[Cob] insulation thread

[Jon Kerr]

Very interesting discussion of insulation everybody!

I haven't heard anyone mention earth berms. As I understand it, there 
are a couple approaches: dig the whole structure further down and put 
your foundation at the bottom (essentially you'd have a house in a hole 
with walkway down to and around the outside), or building up berms on 
the outside.  My pie-in-the-sky dream is use this latter method to make 
sort of de facto hobbit-hole. Dig the foundation down pretty deep and 
take the soil and pile it on the outside angling all the way up to the 
roof. /-----\

I don't know, however, if you can just shovel the dirt up against the 
cob or if you have to leave an airspace and plaster inside of it or 
what. Maybe even a layer of clay-straw between the berms and the cob.

Something to chew on anyway.

Jon