[Cob] Foundations for stoves and interior cob walls

[Anna Young]

A question about stove and interior cob wall foundations. We are doing the formwork for our cob/strawbale house concrete bond beam at present (thanks to living in an earthquake zone). The plans specify the same 2-3' wide, 8' deep footing for an interior cob wall and masonry/woodstove stove as for the main outside walls. This is a lot more cement and feels like overkill to us. However, if we do a stone or urbanite foundation starting higher up, above the waterproofing barrier, it will be on a lot of infill earth. Well-tamped, but it might settle over the years. Any thoughts / comments / experience?

Anna