Table of Contents
The walls of a cob house are generally about 24 inches (61 cm) thick, and windows were correspondingly deep-set, giving the homes a characteristic internal appearance.
How thin can cob walls be?
Thin cob walls will block the noise pretty well, giving you more privacy between rooms. If the interior walls are not responsible for holding up the roof beams, they can be made as thin as 5 inches at the top with a 1 inch in 3 foot taper. Make some test walls and see how thin you can get away with.
How long do cob houses last?
How long does cob last? The oldest cob house still standing is 10,000 years old. Cob is strong, durable and cob houses should stand forever as long as their roof is maintained and the property is looked after properly.
Where is the best place to build a cob house?
An especially efficient place to put your thermal mass is close to your heat source, so build a sculptural cob hearth and mass wall around your wood stove. That’s my suggestion for very cold winter areas: cob for interior walls (and possibly south-facing exterior walls if you get very regular sun through the winter).
Do cob houses get damp?
Damp is generated inside a building in two main ways. Old stone and cob buildings are particularly prone to this as they do not have effective damp proof courses and often have wet walls due to the application of inappropriate finishes such as cement and masonry paint rather than lime and mineral silica paints.
Do cob walls need insulation?
Experience has shown that cob walls do resist the effects of fire. Walls that are to be separating walls between two dwellings will need to be extended into the roof space to provide adequate fire resistance and sound insulation.
Can cob houses be built in cold climates?
Cob is a mixture of sand, clay and straw like adobe but not formed into bricks. Cob is not a suitable design for cold climates like those found in northern Canada and Scandinavia but for southern climates with infrequent snow fall it can be suitable.
What are cob walls made of?
Cob is a mixture of sandy-sub soil, clay and straw. It’s mixed by crushing the particles together by either dancing on it or using the head of a digger. The sandy-sub soil must be sharp and ideally contain angular stones and gravel – this will make it stronger. About 75% of cob is made up of this sandy aggregate.
How big can a cob house be?
A: There is no inherent size limitation on cob or any other building system that I know of. If you look in the literature you will find cob mansions in England and cob towers in South Yemen nine stories high! That being said, cob walls can take a lot of work to build, as do most other natural building techniques.
How expensive is it to build a cob house?
A decent cob house can be built for anything ranging around $4,000 – $10,000. However the cost can vary depending on the climatic condition, location and the size of the house. The basic cost, however, may lie somewhere around $2000 – $5000.
Do you need planning permission for a cob house?
How easy is it to get planning for a cob house or cob garden studio? Cob houses can be built in any style you want. Garden studios usually don’t need any planning permission, unless you live in a conservation area. Different areas have different regulations though.
Can you get a mortgage on a cob cottage?
Mortgage lenders may occasionally be asked to provide mortgage finance secured on a cob building. For the surveyor, identification of cob is not always easy but the walls will generally be very thick – typically 450mm or more – with a distinctly wavy and uneven rendered surface.
Are cob houses safe?
Since soil is used as the base material for the building it is almost completely fireproof and termite-proof. This makes cob house one of the safest DIY homes that one can go for.
Is cob structural?
It may also be referred to as an “aggregate” in non-structural contexts, such as a “clay and sand aggregate” or more simply an “organic aggregate,” such as where the cob is a filler between post and beam construction.
What happens if cob gets wet?
There’s all kinds of issues with that but when we look at cob and earth materials what’s special about them is they are vapor permeable so water can get into them, but then it naturally releases from the walls so even if your walls get wet they’re going to have a chance to naturally air out and dry out and there’s no
Is a cob house waterproof?
Cob is very resistant to weathering. Because of its porous nature, it withstands long periods of rain without weakening. However, too much exposure is best avoided by the “boots and cap” strategy: wide roof eaves to protect the walls and an impervious foundation.
Can you insulate a cob house?
Cob walls have a very poor insulation value. Unless you find a good way to insulate them, you will lose a lot of heat through your walls during your cold winters. This will require you to burn a lot more fuel to keep your building warm.
Are cob houses Mortgageable?
If your house is made of standard bricks and mortar you should be fine, but if it’s made of wattle and daub, cob, flint, has a concrete or timber frame (which can sometimes include asbestos) you may struggle to secure a mortgage on it.
Can you have plumbing in a cob house?
Insulation, Wiring and Plumbing It is indeed possible to have indoor plumbing and electricity in a cob home, but you need to make this decision before you begin building the home. The electrical wiring goes in between your cob walls so it should be decided on beforehand.
How do you seal cob walls?
A: Linseed oil and lime plaster are both sometimes used to seal cob against weather. However, I wouldn’t recommend either of them for an oven. When you bake something like bread in an oven, it releases an enormous amount of water vapor as it cooks, much of which is absorbed into the oven wall.
Can cob hold water?
“Will the cob be strong enough to hold all that water?” Technically yesbut that only goes as fare as just about anythingMay 12, 2015
