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Post by leasure0911 on Jan 10, 2012 11:38:14 GMT -5
I mentioned in my intro and Garett suggested I start a discussion. While we are still a few years off from starting (we must get land first) we are planning on bulding a combination cordwood and strawbale house with cob being the "mortar". Cob is a mixture of straw, dirt, and clay. The insulating properties are much greater than any 'modern' house built with lumber and insulation. In strawbale and corwood housing, from what I've read, you typically start with a beam house basically. Then, fill in the walls with rectangular strawbales or cordwood. In strawbales, you alternate the stacking so that they stack similar to bricks. In cordwood, you stack the wood so that you see the "face" of it on each side. From waht I have read, the wood is normally cut 18-24 inches and the bark is taken off. The wood should be left to dry, at least a year. In the gaps between the wood, you use either cement or cob. One might think that in s strawbale house that fire or pests would be a problem. However, the straw is so tightly compacted that fire doesnt burn very quickly and pests can't get in. I am interested in these alternative housing techniques because they are both much better for the ecosystem as no chemical laiden materials are used and everything that is used is renewable. Also, the energy savings that they will provide. With the cost of electric and everything else skyrocketing, who wouldnt want a cheaper utilities bill? I enjoy s simple life and a simple life is what I will lead. ;D
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Post by garrett on Jan 10, 2012 12:46:27 GMT -5
sounds awesome leasure. any of ya'lls ever done or heard of this? i believe from memory a lot of our midwest forefathers did this? or kind of a dugout type house?
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Post by bella18 on Jan 10, 2012 14:03:52 GMT -5
Hello leasure, and welcome. I was discussing this with hubby, and we did briefly look into this some years ago; would it seem that moisture would be a problem with this type of structure??
I'm sure you've investigated this thoroughly, tho. Seems like a good idea if you're settled somewhere, and we could all do with a more simple life, for sure.
Seems to me it was Ed Bagley who built this kind of house, if my memory serves me correctly, that is.
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Post by leasure0911 on Jan 10, 2012 15:26:20 GMT -5
I believe that so long as the roof overhang is sufficient (so long as rainwater does not directly hit the walls) that all is good. I mean, look at the rainy weather in Europe and they have cob structures that are hundreds of years old and still standing. Cob building is also huge in places such as Oregon and Washington state, which has much more precipitation than Missouri. We are still in the research stage, but from what I have read, it should work just fine. ^_^
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Post by garrett on Jan 11, 2012 10:22:12 GMT -5
how would you plumb it? or electricity?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2012 0:10:15 GMT -5
Garret I keep getting urged to reconcider about a bale or cordwood house by my daughter.
Wiring or plumbing isn't the issue for me, how well the sills stay dry (and intact) is.
It aught to work in drier parts of the country...
Still, I dunno.
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Post by garrett on Jan 12, 2012 2:09:06 GMT -5
its a very interesting idear......and green too........smiles
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2012 8:59:45 GMT -5
Over most of the lower 48, when your house's "R" factor goes much over 24 in the walls and 36 or so in the ceiling it don't take much more than a solid fuel kitchen range to heat a house of modest size. Cooling is similarly light in warmer area's.
The weak point is drip edges and sills absorbing moisture. A dry bale house that stays dry aught to outlive the builder.
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Post by garrett on Jan 14, 2012 0:59:03 GMT -5
i think it should too...... it would be interesting to know a price per square foot say vs a brick home.smiles
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 12:37:26 GMT -5
During depression years-an' the first couple post WW-II, building your own was pretty much what there was.
If your building as you rustle up the material (or $$$) the price becomes flat.
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Post by marielouise on Jan 17, 2012 1:37:10 GMT -5
do you cover over the out side walls of hay? I saw a straw bale house being built in N.M a few years back , brother said they made like a stuko on the outside and sealed the bottom --- just wondering what ya had planned.
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Post by garrett on Jan 17, 2012 2:13:49 GMT -5
what about log houses?
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Post by garnede on Jan 22, 2012 9:13:14 GMT -5
Auburn University's Rural Studio built a straw bale house nearly 2 decades ago and it is still in great condition and a work of art. Straw bale homes in areas that get windy rain need a 2-3' overhang. As far as sills rotting, you either have to push the window out nearly flush with the outside of the wall or make a deep sloping sill that will shed the water that does hit it. The outside of straw bales is finished one of many ways. Stucco and clay with a white wash of lime are the 2 most popular. The clay lets the walls breath, unlike the concrete which can trap moisture. In addition to cob and cord wood structures you should also look at: Wattle and Daub Straw/Light Clay wood/light clay infill Structural straw bale construction earthship construction rammed earth adobe construction thatching (for roofs) stone Post and beam construction log construction roundwood construction Sips panels hybrid adobe rubble foundations urbanite foundations yurts ect. Depending on your climate and what you have access to for materials there are lots of options. earthship.com/construction-materialswww.foxmaple.com/proclay.htmlwww.foxmaple.com/FMNatBldWks.html#Alternative%20Infill
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Post by garrett on Jan 23, 2012 1:40:11 GMT -5
thanks buddy.smiles
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 9:50:56 GMT -5
Haveing built (and rebuilt) one these.
The 18th century pioneer who built a log cabin often worked a much more sunstantial tree into more or less flat planks of 4" to 12" flat surface, on at most a sill of feild stone and dirt floor.
Most 20th century log cabins-homes are using much smaller second growth round logs, that is esentially a log cabin on a modern sill or footing with a two-by and plywood deck.
If your sills are built so that they can stay dry it can be a multi-generational home.
Log homes do need periodic recaulking or daubing. They are not yearly maintenence free.
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Post by w8n4dave on Jan 23, 2012 10:34:04 GMT -5
I would think that making a small building like a shed or something first would be the way to go ... maby a potting house? Sounds very interesting Of course I love stuff that id off the grid so to speak. Would it be higher risk of catching on fire?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2012 10:37:01 GMT -5
Straw bale and adobe (mud-straw bricks) houses usually have a 15 minute sheath of something water and flame resistant inside and out.
15 minute flame reistant: 1/2" of plaster of paris or some kind of portland cement. Your sheet rock wall board is a 15 minute surface in a frame house.
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Post by garrett on Jan 28, 2012 13:04:36 GMT -5
more useful stuff.thanks ya'll
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2012 16:09:11 GMT -5
Ram-It was a the stucco of choice when my eldest sapling re-sheathed her cement house some years ago.
Ram-It was (on the label anyway) an interseting plasticised mix of portland cement and something flexible, that I disremember right now. It claimed to not flake at expansions points...
Said Cagle who is perseverating about wet sills, again.
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Post by garrett on Jan 29, 2012 8:45:30 GMT -5
i still wonder about sloping over the sills?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2012 11:10:59 GMT -5
After having lived for the last fourty years in damp yankee-land and having spent, three dollars on sill work for every one dollar of roof work. Yea, wet feet is where the rubber hits the road on my old houses.
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Post by garrett on Jan 31, 2012 0:51:34 GMT -5
i feel your pain copp.sounds horrible.
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Post by kay on Nov 22, 2012 19:28:16 GMT -5
Hows the building coming along?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 9:45:41 GMT -5
I thinks they were just startin' to look for a spread to buy Kay.
Modern nice straw-bale and cob houses with a good eve'd roof address most of my whining.
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