[Cob] Adapting Earthbag stemwall

[Patrick Newberry]

As far as importing clay for sandy soil...yes I have experience in that.
I live in middle Georgia and there is a band of sand that goes across
the middle of Georgia.  I like to say I live on the beach, I just don't
have any ocean.

But since the band is not that wide good old georgia red clay is not
that far away. I hauled quite a bit in my old pick up truck but wound up
just paying for a couple of dump truck loads. Based on the effort of
loading my pickup truck by hand and the cost of the gasoline, I felt I
came out ahead. 

I'm a little confused on the terms plaster and masonry. I refer to both
earthen plasters and cement plasters and might cement plaster masonary.
Anyway, I used earth bags on my cob house and I mixed some cement in the
bags with my moistened sand which as I mention we got plently of. Once I
get 6 or so inches above ground with  my bags. I painted them with an
ashphat emultion type roofing compound to stop wicking from the ground.
I put the cob on top of this. One advantage with sand is that it is so
pourous that it can rain cats and dogs and 30 minutes later you say what
rain. So I've not had really any wicking problem in my sandy soil. Ask
my garden. 

As far as outside plasters on my bags ( have some full size walls plus
some vaults built from bags was well, I have used both cement plasters
(portland and my sandy soil) and earthen plasters. Since my earthen
plasters have a higher percentage of sand than most, I go with lime
plasters or really just paint a lime sort of paint on the earthen
plaster which soaks into the earthen plaster quite well. The first coat
will of course mix with the color of the clay. In my case it will be red
clay. Second and third coats it becomes white. 

Pat Newberry
www.gypsyfarm.com




-----Original Message-----
From: coblist-bounces at deatech.com [mailto:coblist-bounces at deatech.com]
On Behalf Of Jennifer Roberts
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 1:53 PM
To: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: [Cob] Adapting Earthbag stemwall



   I am going to start building this summer on a foundation created by
   the previous owners of my land, a 17x17 octagonal concrete pad with
an
   earthbag stemwall. Local people use earthbags a lot for strawbale
   construction (which this was intended for) and use masonry to coat
the
   outside of the bags instead of plaster to prevent wicking of
moisture.
   I also wondered if I could create a smaller rock layer on top of the
   earthbags to give the cob on the south side something to stick to.
   Does anyone have experience with masonry and earthbags?

   Also, does anyone have experience with importing earth to make their
   cob? I have pure desert sand (beach-like) but considered calling pool
   installers, foundations diggers, in nearby areas with clay soil to
get
   this for free. It's a minimum 60 mile drive to perform a soil test-
   any other ideas? Though I love cob, I am thinking it may not be
   realistic considering my soil type and climate.

   Thanks!

   Jennifer
       ______________________________________________________________

     From: "Amanda Peck" <ap615 at hotmail.com>
     To: coblist at deatech.com
     Subject: RE: [Cob] Pex
     Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:20:07 -0600
     >
     >
     >Unless they are very organized I'll bet a lot of people have this
     >problem--it sounds like one of those things where everything has
     to
     >be completed before anything can be done.
     >
     >Hot water system probably should be in place--solar hot water
     needs
     >a storage tank (even if your backup is a demand heater), normally
     on
     >the floor in the house somewhere--before you put in your floor,
     >water pressure/pump has to be available, and so on.
     >
     >I do own a portable (propane with a wimpy battery pump) hot water
     >heater, but it's possible that heating water on a turkey fryer and
     >ladling it into a funnel that is connected to your tubing, with
     the
     >funnel higher than the drain to outside at the other end might
     work
     >at least as well. And, separately, pressure test the system.
     >
     >There's at least one manufacturer of radiant heat tubing that
     loves
     >to work with DIY people in solar instalations. IIRC from a
     >discussion on another list, Pex proper and a good many of the
     other
     >companies want their system (including sizing and routing and how
     >many loops--zones--of tubing you need) professionally installed.
     >Not at all sure I have the information on the first company handy.
     >Somebody else knows it.
     >
     >The Building with Awareness guy used a concrete floor which nicely
     >bypassed (at least part of) the problem. At the cost of a concrete
     >floor. I think somebody else just put an earthen top layer on
     >their--otherwise concrete--floor.
     >
     >
     >
     >............
     >Judith asked about putting in radiant heat tubing months or years
     >before actually getting radiant heat.
     >
     >
     >
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