[Cob] R value of cob vs strawbale

[Deborah Denmark]

Yes, Hi Dorethy, I read your ebook and I have had Iantos book for a long
time now. Read it cover to cover when I first got it and will be reading it
again soon. I had thought about putting the strawbales between two thick
layers of cob. It is the wood framing that I don't have the skills and
quite frankly the inclination to attempt so the two thick walls of cob
might be a good solution for me. I know 'mud' very well, I feel good about
'mud'.

On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 10:48 AM, Dorethy Hancock <
dorethy at centeroftherainbow.com> wrote:

> Deborah,
> Our temps in Kansas are a bit more severe than you mention (minus 20
> possible in winter, to 104 in summer--both for short periods, but
> still...), and I built my entire cob house with insulation of straw bales
> sandwiched between 5-6 inches of cob.  Saying "load-bearing cob" is
> redundant, because, of course, cob is load-bearing just by its mass.  But
> it is not, of itself, insulative, so you need the strawbales inside.  Your
> interior walls can be strictly cob, though.  I built mine about 7 feet tall
> and they did not meet the ceiling.  I absolutely love the strength of the
> mass and the coziness felt inside.  I still have 5 big windows on the SE,
> S, and SW sides for solar gain.  These need some solid cob pillars for
> shear strength, so I built mine up slowly, so the interior of them would
> get dry, and they're as thick as the rest of the wall which has bales
> inside.
>
> Do yourself a favor and buy Ianto Evans' book *The Hand-Sculpted House.*
> From it you will glean *everything* you need to build this yourself--from
> the philosophy behind it all the way down to the nitty-gritty of how to
> test the amount of clay in your soil.  It was my "Bible" when I built.  If
> you have other questions, I would be happy to help!
>
> By the way, I published an e-book about my experience building cob *and*
> strawbale, which you can get for $3.99 direct from this link:
> www.smashwords.com/books/view/317540.
>
> Good luck!
> Dorethy from Kansas
>
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 9:20 AM, Deborah Denmark <
> deborahddenmark at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks everyone for your input. I was hoping to find a 3 foot thick cob
>> wall would stand up to a strawbale for insulating qualities. I know I can
>> build a cob wall all by myself but I don't think I have the skill to put
>> up
>> a strawbale wall alone. I am thinking I might be disappointed with cob
>> exterior walls no matter how thick I made them.
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 9:42 AM, Henry Raduazo <raduazo at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> > Debora:
>> >         Why not try both. You can build a hybrid structure that uses
>> straw
>> > bale on the outside and load bearing cob as the interior wall thus
>> giving
>> > yourself both insulation where it is needed and biomass for storing
>> solar
>> > energy and providing a strong load bearing wall that will not compress
>> over
>> > time and crack your walls as some load bearing straw bale walls are
>> known
>> > to do..
>> >
>> >         For pictures of hybrid construction send a request to me
>> > personally because pictures are not allowed on the coblist list.
>> >
>> > Ed
>> > On Feb 9, 2015, at 2:34 PM, Deborah Denmark wrote:
>> >
>> > > I have a question concerning the best way to build a north face wall
>> in
>> > > northern hemisphere. The south face will be built to take advantage of
>> > > passive solar principles.
>> > >
>> > > I am wondering if it would give higher R value to go with a straw bale
>> > wall
>> > > on the north side of the house or a cob wall that is 3 feet thick at
>> the
>> > > base reducing to 2 feet thick at the top of the wall (1 story high).
>> > >
>> > > The winter nighttime low temps in my area average in the 20s to 30s in
>> > the
>> > > winter with occasional dips into the teens and less frequent dips to
>> > single
>> > > digits and far less frequently we get the occasional below 0 degrees
>> F.
>> > >
>> > > The winter daytime highs average in the 40s with the occasional dips
>> of
>> > > course similar to the nighttime dips.
>> > >
>> > > The climate is also at high humidity levels most of the time as I am
>> in a
>> > > temperate rain forest climate in the southern Appalachian mountains.
>> > >
>> > > Deborah Denmark
>> > > Cullowhee, NC
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Coblist mailing list
>> > > Coblist at deatech.com
>> > > http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> Deborah Denmark
>> Cullowhee, NC
>> 828-293-3969
>> deborahddenmark at gmail.com
>> https://www.tsu.co/DeborahDenmark
>> Deborah Denmark on Facebook
>> deborahddenmark on Skype
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coblist mailing list
>> Coblist at deatech.com
>> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
>>
>
>


-- 
Deborah Denmark
Cullowhee, NC
828-293-3969
deborahddenmark at gmail.com
https://www.tsu.co/DeborahDenmark
Deborah Denmark on Facebook
deborahddenmark on Skype