost, time in building, ect.

jilly
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