Cob Basics and Ballyhoo

The We Are All Farmers

Permaculture Institute

What is cob?

• Earth building, often with clay, straw, and sand

• Lots of cultures have a version of it: mud huts, adobe, etc.

cobcottage.com

http://www.sim.org.au/south-sudan-project

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf467nb57c/

What is so great about cob? • Permaculture perspective on cob: low cost, abundant,

community, lasts, DIY, can source locally, can replace and repair locally, can stack functions,

A little divergence: Other stuff like cob: Papercrete: http://www.papercrete.com/

And http://makepapercrete.com/

What brings you to cob? • Want to make our own bread/pizza, etc. outdoors

• Goal to make a rocket stove with cob “masonry” = = =

= much less expensive than a mason stove or Kachelofen

• And you???

ilovecob.com

Ceramicstoday.com

When We Gave it a Try

Lessons Learned by Us

Season matters Letting it dry Don’t light fire prematurely Want to try it again!!

Pointers

• Can get a soil test to know clay content • Try to get everyone using the same ratios

• You can try to use mixers, too, but feet work fine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmyHayp5qtg

• Very annoying music, but another concrete mixer at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cHBpOviwvc

• “if you want to reduce/eliminate cracks, let the cob dry slowly & completely before firing. You can fire it up sooner, but know that you will likely have cracks. I also like to fire it up at least once prior to plastering.” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFuGzhPxofE

Resources Great video series on how to build a cob oven: http://www.youtube.com/user/sigikoko?feature=watch

How to build a rocket stove + cob: http://ilovecob.com/archive/tag/rocket-stove

• http://www.cobcottage.com/pics

• The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage: The Real Goods Solar Living Book (Illustrated) by Ianto Evans (Author) , Michael G. Smith (Author) , Linda Smiley (Author) , Deanne Bednar

• Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves YOU Can Build by Ianto Evans (Author) , Leslie Jackson (Author)

• Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost Wood-Fired Mud Oven, Simple Sourdough Bread, Perfect Loaves, 3rd Edition by Kiko Denzer (Author) , Hannah Field (Author)

• Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks [Paperback] Art Ludwig (Author)

• Cob Building Pictoral: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tu0lIRKMLI

• More ideas, inspirations and how to’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk1kzP2QHpg

• Start with a clay model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7slPrX1Vmk0

• A cob outhouse! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4EEhi7T8A8

• Basic Cob Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_83Nsf0z1s

• A bit shaky video work, but you see a lot of cool stuff! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XChnijYFBY

Troubleshooting Cob

http://www.inspection4.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cob_walls.pdf

http://www.cobcottage.com/questions

Testing cob construction for earthquake survival (more annoying music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJk_AFY4sgE

Appendix. Please get your own copy of Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost Wood-Fired Mud Oven, Simple Sourdough Bread, Perfect Loaves, 3rd Edition by Kiko Denzer (Author) , Hannah Field (Author)