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Cob Guest
Cottage |
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Green
Building |
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Cob, an old English
word meaning a rounded loaf or mass, refers to a style of earthen building
where earth (with a clay content) is mixed with sand and straw. The clay
in the earth becomes wrapped around the grains of sand and straw sticking
them all together. The sand and straw dilute the clay to (hopefully) eliminate
cracking when drying. While the cob mixture is still wet, it is sculpted
into a monolithic, homogenous wall system. Because of the way cob is constructed,
it typically results in sculptural, curvilinear walls considered to be very
artistic and charming. |
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About
Us |
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Interactive
Site Plan |
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Photo
Album |
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Mission
Statement |
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People |
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more... |
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Links |
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1,2,3,4 |
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Contact |
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Maitreya
EcoVillage Guest Cottage |
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It is very difficult to get a building
permit for cob because it is difficult to prove to building officials that
cob is safe from a seismic point of view and that cob has a sufficient insulation
value. The seismic concerns are somewhat addressed by the fact that cob
walls are a monolithic, homogeneous mass that has no mortar joints to separate
in an earthquake, cob walls are typically curvilinear rather than straight
- making them less likely to topple in an earthquake, and cob walls are
typically thicker at the bottom and taper toward the top - also making them
less likely to topple in an earthquake. |
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Cob's lack of code
approved insulation value can be mitigated by building a substantially smaller
house and building in a climate like high desert where nightly temperature
swings make the thermal mass in cob walls work to one's advantage. |
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For more info please visit: |
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The
Cob Cottage Company |
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The major environmental benefit
to cob construction is that it has the potential to be a truly sustainable
building material. If one harvests the earth, sand, straw and mixes them
into cob using human and/or animal labor, one can then build the cob into
a house that will, upon reaching the end of its lifespan, simply dissolve
back into the earth in a truly cyclical and genuinely sustainable process.
True sustainability can be credibly claimed of little else in the world
of green building. |
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